2. What We’ll Share Today
• Emails
• Letters
• Proposals
• Reports
• Social Media
3. The Basics
• Writing is COMMUNICATION
– Step 1 – Have something to say
– Step 2 – Decide to whom you want to say it
– Step 3 – Decide how you want to say it
– Step 4 – Execute
– Step 5 – Check what the reader understood
4. The Basics
• Writing is COMMUNICATION
– Step 1 – Have something to say
• Think through your message/idea
• What exactly do you want your reader to understand?
– Step 2 – Decide to whom you want to say it
• One to one or mass
• Who is that reader? What’s your relationship?
– Step 3 – Decide how you want to say it
• Formal? Informal? Serious? Humour? Anger?
5. The Basics
• Writing is COMMUNICATION
– Step 5 – Execute
• Don’t forget to proof read
– Step 6 – Check what the reader understood
• Ask for feedback
6. What We’ll Share Today
• Emails
• Letters
• Proposals
• Reports
• Social Media
7. Writing a Formal Email
• Use a neutral e-mail address
• bangkai@hotmail.com
• Use a short and accurate subject header
• Use a proper salutation
• Introduce yourself in the first paragraph (if
necessary)
• Write the actual message
– http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Formal-Email
8. Writing the actual message
• Try to break up the message into paragraphs
by topic to make your message more logical
and digestible.
• If possible, one idea per paragraph.
• No more than 5 paragraphs long and each
paragraph should be no more than 5
sentences long.
• Avoid informal writing.
– http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Formal-Email
9. Ending
• Use the correct form of leave-taking
– Yours sincerely
• Sign with your full name
• PROOFREAD
– Content
– Spelling and grammar
– http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Formal-Email
10. Formal vs Informal Writing
• Different word choices, word usage, and
grammatical structures.
• An informal style may make listeners feel
more comfortable when you are speaking
• A formal writing style can make a good
impression
• http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Colloquial-
%28Informal%29-Writing
11. Formal vs Informal Writing
• BUT do not be stiff and AVOID civil service
speak
– http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8349709/The-
Yes-Minister-guides-for-civil-servants.html
– http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/201
3/jul/01/gove-rules-writing-civil-servants
12. Simplify!
• "It is characteristic of all committee discussions and decisions that
every member has a vivid recollection of them, and that every
member's recollection of them differs violently from every other
member's recollection; consequently we accept the convention that
the official decisions are those and only those which have been
officially recorded in the minutes by the officials; from which it
emerges with elegant inevitability, that any decision which has been
officially reached would have been officially recorded in the
minutes by the officials, and any decisions which is not recorded in
the minutes by the officials has not been officially reached, even if
one or more members believe they can recollect it; so in this
particular case, if the decision would have been officially reached, it
would have been recorded in the minutes by the officials and it isn't
so it wasn't."
13. Simplify!
• Well, it's clear that the committee has agreed that your new policy
is a really excellent plan but in view of some of the doubts being
expressed, may I propose that I recall that after careful
consideration, the considered view of the committee was that while
they considered that the proposal met with broad approval in
principle, that some of the principles were sufficiently fundamental
in principle and some of the considerations so complex and finely
balanced in practice, that, in principle, it was proposed that the
sensible and prudent practice would be to submit the proposal for
more detailed consideration, laying stress on the essential
continuity of the new proposal with existing principles, and the
principle of the principle arguments which the proposal proposes
and propounds for their approval, in principle.
14. Writing a Letter
• Write your address and telephone number on the
left hand side of the page
• One line beneath that (two hard returns), place
the date directly below the sender's address.
• One line beneath that (two hard returns), type
the recipient's name, title, and address.
• Give the person you're addressing a salutation
– http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Formal-Letter
15. Write the body of the letter
• The body of the letter need not be more than three
paragraphs. If you can't say it in less than three
paragraphs, then you're probably not being concise
enough.
– State the reason or goal of the letter. Cut straight to the
chase
– Use examples to stress or underline your point, if possible.
Concrete, real examples are always better than
hypothetical examples.
– Briefly summarise your purpose in writing and suggest
how you might want to proceed further.
– http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Formal-Letter
16. Ending
• Use the correct form of leave-taking
– Yours sincerely
• Sign with your full name
• PROOFREAD
– Content
– Spelling and grammar
– http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Formal-Letter
17. What We’ll Share Today
• Emails
• Letters
• Proposals
• Reports
• Social Media
18. Proposal Paper
• State your purpose.
– Do this clearly and concisely so that the reader knows
immediately why you are writing.
• Give some background information
– Help the reader get a better understanding of the
problem.
• State a solution to the problem
– Give specifics about your suggestion.
• Any costs involved.
• Conclude by restating the problem and proposed
solution.
19. What We’ll Share Today
• Emails
• Letters
• Proposals
• Reports
• Social Media
20. Writing a Report
• Formal style
• Introduction, Body and Conclusion
• Demonstrate analytical thinking
• Always do careful proof-reading and neat
presentation
21. A Good Report
• presents information, not an argument
• is meant to be scanned quickly by the reader
• uses numbered headings and sub-headings
• uses short, concise paragraphs and dot-points where
applicable
• uses graphics wherever possible (tables, graphs,
illustrations)
• may need an abstract (sometimes called an executive
summary)
• does not always need references and bibliography
• is often followed by recommendations and/or appendices
22. When formatting a report
• use plenty of white space
• ensure the separate parts of your report stand out clearly
• use subheadings
• allow generous spacing between the elements of your
report
• use dot points/ numbers/ letters to articulate these
elements
• use tables and figures (graphs, illustrations, maps etc) for
clarification.
• number each page
• use consistent and appropriate formatting
• use formal language
23. What We’ll Share Today
• Emails
• Letters
• Proposals
• Reports
• Social Media
24. The Basics
• Writing is COMMUNICATION
– Step 1 – Have something to say
• Think through your message/idea
• What exactly do you want your reader to understand?
– Step 2 – Decide to whom you want to say it
• One to one or mass
• Who is that reader? What’s your relationship?
– Step 3 – Decide how you want to say it
• Formal? Informal? Serious? Humour? Anger?
25. The Basics
• Writing is COMMUNICATION
– Step 5 – Execute
• Don’t forget to proof read
– Step 6 – Check what the reader understood
• Ask for feedback
26. Ending
• What did we learn today?
asri@muis.gov.sg
aku.gilakucing@facebook.com
