A poor introduction fails to engage your reader with the rest of your text and does not get the message across to your audience effectively.
METHODS OF ORGANIZING CONTENT
our techniques can help you organize the content of your writing well. Take the time to learn and understand these techniques in order to improve the end results of any future content that you create -- regardless of whether its online, at home or in the workplace:
Your introduction should grab your readers' attention. Most readers are busy and need to be persuaded that it's worth their time to read your message. Include a hook that encourages the reader to continue reading – such as a general statement, a question, or an interesting fact. Your introduction should also include a brief statement of your key message and an explanation of the purpose of your document./
A poor introduction fails to engage your reader with the rest of your text and does not get the message across to your audience effectively. A weak introduction can even confuse a reader and create some doubt as to what they're reading about.
INTRODUCTION
"I'm concerned that the project is taking far too long, particularly given the client's problems with the impending meeting."
This introduction provides no context for the reader. Which project is being referred to, how long is too long, what are the client's problems, and what impending meeting is being referred to and when is it?
A good introduction serves to set the context for the reader from the outset so that they're clear about what the text is dealing with.
The original introduction is edited to:
"I'm concerned that the renovation of the conference room should have been completed by June 1 – which was two weeks ago – particularly given the client's wish to complete it before the board meeting taking place on June 22."
Now consider the introduction a manager includes in a message outlining her department's need for new computers. Has the manager incorporated the elements of a good introduction?
The Manager's introduction reads:
"The Business Department can increase its efficiency an estimated 15% if we take one step – purchasing five new computers. Faster, new computers will significantly speed up order and billing processing. After reading the details in this report, I hope that you will approve the purchase of the faster, new computers."
The opening sentence of the introduction acts as an effective hook:
"The Business Department can increase its efficiency an estimated 15% if we take one step – purchasing five new computers." It's designed to grab the attention of the reader.
Next the manager explains the opening sentence and sets the context for her request:
"Faster, new computers will significantly speed up order and billing processing."
The last sentence of the introduction clarifies the writer's purpose:
"After reading the details in this report, I hope that you will approve the purchase of the faster, new computers"
QUESTION
What are the elements of an effective introduction?
A good hook is used to catch the attention of readers and persuade them to read further.
The introduction of a document should set the context for the reader but should not introduce a summary of text that has not yet been discussed.
A brief statement of the document's key message is essential for providing the reader with knowledge about the content to be covered in the document and prompts them to read further.
By stating what the purpose of your document is in your introduction, you explain to the reader why they should take the time out of their schedule to read the document.
The introduction should contain information that is relevant to the topic of discussion and should not be too random so as to lead to confusion and frustration.
BODY
The body of a document is where you present the most information. It's important to remember that all this information should support or expand on the main idea outlined in your introduction.
The body may include background details, supporting facts and statistics, anecdotes, or any other information readers need to understand the main idea of the text.
The most important information should come first so it gets the reader's attention.
If the body of a document must contain anything more than a few sentences, you should divide the text into paragraphs.
This will make it easier to read.
A piece of illegible, dense text is divided up into multiple paragraphs.
However, it's common for writers to start new paragraphs as soon as it appears as if there's a big enough chunk of text on the page. This is a mistake. Instead, paragraphs should group ideas logically. Using them should be a conscious part of how you get your message across.
Each paragraph is assigned one idea.
A good paragraph starts with a topic sentence. This provides the reader with a core point. For example:
"Currently, we have five obsolete computers in the business office."
Further sentences in the paragraph then expand on this point. Continuing with the example, the reader discovers why there are obsolete computers in the office:
"In the past year, at least one computer has crashed each month, requiring my employees to seek help from our Computer Maintenance Department."
Consider the body of a report describing a department's current need for computer resources. It has a good opening that provides the reader with a clear context. The body proceeds to identify problems chronologically, based on when they occurred, and then provides recommendations. This results in a logical, well-organized message.
The body of the report begins by stating:
"Currently, we have five obsolete computers in the business office. In the past year, at least one computer has crashed each month, requiring my employees to seek help from our Computer Maintenance Department."
The body of the report states:
"All the problematic computers were purchased five years ago. At first, they were more than adequate. About two years ago, we first started noticing problems with one computer. When we installed a new version of our business software, the computer kept locking up. Of course, each time a computer locked up, the employee (and sometimes a computer technician) had to spend time solving the problem. Sometimes we lost files, which had to be recreated, at the cost of even more time. And our employees became increasingly frustrated. As we added and updated software, the problems worsened. Now all five computers are affected. The computer technicians added memory to the machines, which solved the problems for a while. Now, however, our new software requires even more memory, which these machines cannot accommodate."
For recommendations, the body of the document states:
"Refer to the attached chart showing the advantages and disadvantages of the new systems."
Consider the body of the document the manager uses to request further computers. She needs to revise the way she structures the paragraph that lists problems with the old computers – they kept locking up, a lot of time went into troubleshooting, files were lost, and users became increasingly frustrated.
So she classifies the problems as major or minor. If she lists the problems in terms of severity – from minor to major – the message of the text becomes clearer and more convincing.
The issues that need to be listed in terms of minority and majority are: one, the computer we were installing on kept locking up, two, each time a computer locked up, the employee (and sometimes a computer technician) had to spend time solving the problem, three, our employees became increasingly frustrated, and four, sometimes we lost files which had to be recreated, and this was at the cost of even more time.
As well as grouping sentences into logical paragraphs, you should consider how best to order your paragraphs.
These are like the building blocks for a message. It's important they flow in a logical order to build an overall structure that will make sense to readers.
These are some of the ways you can choose to organize content in the body of a document:
WAYS TO STRUCTURE CONTENT
The way you order the points in a business document depends on the nature of the content. However, it's always important that the points flow logically and clearly.
Chronological order
If you're outlining a sequence of events or steps in a process, it makes sense to order your points chronologically. This means that you present the events or steps in order, from beginning to end.
For example, you outline your company's history with a particular client or the steps employees must take to complete a task in chronological order.
Advantages and disadvantages
If you're presenting an argument, you list its advantages first and end with its disadvantages. Or you start with the disadvantages and illustrate how the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
For example, you use this method in a proposal or sales promotion, or in a report outlining the implications of a particular course of action.
Level of importance
If you choose to organize content based on its priority, you normally start with what's most to what's least important. This helps readers focus on the critical points in your message, which are at the start.
You apply this method to, for example, a document that explains how a process will impact your company.
In some cases, it is appropriate to reverse the order and list the points from low to high priority. You do this so that each of your points builds in significance and increases the impact of the final conclusion.
For example, you do this in a document that explains the types of incidents that should be escalated to senior managers. In this case, you begin with common, low-priority incidents and move toward the more significant incidents.
Categories
Categories are useful for presenting, comparing, or contrasting different information types in one document.
For example, you're writing a document outlining how a new process affects each department in your company. You group the information by department so that it is quick and easy to read.
CLOSING
After the body of a document, it's important to add a clear conclusion. This provides closure.
It should also draw the reader back out from details in the body to the core purpose of your message. It may restate the message, discuss its implications, or request action.
QUESTION
Once a message has an effective introduction, body, and conclusion, you may consider other aspects of its presentation.
How important do you think the layout and design of a document is in getting its content across to readers?
You're of the opinion that layout and design doesn't affect readers' understanding of content. However, consider how hard it is to read text that's extremely dense or on a background that makes it difficult to read. This can seriously affect your understanding of the text, even if it's well written.
You think that document layout and design considerations are only important in some instances. However, the features of layout and design can actually improve reader understanding as they makes the document easier to follow and easier to understand. As such, the principles of layout and design are important and should be observed during the writing process.
You're correct in thinking that document layout and design affects readers' understanding of text and is very important. It can determine how easy text is to read and even supplement text in getting a message across.
Several aspects of a document's layout and design can affect readers' comprehension of text. For instance, you can make text easier to understand by using appropriate white space, graphics, short lines, bullets, and headings.
FEATURES OF LAYOUT AND DESIGN
White space
White space helps readers "breathe" as they navigate text. It makes text less dense and easier to digest.
One good way to include white space is to ensure there's a large enough margin – generally of at least 25 millimeters – between your text and the edges of the page.
Graphics
Appropriate graphics don't just add visual interest. They can also convey information, sometimes much more clearly than text alone.
Remember though that by the same token, adding unnecessary graphics can detract from your message.
Short lines
Short lines of text that don't all end at the same point – in other words, with a ragged right margin – are easier to read than long sentences of uniform length.
Bullets
Bulleted lists are useful for presenting logically related points clearly and concisely. They shouldn't be overused though. Keep them for when they assist in the logical flow of information.
Headings
Headings contribute significantly to the structure of text. They make it clear how text has been grouped and help break it into sections that are easy for a reader to identify. To use headings effectively, it's a good idea to structure your writing first. Once you've grouped points logically, you'll be able to identify where headings are required.
QUESTION
Which approaches to organizing content can improve readers' understanding of a document you write?
A good introduction grabs your readers' attention, identifies your main message, and makes it clear what your purpose in writing is. It persuades readers to keep reading and provides the context they need to follow your message.
It's important to open a document with an introduction that identifies your main idea or message. This shouldn't be hidden well into the body of the document.
The body of a document should contain any information that supports the main message you've outlined in an introduction. It's important this content is organized logically so it's easy to follow.
A conclusion prevents a document from ending too abruptly and draws readers back to the main purpose of your message.
You should organize text into paragraphs, and paragraphs shouldn't be overly long. However, each paragraph should present and elaborate on a core idea. So you should add paragraph breaks where they're logically required, instead of automatically adding them after every few sentences.
Layout and design features like white space, appropriate graphics, and headings, can contribute significantly to readers' understanding of text.
I have been teaching and training agents, team leaders, supervisors, managers and admins of call centers and other businesses in BPO related fields. This series, comes as a result of that experience. I have more than 4,000 modules that I plan on sharing here. This is # 003-14
