In this age of electronic communications such as cell phones, text messaging, and e-mail, what is the role of formal writing? How do you think these digital communication methods influence the writing process?
Effective communication is crucial in the business world, and technological advancements have made it simpler and easier. Writing is one way in which communication is done, though its use has reduced significantly in the recent past. People now prefer to use telephones, text messages, and emails to communicate, for the obvious reasons discussed below.
Formal writing has always played and continues to play, a significant role in an organization’s or business’ communication. It is essential in a business’ development through carefully crafted promotional materials, and other forms of writings to pass messages to the intended audience. It is the preferred form of communication when an organization intends to create and maintain a good and formal image. Formal writing assists in keeping records that are useful later as references.
These writings can also be used as evidence in court processes involving the organization or business. Writing is, however, becoming unpopular due to the costs involved through the use of expensive stationery. It is also viewed as slow and responses are not instantaneous, in contrast to other modes of communication, for example, phone calls and emails.
Digital communication methods such as emails, cell phones, and text messages, have changed communication in the business world. They have made it faster, easier, and almost instantaneous. They are fast becoming popular among business executives since they relay the intended message in a very short time. Responses to the messages are also received within a short period. Speed is important when making business decisions, and crucial information is passed without a waste of time. These methods have also made communication cheaper since resources are not wasted in the procurement of stationery.
How do you research the information you need? How do you evaluate the information you find?
Research is an important tool for gathering information both for business and personal reasons. When conducting research, I gather information from textbooks, print and electronic journals, the internet, electronic databases, through interviews, and other research methods. When researching on the internet, search engines such as Google come in handy, though they are not sufficient. Identifying information that is relevant to my research topic is important, and I try to limit my search to relevant resources.
Once I identify the resources that I want to use as sources of information for my research, I determine the relevance of the information they contain based on my intended audience, the scope of my research, and what I intend to do with the information, among others. I check to see whether it is an expression of opinion or fact, whether there is evidence in support of contentions, whether the information is objectively or emotionally presented, and I also check if the information is recent and updated.
I recently researched the internet for a report that I was writing, and after going through many online databases, I found a lot of information that I could not use. I needed recent findings on consumer behavior, but many authors of articles on the internet had not updated their information. Some had also expressed one-sided opinions that I did not find objective, and so I did not use their articles. However, after analyzing all the information that I thought would be helpful in my research, I finally settled on a few sources that were updated, relevant, and were presented objectively. Analyzing information while doing research is an essential skill, and every researcher must use it carefully to come up with the desired results.