Developing Your Professional Voice

How does professional writing differ from other sorts of writing, such as academic writing or personal writing? Which editing principles do you apply on a regular basis? What other tools or techniques have helped you develop or shape your professional voice?

Comments

  1. David Hertl says:

    Professional writing differs from personal and academic mainly because of the lack of detail. When you are writing something personal, you tend to ramble and give every detail to everything. Professional writing is intended to be more clear and concise. Getting to the point is crucial because you do not want to lose your reader in an important document. Academic writing, as we’ve been taught, includes precision. Everything from grammar to spelling are things that will be taken into consideration. This doesn’t mean professional writing is not grammatically correct, just that it is not to be read as an essay.

  2. Amanda Colvin says:

    Professional writing can differ from academic or even personal writing due to the purpose of the writers message. While writing a professional piece one may use a different language as if they were writing an e-mail to a friend, verses a different language used for an academic piece. With language come with choice of words, tone and how much detail the writer wants to endure with their piece. While editing the piece, you should always use basic editing skills, which may differ between the piece the writer is writing, and the message it is trying to give. With a personal piece making sure all words are correctly spelled may be enough, but with a academic piece, word tone and choice need to be checked, correct paragraphing, and then down to the basics. Just being enrolled in this online English class has introduced me to a huge arena of writing tools that has helped me become a better now verses how my writing was before

  3. Professional writing differs from academic or personal writing because it requires editing from another party. For example, an author goes through an editor for revision before he or she publishes a book or formal document. In academic or personal writing many individuals do not seek outside help to review their work. The editing principles that apply to professional writing are checking for grammar and spelling errors. Also, making sure sentences flow,are consistent with subject matter, and tone of voice. Some techniques that have helped me in this particular English course are to speak from your own voice, be short and straight to the point, and controlling tone of voice.

  4. Michelle Comerford says:

    Professional writing and personal writing are different because the tone of voice used is two completely different tones. When talking with a friend through texting or emailing, the proper spelling and grammar does not need to be used. We would not speak the same with our friends as we would with the manager at our job or while emailing co-workers, employees, etc. When writing a professional email, editing and being concise is important to entice the reader. My professional writing class has taught me the difference when sending emails and how to format an email that is direct and to the point.

  5. Kaitlin Grubesic says:

    Professional writing differs from academic and personal writing by tone and the way you present your message. In personal writing, it is more carefree and there is no need to edit your work. You use personal writing when talking to friends or family. They will more than likely not correct you when you use a short version of a word. In professional writing, however, it more geared toward your job or school. When emailing your manger you want to make sure that you are clear and can be understood easily. Making sure that you are to the point and do not drag your writing on will make the conversion run smoothly. You also want to look over your writing before sending it to fix any mistakes.

  6. Dyllan Bakker says:

    Professional writing is different from other sorts of writing because in professional writing you should be direct and use a tone that is appropriate for the individual you are addressing. When writing to a friend the tone is more likely to be relaxed and additional details can be added to make it not as direct. In academic writing, the indirect approach is also used more often as well as a tone that could be a mix of personal and professional styles. When editing any written work, spelling and sentence structure are always advised. In academic and professional writings additional editing is needed in the form of making sure that the word choice is appropriate in addition to the tone of the writing. My professional voice has been shaped by the practice in writing various styles of letters and emails. To achieve this, I will also look over the letter in the print preview before sending to be sure that the margins and paragraphs appear to be formatted correctly.

  7. Damjan Aleksovski says:

    Professional writings differ from other types of writings in a way of tone in the writing and also less detailed. In professional writing, you are trying to get straight to the point and not include many details. Personal writings are more about yourself and how your emotions and feelings are. In personal writings, it tends to be many details that most of the time should not be in the writing because it is not needed. Professional writings tend to be for employee to employer; it addresses with “sir” or “ma’am.” The editing principles that I apply on a regular basis are going back to read over what I have written out loud and see any mistakes that I made or if I left out anything. I would usually give sentences a transition word to help them flow. Reading my writings out loud helps me think more clearly and sound out mistakes if a reader might catch. I go over anything I need to in order to create a voice because when I know what I am talking about, I will sound more powerful and confident in the material I am teaching to the audience.

  8. Lisa Lumbarkoski says:

    Professional writing and academic writing differ in many ways. First, professional writing involves connecting with another individual. You are writing from your own voice and connecting on a personal level. It is important to be respectful to the individual’s that you are communicating with, as well as, provide supporting evidence to back up your claims and views. With academic writing, you are connecting with an audience. Therefore, the tone you set in your article or writing with establishes the quality and credibility of your work. Professional writing is said to be less formal, (i.e. writing in emails, memos, etc.). Academic writing, on the other hand, is very formal. When writing, I am constantly proofreading, editing, and revising my work. I am always thinking about what I am writing and how it will sound to my audience. Am I being clear and concise? Will my reader take this offensively? It is important to proofread for any mistakes you may have made in the writing process. This will show how serious you are about what you are writing to the reader.

  9. Candace Howard says:

    Professional writing differs from personal as well as academic writing. Professional writing is often used in a place of business. This form of writing embodies correct grammar and punctuation. The language used is often formal, and it demonstrates an appropriate tone as well. Contrary to this academic writing often includes the use of figurative language as well as thought provoking information and is often formal too, but is more commonly used in an educational setting. Personal writing differs from Professional writing in that it is often whatever the writer makes of it. Meaning, it can be informal writing exchanged among friends, often conveying common slang terms and is usually seen as a less serious form of written communication. The editing principles I apply regularly are proofreading and asking another person to look over my writing. When I have written an essay, I often go back and reread it constantly looking for misspellings and other indiscretions I missed when previously reviewing. I find this to be very beneficial. As far as shaping my professional voice goes, I usually read my writings out loud in order to get a better feel of how it will sound to the reader. This usually takes me a long way and allows my professional voice to be heard through my writing.

  10. Gabby Royko says:

    Professional writing differs from both academic and personal writing in a plethora of ways. Professional writing is used in the business realm. This is because this writing style is known to be more clear and concise. Individuals who write with this style give no unnecessary detail, and get their point across as quickly and efficiently as possible. This is why this style is used with business letters or other important documents. Personal writing definitely goes more in depth with detail. Personal writing gives the writer more free reign, and doesn’t have much of a list of rules to go by. What the writing contains is much for the writer themselves to decide. Academic writing has a very specific style. Many of us wrote in this style in high school, and are still writing research papers in this way. It has many specifics and rules to the way you must write. Sentence fluency, grammar, spelling, and so on. This style is incredibly precise. When it comes to editing, I definitely lean more towards the academic side. I pay much attention to grammar as well as sentence fluency. Punctuation to me is also very important. Writing academically has definitely helped me shape my professional voice, but I also think that personal writing has given it a bit of uniqueness, and helped me define my style of writing more.

  11. jada shannon says:

    Professional writing is different from personal and academic writing due to how the writing is formatted and the amount of detail that is given in the writing. Personal writing tends to not be very formal and has a lot of personal views. When writing like this the writing tends to be easier to write because when people know what they are talking about and they can express how they feel about a topic without being judged because of how they described things they tend to relax more. When doing academic writing, people tend to just say what was learned and how they applied it. By doing that they do not add much personal thoughts to the writing. Professional writing is a mixture of both personal and academic writing. People can say how they feel, while using proper grammar and formatting.

  12. Lauren Cox says:

    Professional writing is often different then personal and academic writing. When you are writing professionally, you tend to follow the rules when using grammar and punctuation. That is not always the case when writing personal letters or e-mails. As a society today, we tend to use slang when writing to friends and/or family. We even have access to Emojis on our phone which can describe how we feel without saying anything at all. It would be unprofessional to use those types of things in a business letter or other professional letter.
    Academic writing also differs from these other types of writing because grammar and punctuation is looked at more closely. When academic writing, you should always make sure you follow the rules for whatever type of paper you are writing, or e-mail, business letter, etc. It is important to make sure it is correct before submitting it, since they will take into consideration any mistake you make.
    Overall, there are different types of writing depending on the situation you are using it for, but it should become habit to most people to write more professionally, even when writing a personal letter, because it will help you to make less mistakes in your professional writing.

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