by Michael Kellichner

Created on: May 05, 2009

Writing, at its most fundamental level, is the ability to convey ideas to others through a written medium. Throughout many portions of the average person's life, some form of written communication will be required. This can be as simple and infrequent as putting down credentials on paper in theform of a cover letter or resume in order to be considered for a job, and as complicated and common as needing to use writing every day as part of one's work and/or private routine.

Poor writing can come off as unprofessional in many ways. Writing that is riddled with errors, everything from typographical errors to grammatical and punctuational errors, says one of two things: either whomever did the writing possessed no firm grasp on the skills needed to write (in which case, why is he or she the one responsible for writing it) or he or she did possess the abilities but didn't take the time to look over and correct simple errors that are acceptable for a first draft, but unacceptable for a finished product. This sends a signal that the company or individual that the writing represents is not equipped to be producing the finished written work, and cannot be bothered to produce end results that are high quality. If a piece of writing cannot be high quality, what is there to suggest that whatever the writing is promoting would be of great quality?

The presence of errors also distracts the reader. Whether reading a novel or a article about science, misspelled words or poor grammar draws thereader's attention to the error and away from the content of the writing. Since the writing is intended to pass along some information, the reader should walk away with that information, not a fragmented recollection about half the information and how the article was poorly written.

Relating to relaying information, in the fast-paced world of today, most people do not have much time to devote to reading. This is especially true of careers that involve fast-paced work environments. Doctors, lawyers, even simply people who need to get shipments out on time, need to be able to read over documents quickly and retain the information that it contains. Poor writing makes the retention of information more difficult. And if the writing is poor enough to merit multiple readings just to understand, it takes away time that should be devoted to meeting the demands of a job, not rereading a poorly written memo.

Since writing takes the place of much face to face interaction in the workforce and the transfer of information, both internally within companies and abroad as companies dealing with all types of careers share information with the world, it is important that writing be done effectively and written well. If writing is poor, the meaning can be lost or misinterpreted. And, if nothing else, poor writing comes off as an example of the level ofprofessionalism expected of a company or individual. To keep a clearly professional air while performing the duties of a given career, portraying one's self professionally through his or her writing is as necessary as maintaining a professional appearance.

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