By Dana P Skopal, PhD
In business, a writer / manager often needs to build a persuasive case or argument to progress ideas through an organisation. This type of proposal may be a business case or even a board paper. Though you are writing, it is the planning and evidence that is crucial to get your argument / case across. Yet, how many times is the key information (or key evidence) buried in a long-winded document?
First, the most important information for your argument must link to your key message and that should be up front. This is in line with the principles of plain language. Next, a writer needs to layer, in sections, the evidence / data a reader may need to follow the argument. This evidence / data is what can make or break your case, that is, what will convince your reader to agree with you. A good argument puts forward a point of view that is well grounded, that is, complete with supportive evidence.
If the data is from your experiments / analysis, then ensure your results are correct. If you are bringing in evidence from other sources, then you need to reference those sources. One common citation / reference system is using footnotes, and word-processing software has now simplified the numbering process for you (see the Reference tab in Microsoft Word).
So with this evidence / data, you need to make it clear to your reader which sections are your own data/ findings and which are from other sources. Writers are taught that if you directly quote from a source, you use quotation marks and you give a reference. What if you take information from another source? To be a credible writer, you need to acknowledge your source, even if you are paraphrasing other sources’ information. This is especially important these days with the ease of ‘cutting and pasting’ text from a source into your document.
Further, if it is not general knowledge and you have obtained the information from researching other documents, then you should reference those sources. If you are giving information or specific data / technical details that you have obtained from an external source, then be honest and reference that source appropriately. If we do not ground our argument and honestly refer to our sources, we may become nothing more than a world of cheats or copy-cat writers.
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