Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Style of Professional Writing
The Style of Professional Writing
Professional Writing
Given its main objective of achieving
results within an organization and the
importance of connecting with its
audience, professional writing is
necessarily written in a particular style or
register that aims to build goodwill.
According to Kitty Locker and Donna
Kienzler(2013) in Business and
Administrative Communication, effective
professional writing is reader-centered,
emphasizes the positive, and uses bias-
free language.
1. Adopting a professional style means
adopting a reader perspective in writing.
“ You- attitude” is a style of writing which
looks at things from the reader’s point of
view, emphasizing what the reader wants
to know, respecting the reader’s
intelligence, and protecting the reader’s
ego.
I-Attitude You-Attitude
Set 1 Set 1
Chairman Chairperson/chair
Salesman Sales
Stewardess representative/staff
fireman Flight attendant
firefighter
Set 2 Set 2
Woman lawyer Lawyer
Woman doctor Doctor
Lady president President
Male nurse nurse
Set 3 Set 3
Manpower Labor force/personnel
Mankind Humankind
Man hours Hours/ worker hours
manning staffing
Set 4 Set 4
Managers and their Managers and their
wives spouses
Faculty and their Faculty and their
wives spouses
Dear Sir: Dear Sir or madam:
1. Polite language is essential in a context
wherein there are power asymmetries.
Expressions like “please,” “kindly,” and
“thank you” soften impositions of power
and create a positive writer image, and
convey gratitude.
Professional Language
2. Both personal matters and overly
friendly language should not appear in a
workplace correspondence.
Overly Personal Professional