8-0 Introduction and Key Terms

Unit Seven focused on the fifth stage of the writing process, drafting. We explored the different forms of business writing and how to use structure, register, and sentence and paragraph composition to create effective messages.

In Unit Eight, we will take a detailed look at the final stage of the writing process: revising.

Lesson 8-01 reviews the importance of concise writing and the concept of persuasion. We discover that producing a well written, concise message takes time. It is considerably easier to write long-winded, meandering prose, but excessively long messages are inappropriate and ineffectual in professional writing. Lesson one also provides us with a number of techniques to improve the accuracy of language and the length of writing.

Following concision, we explore the three means of persuasion: ethos, logos, and pathos or credibility, logic, and emotional connection. These three elements, known as rhetoric, were developed over 2000 years ago by the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. Rhetoric asserts that in order to be persuasive, a speaker or writer needs to demonstrate expertise, evoke emotional connections, and create present arguments to the listener or reader.

Lesson 8-02 is devoted entirely to the concept of bias. Bias, a form of prejudice, unfairly tips and skews the balance of a particular viewpoint negatively and prejudicially. We learn that bias is a relative notion, made present through its detection by the misrepresented. Bias is created over time and is interwoven into our perceptions. We learn that correcting bias is a difficult process and that, first, we need to be able to identify our blind spots, which by their very nature are hidden from us. The process of identifying and amending and reducing bias is detailed in lesson 8-03.

The following questions can be used as readying activities to introduce concepts, create participation, and encourage analytical and creative thinking. Questions can be used before you begin the unit, or at any time during each lesson.