(Complete) Ch. 4: Designing the Right Type of Message: From Letters to Social Media

How are emails similar to memos?

They have Date, To, From, and Subject headings.

How have modern business letters evolved over time?

They have become more conversational than they were in the past.

How have statistical programs such as SPSS and SAS become more user friendly?

They let writers take numerical data and put them into understandable, visual formats.

Why does the U.S. Postal Service request that envelopes be typed in a certain way?

To make it easier to be sorted by optical character recognition equipment

How do you decide how formal to make a memo?

You base the formality on the person you are writing to and why you are writing.

The best form of communication to use to deliver a formal message to parties outside of an organization is ______.

a letter

The visual rendering of a company's address and contact information is known as ______.

a letterhead

What is the signature block in a business letter?

a line under the signature that gives the writer's name and title

The language contained in memorandums ______.

can be either informal or formal

The three levels of email formality are

casual, informal, and formal

The use of memorandums has ______.

changed in response to technological innovations such as email

"Sincerely yours" is an example of a ______.

complimentary close

Business applications of social media sites ______.

differ greatly from personal applications

The help feature, word count, and clip art are all types of ______.

drafting tools

Punctuation that uses a colon after the salutation and a comma after the complimentary close is known as ______.

mixed punctuation

Who is your target audience for this message?

only individuals who currently have Eastern Lakes debit cards

Instant messaging is a communication form that ______.

takes place in real time

What is your main purpose for writing this message?

to formally communicate a policy change to debit card users and encourage them to use their debit cards

What are The Eden Cooperative's business and communication goals?

to reopen safely by communicating to customers and employees the safety practices they must observe

True or false: The closing "Truly" is increasingly used in business letters.

False

In order to highlight and check certain parts of a document, you would use the ______.

Find feature

What is Mike's likely relationship with each audience?

Friendly and informal. Mike knows his audiences well. He communicates with them often and has a social business relationship with them.

How important is it to you to have your readers feel as though they have a personal connection to you?

Important. Eastern Lakes sees personalized service as one of the reasons for its success.

How important is it to communicate this information immediately (i.e., today)?

Important. Readers should know this information today so they can use their debit cards by January 1.

How would you describe the form of an email?

It combines attributes of letters and memos.

Which of the following is the oldest, but still the best choice for many communication tasks?

Letters

If you don't send a letter and your audience doesn't learn of the policy change via your online communication channels, which of the following is not a likely consequence?

Members might assume responsibility for the missed message and say nothing to you.

Which of the following is found in open punctuation?

No punctuation after the salutation or complimentary close

Which of the following are steps in the business message planning process? (Choose every correct answer.)

-Analyze and organize the information -Analyze the audience -Gather information -Determine goals -Choose the form, channel, and format of the document

Which of the statements are true about revising documents with editing software? (Choose every correct answer.)

-Editing features are readily available in many types of software. -Editing software can save a great deal of time. -Some editing must be done by a person.

Which of the following are true statements about the formality of business letters? (Choose every correct answer.)

-It is influenced by the audience. -It is influenced by the company's culture.

What will be the role of businesspeople as new communication technologies are developed?

People will still need to apply human judgment to solve problems and generate ideas.

Appropriate uses of social media by business professionals include ______. (Choose every correct answer.)

-networking with other professionals -promoting product lines -locating new clients

Which of the following should be used when addressing a business envelope?

A hyphen in the zip code

Based on Mike's message, what can you assume the audiences' reactions might be?

A mix of positive, negative, and neutral emotions. Customers and employees may not like the new rules, but they will be happy to be open and understand the need for the safety policies.

What should you remember about folding a business letter?

A poorly folded letter makes you look bad to the reader.

Which of the following directs a business letter to a specific office or department?

Attention line

Where does the attention line appear in a business letter?

Below the inside address and above the salutation

What is Mike's relationship to each audience?

Customers: Client-customer (neither a superior rank nor an equal rank); Employees: Superior rank

When drafting a business document, ______.

Do not attempt to get everything perfect on the first try

How important is the factor of cost in choosing whether to send a letter or post the message electronically?

Somewhat important. The credit union would prefer a cost-effective option unless one isn't available. Getting the message out is the driving factor in choosing the channel for delivering the message.

What does hitting Ctrl+F activate when using Microsoft Word 2016?

The Find feature

Which of the following is the best description of a letterhead?

The contact information included at the top of a letter

A writer examines mechanical and grammatical errors during which level of edit?

Proofreading

Which of the following statements regarding the use of research tools for gathering and organizing information are true? (Choose every correct answer.)

-Examples of social networking sites that can serve as sources of information are Facebook and Twitter. -The app Flipboard pulls information for you from the Web based on your interests. -Library catalogs, company webpages, and professional organizations are potential sources of information in school and the workplace.

Alfonz needs to communicate with a colleague about an impending sales transaction. He is set to meet the client in a matter of minutes, so time is of the essence. Which of the following would be the most appropriate channels of communication for Alfonz to use? (Choose every correct answer.)

-Instant messaging -Text messaging

Which of the following statements are true about email? (Choose every correct answer.)

-It can be used for a wide range of audiences and purposes. -It makes people more accessible. -It provides a wide variety of formatting options.

What should you keep in mind while planning a good business message? (Choose every correct answer.)

-It takes less time to plan a message for a familiar audience. -Planning a good message takes time. -You should start with the problem.

What are the three ways to make folding a letter create a good impression with the reader? (Choose every correct answer.)

-Making the letter easy for the reader to remove -Making the letter appear neat when opened -Making the letter fit snugly in its cover

Which of the following statements are true concerning how to approach gender in the inside address of a business letter? (Choose every correct answer.)

-Many businesspeople add a pronouns list to their signature. -If you do not know the reader's preferred pronoun, you can omit the courtesy title or salutation.

How will communication technology relate to businesspeople in the future? (Choose every correct answer.)

-People who can learn to use new technology to communicate well will have successful careers. -Human thought will still be the main factor in communication.

What are project planning tools used for? (Choose every correct answer.)

-To reassign resources to reach financial and temporal deadlines -To picture the scale of a project -To predict how the elements of a project will combine to reach a goal

What are some helpful pointers for using computer tools to present information? (Choose every correct answer.)

-You should organize your data to meet the needs of your audience. -You can turn numbers into relevant visuals with user-friendly statistical programs. -You can use spreadsheet programs, such as Excel, to help you understand and visually represent your numerical data.

Elements of emails typically include ______. (Choose every correct answer.)

-a CC option -the message -a To heading

The three levels of formality for email include ______. (Choose every correct answer.)

-casual -formal -informal

How many of your credit union members who have debit cards have not used their debit cards at least twice in the last year?

13,950 How to figure it out: 46,500 x 30 x .01 = 13,950

Which of the following memo headings is optional?

Cc

Where does a return address appear in a business letter?

In the letterhead

What does Mike assume that each audience already knows?

Mike can assume that everyone knows about the pandemic and that businesses are taking precautions as they reopen.

What would Mike want the audience to think, feel, do, or believe as a result of his message?

Mike wants the audiences to know that The Eden Cooperative values safety and that safety is everyone's responsibility.

What is the conventional date form for a business letter in the United States?

Month, day, year

What assumption can you make about your audience?

Not all debit card users may have access to the Internet.

Determining goals, analyzing the audience, and choosing a form are all parts of which stage of business writing?

Planning

What are the three stages of the business writing process? (Choose every correct answer.)

Planning Drafting Revising

Just an FYI, I Got a 93.75 so there is at least one question wrong here. Here is a list of possible wrong questions.

Question5 Flashcard 81 Question11 Flashcard 87 Question12 Flashcard 88 Question13 Flashcard 89 Question14 Flashcard90 Question15 Flashcard 91 Question16 Flashcard 92

A writer addresses top-level concerns during which level of edit?

Revising

Which of the following appears under the writer's signature in a business letter?

Signature block

In general, which of the following is the best channel for quick and immediate communication?

Text messaging

Which of the following includes the readers address and title?

The inside address

Which of the following is traditionally written next to the sender's name in the From heading of a memo?

The sender's initials

Which of the following is the standard way to fold a letter for a long envelope?

The two-fold pattern

What should you remember about using software to edit your documents?

There are some things that you will have to use your own knowledge and skill to edit.

Which statement is true of abbreviated date forms?

They are considered too informal for business letters.

Which of the following statements are true about text messages?

They are generally used with mobile devices.

What do good business writers do?

They have to use creativity and critical thinking in their writing.

What is the main business purpose of letters?

To communicate with people outside your organization

How are text messages used?

To send short messages

Using an RSS (real simple syndication) reader is a way to have information come to you.

True

Which of the following is responsible for outlining official standards for addressing envelopes?

U.S. Postal Service

Should you send the letter?

Yes. The company is willing to pay the cost, and you don't want to risk losing your members' goodwill.

The inside address includes the reader's mailing address, as well as ______.

a courtesy title

A paper document used to communicate inside a business is ______.

a memorandum

How many of your credit union members currently have debit cards?

a) 46,500 How to figure it out: 62,000 x 75 x .01 = 46,500

You should focus on ______ when working on drafts of your business documents.

flexibility

Software features such as help and built-in styles and themes are ______.

included in many word processing programs

An instant, text-based form of communication sometimes known as online chatting is ______.

instant messaging

When inserting a three-fold letter into an envelope, be sure to ______.

keep the loose edges toward the stamp end of the envelope

The oldest form of business messages is ______.

letters

Microsoft Visio and Gantt charts are examples of ______.

project planning tools

Characteristics of email include ______.

reaching multiple people simultaneously

A letter writer's address is known as the ______.

return address

How should gender be approached in the inside address of a letter?

use their preferred pronoun

Writing can be more challenging than other types of communication because ______.

words exclusively must deliver the message