It’s a format that has been used time and time again for centuries—for movies, for novels, and for fairy tales. A person is placed in a difficult context with formidable challenges. The person takes action, and, against all odds, comes out as the hero. Think of the plot in fairy tales, such as Cinderella and Snow White, in movies like Moana, and even in the great stories of the Bible—Moses confronts Pharaoh and frees the children of Israel, Joshua wins the battle at Jericho, and Esther risks her life to save her people.
 
This three-part story structure is also a powerful model for persuasion in business presentations, employment interviews, public relations campaigns, and more. As humans, we love to see the underdog come out on top (except when we are the dog on top), and we can appeal to this human characteristic in multiple situations.
 
One of the beautiful things about this three-part story structure is its simplicity. Remember it with the easy-to-remember acronym PAR—representing Problem, Action, Result.

• Problem—Explain the original context, including the problem or challenge.
• Action—Describe the action taken to overcome the problem or challenge.
• Result—Highlight the positive results that came from the action.

 
Here is how a PAR story was used by one college student in an employment interview (used by permission):
 
Problem. Growing up, my dream was to play quarterback for my high school football team.  My dream was almost crushed in eighth grade when my football coach told me I would never play quarterback because I was too small and too slow.
Action. I spent the next four years of high school trying to prove my eighth-grade coach wrong. During summers, I spent four hours every night running, throwing the football, and lifting weights.  The summer before my junior and senior year I took part in an intense 14-week sprinting program. I would also throw over 200 passes a night and lift weights for over an hour.
Result. My senior year I was named our region’s Most Valuable Player. I was also named to the All-State team, was chosen as the top quarterback for the 1A-3A All Star Game, and was one of the Arizona Wendy’s All-American  Heisman finalists.
 
In addition to using PAR stories for telling things of the past, they can be used in describing future scenarios.
 
Problem: We are having serious problems recruiting new employees for our fast-food restaurants.
Action: We could offer recruiting incentives to current employees.
Result: This action would reduce the amount of time and money that we now spend in recruiting efforts, and we would see an increase in the job satisfaction of our current employees.
 
Take a moment to think of three situations in which you might use PAR stories in your current workplace. Then write a rough PAR outline of a story you could use in each situation. Finally, put the stories into action. We think you’ll like the results you get.  
 
-Bill Baker

Recently I went to dinner with a former student who graduated 12 years ago. This student is now a successful attorney who writes numerous legal briefs and other documents that are read by judges and others in the legal profession. During the evening he described how he still uses writing and design principles I developed for my business communication classes: “I use OABC and HATS all the time in my writing, and they give me such a great advantage in writing for judges.” He also said, “I learned more in your writing class than in all the writing classes in law school.”
 
Obviously, I was happy to receive the compliment for my course, but his comments caused me to think about learning retention—what is it that enables students to remember and use writing principles learned in business communication courses?
 
Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel (2014) have written a landmark book on this topic: Make it Stick—The Science of Successful Learning. Roediger and McDaniel are cognitive scientists whose careers have focused on learning and memory, and Make it Stick captures the results of years of their own learning. In this intriguing work, the authors conclude that people generally go about learning in the wrong way.
 
For example, the idea that people learn better when they receive instruction in a manner consistent with their preferred learning style (e.g., auditory or visual) is not supported by research. Further, the idea is false that if we can make learning easier and faster, the learning will be better. In fact, learning that requires more mental work lasts longer.
 
In addition to identifying what doesn’t work in learning, the authors also identify what does work. Three of their proven strategies likely helped my former student retain and use his classroom learning years after graduation.
 
Mnemonics. First, use mnemonic devices. Mnemonics link a memorable name to a larger mass of information.
 
In this case, OABC stands for opening, agenda, body, and closing. This acronym provides a proven pattern that can be used for many business writing situations. HATS refers to headings, art/graphics, typography, and spacing. After a basic message is crafted, students can add headings, appropriate graphics, typographic enhancements, and white space to make the message more visually appealing to the reader. The OABC and HATS acronyms provide easy ways for students to create clear, organized, and visually powerful messages.  
 
Integration. Second, integrate all the knowledge learned. All new learning has to connect with previously known information.
 
OABC and HATS are taught early in the semester, and then they are integrated into subsequent assignments throughout the rest of semester. Thus, by the end of the semester, students have had experience applying OABC and HATS in a variety of contexts.
 
Repetition. Third, all new learning requires a rewiring of the brain. Therefore, provide repeated application of new learning to create and reinforce the new wiring. Don’t assume that students have learned new material just because you have covered it once. Rather, continue to re-emphasize important material throughout the course.
 
OABC and HATS are taught fairly early in the course, and students are required to apply the principles contained in these acronyms in all subsequent assignments. This repetition reinforces the learning, which improves the likelihood that students will continue to apply the learning later in their careers.
 
The result is that my student now has these principles so deeply ingrained in his mind that they spontaneously come into his mind whenever he faces a writing project. Further, he not only knows how to use these principles but has a strong conviction of their value in his work.  

Today’s professional organizations spend millions of dollars each year on training, yet much of this training has little impact on participants’ subsequent business practices. In most cases, it is because real learning never takes place. Consider your own situation. Is there an opportunity for you to implement mnemonics, integration, repetition, and other Make It Stick learning tactics in your organization?
​ 
If you are a trainer or teacher, I strongly recommend the reading of Make it Stick. Further, I suggest that you visit with a few of your former students (or current students at the end of a semester) and ask them to recall what they remember most from your instruction. If you’re not satisfied with their answers, take time to clearly identify what you want students to learn, and then reinforce that learning with principles of mnemonics, integration, and repetition.
 
I welcome your comments.
 
-Bill Baker

It's the first of the semester, and universities are hosting that exciting, but scary, annual event—the career fair. Students see career fairs as great opportunities to meet potential employers, but the event also strikes fear into the hearts of many students because they feel woefully unprepared. One such graduating senior recently stopped by my office the day before my university’s career fair. He didn’t think his skills and experience qualified him for current jobs. To give him some help, I guided him through a three-step process.

List All Accomplishments
To reorient his thinking, I asked, “What have you accomplished over the past four years?” He couldn’t think of much until I began asking additional questions. “What was your greatest accomplishment at your summer job last year?” He then told me how he and his team had doubled his employer’s output. I then asked him, “What projects have you worked on in school?” He then remembered ten projects he had completed in his chemical engineering major.

Brainstorm Transferrable Skills
With many accomplishments to now draw from, I chose one and wrote it on my whiteboard. I asked him to tell me ten characteristics or skills needed to achieve the accomplishment. We came up with this list: team work, attention to detail, diligence, focus, searching and finding, judgment, troubleshooting, technical skills, results focus, setting goals, and meeting deadlines. We then repeated the process with another accomplishment.

Connect Skills to Employers’ Needs
Finally, I asked him, “Do you agree that chemical engineering firms need someone who can work in teams, who pays attention to detail, and who is diligent and focused?” He agreed and began to realize he did indeed have skills and experience that could transfer to his field.

Conclusion
When this student first came into my office, I had drawn a glass of water on my whiteboard. I asked him, “Is this glass half full or half empty?” He responded, “Half empty.” After we completed the foregoing steps, I posed the same question. His response this time was “half full.”
​
In your next job search or preparation for a career fair, take time to prepare before you jump into writing a resume or practicing for an interview: list your accomplishments from work, school, service, and other activities; brainstorm skills and characteristics underlying each accomplishment; and connect your skills and characteristics to your potential employers’ needs. You’ll be much better prepared, and I think you’ll find your job search much more encouraging and successful.

​-Matt Baker

The recent solar eclipse prompted me to do a bit of symbolic thinking about smaller, less important things getting in the way of larger, more important things.
 
In the early days of my teaching business presentations, my mentors stressed the importance of watching out for little presentation details, such as using the hands for precise gesturing or counting the number of times each presenter said “um” or “ya know.” Therefore, I emphasized these matters in my classes, and my students would then concentrate on using more gestures and controlling their normal speech patterns as they gave their presentations. Unfortunately, the students’ gestures were often awkward and unnatural—suggesting that even more emphasis was needed. It was a vicious cycle. 
 
Finally, after a few years, I realized that I may have been doing more harm than good in giving feedback of this type. I concluded that if my students were concentrating on these secondary matters while giving their presentations, they were thinking about the wrong things. The hand gestures and filler words were eclipsing the more important message and audience issues that should have been their primary focus.
 
So what should we be thinking about as we present? First, we should constantly think about the purpose of our presentation—what we are trying to achieve by giving the presentation. This can be brought into sharp focus with an action statement like, “As a result of my presentation, I want the audience to . . .” This might include what we want them to understand, or feel, or do. Every informative and persuasive element should align with the central purpose of the message. Each element should move the audience from where they were when we started the presentation to where we want them to be when the presentation ends. Further, nothing should either distract or detract from that purpose.
 
Second, we should think about connecting with the audience. If we have performed a careful audience and context analysis during the planning phase, we’ll understand the audience demographics and psychographics. We’ll know of their challenges and concerns. We’ll know what parts of our presentation will be readily accepted and which ones might not. And we’ll continuously focus on building and strengthening the audience members’ connection with us and with the content we are presenting.
 
Third, we should constantly analyze the audience feedback as we present. Because most of this feedback comes in nonverbal form, we should assess the audience energy level, receptivity level, eye contact, facial expressions, and general responsiveness. We should then take impromptu corrective action when audience feedback tells us that the message isn’t getting across as well as it should.
 
Finally, we should remain aware of the element of time, making sure we pace our presentation so we don’t speak too long. As appropriate, we should omit some of the less important planned information, without negatively affecting overall message clarity, impact, or coherence. Less-important content should never push aside more important content.
 
So what about the “ums,” the “ya knows,” and the awkward gestures that I once thought were so important to teach? My experience has taught me that as students prepare content they are excited about, rehearse thoroughly so they are comfortable with the subject matter, and focus on connecting with the audience, these language and gesture issues mostly take care of themselves. The appropriate voice energy and gestures occur automatically. Better yet, they are normal and natural, not forced and awkward.
 
With this change of focus, the less-important secondary elements of presenting no longer eclipse that which is most important—the message and the audience!

​-Bill Baker

If you’re wanting to improve your business writing skills, you should know that three levels of learning are required to be most effective. Learning that is focused on just one of the three levels will be helpful, of course, but a comprehensive learning plan will be most effective.  Think of it in terms of improving your game of golf. Studying the rules of the game will certainly help, but that alone won’t do anything for your long drives. (See this link for a PowerPoint presentation I gave at a recent conference about the ideas I presented in this blog.)
 
Learning Level 1—Rules
The first level focuses on the rules of writing, including basic sentence structure, punctuation, spelling, grammar rules, and so forth. While writing rules may shift slowly over time and vary slightly from situation to situation, rules are generally quite “black and white,” where something is either right or wrong (e.g., the correct spelling is “receive,” not “recieve”). If you want a good review of sentence basics, visit https://goo.gl/34xyTn. There, in Appendix A, you’ll find many of most frequently used and abused rules of business writing. For example, do you know when to use a semicolon? Many people don’t know; however, you can learn a few basic rules to confidently use semicolons in your writing.
 
Learning Level 2—Principles, Patterns, and Procedures
At the second level, learn important principles, patterns, and procedures pertaining to writing. Unlike level-1 rules that tell whether something is right or wrong, level-2 principles are more like guidelines. For example, the principle of conciseness pertains to word economy—messages should be conveyed without an excess of words. There’s obviously no right and wrong here, because a message may be mostly concise, but not as concise as it could be. Several patterns and procedures are explained in some of our other blogs. We’ve given some of them names to help you remember, such as CLOUD for writing effective paragraphs, OABC for document organization, HATS for document design, and DOCS for document revision. Learning and applying these patterns and principles can greatly strengthen your ability to write well.

Learning Level 3—Application and Adaptation
The highest level of learning comes at the application level. At first you might think that learning stops when application starts. Not true. You also need to learn how to apply everything you learned in levels 1 and 2. Level 3 is where creativity, judgment, and wisdom are learned. Obviously, application and adaptation skills are difficult to learn in a classroom setting, which is one reason why teachers often use case studies, client projects, and service learning to supplement classroom instruction. In fact, level-3 learning continues well into our careers and usually involves years of trial and error. It draws on everything we learned about rules, principles, procedures, and patterns, but it also requires that we learn how to analyze the unique characteristics of each situation and then design a creative solution to fit each situation.
 
If you’re feeling so confident in your writing that you think you don’t need a refresher, think again! Despite our years of professional experience, we can all improve at all three levels. Even Vince Lombardi, the great football coach, went back to the fundamentals with his experienced football players on the first day of practice. “Gentlemen,” he would say, “this is a football.”[1] He wanted to make sure his players were prepared at all three levels, from the fundamentals to the intricacies of complicated plays. Likewise, by knowing all three levels of business writing, you can be prepared for all kinds of situations on the field of your professional work.

-Bill Baker

[1] David Maraniss, When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999), 274.
 

Do you feel that your slide presentations look disorganized and unprofessional? Maybe your basic slide layout needs a facelift! Layout refers to the way you arrange your text and graphic elements on the slide.
 
Obviously, you want your slides to look clean and well organized, not chaotic and cluttered. PowerPoint, Keynote, and other slideshow software provide various templates, but they often result in boring slides with too many bullet lists. Instead of using these templates, create your own layout. Here are four suggestions to help.
 
1. Use a Grid
Divide your slide into a four-part grid, as shown in Figure 1:

• Top row for the slide title
• Left column for an agenda
• Upper left corner for a logo
• Body area for the details

 
Organize the body area into a grid, consisting of one or more vertical columns, with appropriate space above, below, and between columns. Figure 1 shows an example of a four-column grid for the body. With this layout, you can have one very wide column, two equal wider columns, four equal narrow columns, or an unequal three-and-one column arrangement. In Figure 1, the first body text spans all four columns; the remaining bullet list and graphic span two columns each. Regardless of the layout, always appropriately align the text and graphic items. Items can be top, bottom, left, right, or center aligned, as appropriate. For example, the side-by-side boxes in Figure 1 are aligned both top and bottom. They are also right and left aligned with the heading “Excessive Audit Violations.”

As you work with slide layout, feel free to alter the layout as appropriate. For instance, use three columns in your body area grid (see Figure 2), rather than using four as shown in Figure 1. To help decide how to lay out your slide content, ask yourself, “Given the information I want to display, what is the best way to organize it on a slide?” You might also ask your colleagues for their input. Two heads are often better than one.
 
As you create your next slide presentation, apply the four steps presented above. Initially, your layout might take a bit of time to set up. But as you persist, your slides will become more organized, both logically and visually, thus enhancing both the logos and ethos of your presentation. Give it a try and let us know how it works for you.

-Bill Baker

​The current election contest between Trump and Clinton serves to remind us of the importance of developing trust in our relationships. Public-opinion polls show that both Clinton’s and Trump’s trust ratings are below 50 percent. News media report that some voters are feeling compelled to choose the lesser of two evils, rather than the better of two good options.
 
The causes of this erosion of trust highlight the importance of one of Aristotle’s three time-proven modes of rhetoric—ethos. Ethos reminds us that the message content intertwines with who and what the speakers are themselves. Ethos requires that the audience must trust not just the speakers’ knowledge, skills, and abilities, but also the speakers’ genuineness, integrity, and honesty.
 
Examine your own ethos within your organization and between you and your clients. What can you do to earn and build other people’s level of trust in you? Here are a few suggestions.

1. Tell the truth, even when the truth is unpopular. Avoid exaggerating and embellishing the facts.
2. Fulfill your work responsibilities and complete what you say you’ll do.
3. Do high-quality work. Mark your work with excellence.
4. Work for the good of your team or organization, not for your own selfish interests.
5. Make sound decisions based on careful thinking.
6. Act in a socially appropriate manner, regardless of the setting, and always keep your emotions under control.
7. Be sensitive to the feelings of others.

 
Consider three additional ideas that can help build trust when you use social media:

1. Assist others in your network. Don’t just “take” from others in your network—you must also give assistance to others. Add substantive comments whenever you have useful content to contribute.
2. As you give assistance to others, ask nothing in return. Be genuine in your giving. Give to give, not to get.
3. When responding to social media, do more than simply “like.” While “liking” may be the best strategy for some situations, consider engaging more fully by adding a thoughtful comment or sending a direct message that shows you really took notice. Further, don’t be afraid to move offline and give the individual a personal phone call.

 
According to George MacDonald, “To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved.” Therefore, always seek to develop high trust in your relationships. Further, seek never to lose the trust you have earned, because trust is much easier to gain than to regain once it is lost.
 
Apply these suggestions in your own workplace and personal life. You’ll find that the resulting increased ethos will give you additional persuasive power as you seek to influence others.

​-Bill Baker

Most of our blogs have focused on topics related to business writing, but with the presidential debates occupying so much of our news these days, it seems appropriate to address a few factors related to oral persuasion. As the pundits argue about who won the first presidential debate, remember that the most important point is not who won that debate, but rather who will win the election in November. The first debate was simply one step along the way. Nevertheless, the outcome of future debates, and the entire election, might hang on the principles described in this month’s blog.
 
A number of forces are at work when you attempt to persuade an audience. Graber (2003, 182) has identified four factors that affect your ability to persuade and influence others:
 
1. You must have relevant information.
2. You must have social capital (respect and credibility).
3. You must have good persuasion skills.
4. The audience must be open to persuasion.
 
Let’s examine Graber’s four persuasion factors as they relate to the message, the messenger, and the audience.
 
Message
 
The message element addresses the first of Graber’s factors—the need to have relevant information. To select relevant information, take time to complete a thorough PACS planning process. Identify the purpose(s) of your presentation, analyze your audience, analyze the context in which you’ll be presenting, and develop a strategy. (Follow this link for more information about PACS: https://goo.gl/Hdsyfl.)
 
When you are persuading, your relevant information should strengthen your own position and weaken the position of your opposition. Also, because humans are thinking and feeling creatures, your relevant information should include both logical arguments (Aristotle’s concept of logos) and emotional arguments (Aristotle’s concept of pathos).
 
The relevant information you choose to share may also be either positively or negatively oriented, appealing to what the audience will gain by accepting your proposal or what they will lose if they don’t. People respond to both gain and pain appeals, those that help them achieve worthwhile gain or ease their pain. You may focus on a variety of pains and gains, including financial, emotional, political, physical, and more. Regarding pain appeals, however, there’s a big difference between a mosquito bite and a shark bite—people can put up with pain from a mosquito bite, but not a shark bite. Therefore, choose carefully the pain points you emphasize.
 
To summarize, as you select relevant information for your message, consider all of the following options

​
​Messenger
 
As a messenger you need social capital, or respect and credibility (Graber’s second condition and part of Aristotle’s concept of ethos). You need to gain people’s trust—to connect with the audience and win their hearts. People gain the trust of others when they embrace goodness in a variety of ways:
 
1      Telling the truth.
2.     Fulfilling their responsibilities; completing what they say they will do.
3.     Making good decisions and doing high-quality work.
4.     Working for the good of the team or organization, not for their own selfish interests.
5.     Acting in a socially appropriate manner, and always keeping their emotions under control.
 
For some audience members, our presidential candidates have multiple strikes against them even before they walk onto the debate stage! In spite of this baggage, during the debates they can help repair their damaged reputations by telling the truth, acting in a socially appropriate manner, keeping their emotions under control, and working for the good of the country—not for their own selfish interests.
 
As a messenger, you also need good persuasion skills, Graber’s third condition. Of course, you must have well-planned, relevant information (the what), but you must also present your case in such a way that the information actually persuades (the how). Here are a few examples:

• Frame the problem well so it leads logically to the proposed solution. Using an indirect approach—problem first, solution second—conditions the audience’s mind to be more receptive to your solution. Back up your claims with credible evidence.
• Maintain an open, safe environment, being willing to listen calmly to objections from others without becoming defensive. Respond to objections with credible content, attempting to identify common ground. Be willing to compromise, as appropriate, to achieve a win-win solution.
• Maintain good eye contact, pleasant facial expressions, and encouraging body language; avoid negative nonverbal communication that conveys impatience and frustration.
• Be appropriately assertive, but don’t push your ideas so hard that others aggressively push back.

 
Audience
 
Graber’s fourth condition for achieving persuasion states that the audience must be open to persuasion.
When persuading in your own organization, first understand the mood of your audience regarding your proposal. Often, it might be best to present your ideas to individuals one on one. Then, after you know the feelings of individuals, meet with the larger group to achieve full buy-in.
 
For Clinton and Trump, the large majority of the nationwide audience is not highly persuadable at this point in the campaign. Their minds are already made up (although each candidate needs to continue to reinforce that commitment). Therefore, in the remaining debates, candidates must concentrate on the persuadable portion of the audience.
 
As you watch the remaining presidential debates, keep in mind the foregoing message, messenger, and audience elements and see how well Trump and Clinton perform. Further, begin to apply these guidelines and principles in your own persuasive presentations. See if they help you improve your own win-loss record.

-Bill Baker

References
Graber, Doris. 2003. The Power of Communication: Managing Information in Public Organizations. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.

Throughout a normal day, you write to or talk with many people about many different situations. You can usually rely on your intuition to guide you in how to approach each situation, but a knowledge of different tactics can give you added confidence as you select the best approach.
 
When deciding on the approach to take in your creating messages, you have two general options—direct or indirect. In other words, you can either get right to the point at the beginning of your message, or you can delay the main point until later in the message. Review the following guidelines to help decide which option to follow.
 
Direct Approach
Use the direct approach for good-news or routine messages. For instance, if your sales team has met its goals for the current year, give them the good news in the opening sentence: “Good news—we have just met our sales goals for the year, and we still have over two months still left to go!” Or if you need to call a routine meeting with your sales staff, give them the main point of the message, followed by appropriate details:
 
“We will be holding a one-hour staff meeting next Wednesday at 9 a.m. in the west conference room. The purpose of the meeting is to review progress on all current development projects and to establish goals for the next quarter. Therefore, please come prepared to. . . .”
 
Compare the foregoing direct approach with this one, which uses an indirect approach. I think you’ll see that the direct approach is much better.
 
“Each quarter we find it beneficial to review progress on all current development projects and to establish goals for the subsequent quarter. The time for our second-quarter review has arrived; therefore, please plan to attend a meeting next Wednesday at 9 a.m. in the west conference room.”
 
Placing the main idea at, or near, the beginning gives meaning and purpose to everything that follows. Delaying the main idea leaves the message receiver wondering where the message is going.
 
Unless you have another pressing reason for using an indirect approach, use the direct approach—when there’s good news to share, when you have relatively routine information to transmit, or when you have important information that you don’t want your readers to miss. Direct should be your go-to approach in the majority of situations.
 
Indirect Approach
Use an indirect approach for situations when you need to first prepare your audience for the main point of your message. For instance, if you are writing to an outside consulting group to terminate their service, first explain the reasons for the termination, and then announce the termination.
 
"We have appreciated your efforts during the last six months to help us improve the quality of our customer service. During this time we have closely monitored our online customer reviews. We have found that, in spite of the new procedures, our ratings have not improved. As a result of this continuing problem, we have decided to pursue an alternate approach and to use the services of a different consulting group, effective July 1. We regret having to make this change, but our customer-service problem is a top priority that needs a solution."
 
In another situation, if you need to persuade a subordinate to accept a management assignment that would require her to move to Denver, you might approach it this way:
 
“We’ve been experiencing sagging sales in our Denver region. The downward trend began two years ago, and each quarter since then has continued this negative pattern. We are now down 18 percent from where we were two years ago. We need someone from the home office to move to Denver for the next couple of years and manage operations there so we can get things moving in a positive direction. We would like you to be that person.”
 
Placing the main idea first would result in the following:
 
“We want you to move to Denver and manage that region for the next couple of years. We’ve been experiencing sagging sales in our Denver region. The downward trend began two years ago, and each quarter since then has continued this negative pattern. We are now down 18 percent from where we were two years ago. We need someone from the home office to move to Denver for the next couple of years and manage operations there so we can get things moving in a positive direction.”
 
Placing the key point of the message in the first sentence would obviously be a major shock to the receiver. A few sentences are needed to prepare the reader for the main point in the message.
 
In summary, whether you have to give bad news in a written message, or in a face-to-face setting, use the indirect approach—facts first, bad news afterward. This approach is most appropriate for giving significant bad news (the direct approach may be acceptable for minor bad news) and for persuasive situations when the receiver needs to be convinced.
 
One final note—these guidelines are most appropriate for most audiences in the western hemisphere. Asian audiences, in contrast, are generally more indirect in their communication practices. Therefore, be sure to analyze your audience (see the PACS planning model in a previous blog) before deciding on a final strategy.
 
Communication is the means by which managers manage. As a result, communication is the most vital management skill. Put the guidelines of this blog to practice in your own communication, and you’ll find yourself writing and speaking with greater confidence and power.

-Bill Baker

Whether working on an internal report, blog post, or manuscript of an oral presentation, you may find that you need to include information written by another author. This blog explains how to integrate that information smoothly into your writing.
 
The building blocks for smooth integration include (1) understanding the difference between quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing and (2) following the three-step process of introducing, inserting, and interpreting.
 
Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

​Writers and speakers use three general techniques when integrating sources into their communication: quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing.
 
Quoting involves using exact words or phrases from another person’s unique material. As writers integrate quotations into their own writing, they should enclose the quotations in quotation marks and cite the source of the material. Here is an example quote:
 
“Effective communication skills are critical in business.  Across all organizations people exchange millions of texts, emails, telephone calls, letter, proposals, and reports each day.”
 
Paraphrasing conveys the content of the other original author’s unique material, but the writer uses his or her own words. As writers integrate paraphrases into their own writing, they don’t need to enclose the material inside in quotation marks, but they should cite the source of the material. Here is an example paraphrase of the previous quotation:
 
The ability to communicate is extremely important in the business world.  In all companies, employees engage in communication in various forms, including on phones, on computers, and in print.
 
Summarizing is similar to paraphrasing except that summary generally condenses the original author’s material into its main points. As writers integrate summaries into their own writing, they don’t need to enclose the material inside quotation marks, but they should cite the source of the material, as follows:
 
Business professionals need to know how to communicate because they engage in many types of communication every day on the job.
 
In some cases, a writer might need to utilize more than one of these three options for integrating outside material. For example, a writer might choose to summarize a four-page report into a single paragraph, but include a key quotation to emphasize a certain finding from the report.
 
The following chart summarizes the main points from the previous paragraphs: