Chapter 9 – Note for future business leaders
As a business leader and business writing educator, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for business students to prepare now, to be equipped and ready to address business writing needs in the future. Not only put into practice the tips and tools provided in this resource, but also do your due diligence to ensure your writing is of the best quality, it is clear and concise, and it is accessible to your audience.
- Know who your audience is and produce a document that is accessible to that audience.
- Use mechanical devices such as legible fonts and section headings to increase accessibility.
- Write so that your document can be understood by a general audience, even if it is meant for your discourse community, by spelling out acronyms on first use and explaining jargon, for example.
Your business discipline is your discourse and as a practitioner you should be aware of and familiar with the customs and lexis of that discourse community. If you are in the accounting community, for example, your accounting discourse could include several different discourse communities, such as the American Accounting Association, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), or an online community of accountants who share a common goal or objective and engage with each other to communicate about the discourse. As a member of any discourse community, you will be among peers who have expertise in the discourse and share common goals, have a means for communicating with each other, have a means for members to communicate with and receive feedback from the discourse community (e.g., AICPA), employ specific communication methods and channels, and have a shared vocabulary (Swales, 2017).
As your advance in your academic career, think of communications as essential to your individual success, and become a practitioner of effective communications within and outside of your discourse community. Think of your instructor as your business executive, and prepare documents (reports, essays, etc.) as professionally as possible, following the guidance in this resource. You will not regret it because it will serve you well when you enter your profession as a graduate.
Swales J.M. (2017). The concept of discourse community: Some recent personal history. Composition Forum 37. Retrieved from http://compositionforum.com/issue/37/swales-retrospective.php.
