Rules for writers, Tenth edition - Diana Hacker, Nancy Sommers 2021

APPENDIX: Models of professional writing

Good document design promotes readability and increases the chances that you will achieve your purpose for writing and reach your readers. How you design a document — how you format it for the printed page or for a computer screen, for example — affects your readers’ response to it. Most readers have expectations about document design and format, usually depending on the context and the purpose of the piece of writing.

This gallery features pages from business documents. The annotations on the sides of the pages point out design choices as well as important features of the writing.

✵ Page from a business report (showing a visual)

✵ Business letter

✵ Résumé

✵ Professional memo

Standard academic formatting

Use the manuscript format that is recommended for your academic discipline. In most English and some other humanities classes, you will be asked to use MLA (Modern Language Association) format (see section 58). In most social science classes, such as psychology and sociology, and in most business, education, and health-related classes, you’ll be asked to use APA (American Psychological Association) format (see section 63).

Standard professional formatting

It helps to look at examples when you are preparing to write a professional document such as a letter, a memo, or a résumé. In general, business and professional writing is direct, clear, and courteous, and documents are designed to be read easily and quickly. When writing less formal documents such as email messages in academic contexts, it is just as important to craft the document for easy readability.

Business report with a visual

Business letter in full block style

Résumé

Professional memo