Effective writing – the key to success
HAVING worked as a wedding planner and sales executive for several years, I have had many first-hand experiences that prove how essential effective writing is to employment.
In the current global marketplace, the ability to communicate well with people from different cultures and social statuses is essential to securing a good job and advancing in one’s career.
Communication, however, is not limited to speaking but includes writing as well – a skill that is harder to master but especially important in an age when many business correspondences are done through e-mails.
Ahugepartofmy responsibility, for example, was to address written enquiries from my clients.
How I crafted my response would determine how successfully I represented my company and whether I sealed a deal.
Besides ascertaining that my spelling and use of grammar were without errors, I had to assume the right tone and register, and write courteously and with precision so that my intention to assist and the information provided were clearly understood.
It became obvious to me that, when done effectively, writing can potentially result in greater customer satisfaction, foster a healthier work environment with reduced miscommunications and reinforce the organisation’s reputation, which translate to higher revenue.
Whether it is for a report, a formal letter or a job application, effective writing is more than just correct sentence construction, but involves knowledge of strategies and techniques related to meeting my reader’s expectation and achieving my objective.
This realisation of writing’s impact on an organisation’s dayto-day operations and long-term sustainability eventually led me to pursue the Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences majoring in writing at Monash University Malaysia.
Currently in my second year, I am continuously discovering from the writing units I have undertaken that effective writing goes beyond good spelling and grammar.
The first-year unit, Media Studies, for instance, made me realise that knowledge of different types of media texts (newspaper, television, Twitter, Facebook, etc) and the formal conventions specific to each is fundamental to effective writing.
It underscored the importance of understanding a media text’s suitability to the intended information, the way it presents that information, and the formal strategies it uses to attract readers – all of which must be considered if we want our writing to achieve its purpose, whether it is to champion a cause, draw attention to a serious social issue, or drum up support for a person or an event.
Further highlighted in the unit is how writing inevitably embeds ideology and is always biased.
An effective piece of writing would cleverly downplay these with neutral language so that readers are indirectly coerced into adopting its point of view.
An obvious case in point would be scholarly writings – implied in the erudite jargon and dispassionate discourse is often a “for” or “against” position that the reader is subconsciously encouraged to align with. On the other hand, advertisements make use of language that sounds lucrative such as “free” and “safe” to arouse buyers’ excitement, stimulating their spending desire and generating sales for the company.
It is evident that writing to exert influence for a specific purpose is very much dependent on choosing the correct kind of text and tone – not just writing without errors.
The units that make up my major are not all related to writing. It also includes several literature-based/ reading-related subjects.
One that I recently undertook as part of my year-two curriculum was Postcolonial and Diaspora Literature, which explores fiction by largely Asian writers from nations once colonised by the West.
This emphasis on reading is requisite to a writing major because reading good literature allows us to learn different writing strategies employed by experienced writers that help their narratives resonate with readers.
More importantly, it teaches us the importance of having a personal voice so that our written work is recognisable.
As my specialist knowledge in writing grows with each unit I take, so does my confidence as a writer and realisation of the importance of effective writing. I am now more critical of my own compositions to ensure that they always address their intended purposes and achieve results.
My pursuit of a degree in writing has undoubtedly broadened my career scope, as my expertise can be applied to a range of careers: journalism, copy editing, advertising, marketing, ghostwriting, scriptwriting, translating and many others.
The career opportunities for a writer who understands the art of writing effectively are endless. Moreover, Business Insider Malaysia reported that writing-related professions are some of the highest earners last year, with median annual salaries starting from RM50,000. –
An effective piece of writing would cleverly downplay these with neutral language so that readers are indirectly coerced into adopting its point of view. Chua Hui Chei
For more information, visit www.monash.edu.my