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The Kickass Entrepreneur

7 Exercises to Improve Business Writing Skills

  • December 15, 2021
  • 6 minute read

No one becomes a good or highly qualified essay writer overnight; it takes years of practice for one to perfect the art of writing. Some of the best professional essay writers in the world all say they have taken a variety of exercises to sharpen their skills and keep their creative juices flowing.

Business writing is different from academic writing or custom research papers. After all, it is used in professional settings because it conveys important information to a reader in a very effective, concise, and clear manner. 

Business writing includes things like notices, proposals, emails, reports, memos, and more. To get the message across, a piece needs to be proficient in its writing, especially when it comes to a workplace setting.

This article by a pro essay writer from AdvancedWriters will look at the 7 exercises one can take to improve their business writing skills. 

Why Are Business Writing Skills Very Important?

1. effective communication.

Business writing skills help everyone from stakeholders, shareholders, business partners , and more stay connected because everything written in a business piece is informative, comprehensive, and proficient.

This helps the recipients mentioned above digest the message easily, even if it was by an employee or an essay writing company. Additionally, having strong business writing skills can also be beneficial when pursuing a  technology leadership certification . Effective communication is essential in this field, and honing one’s writing abilities can greatly enhance their chances of success in obtaining this valuable certification.

2. Helps Organizations Highlight Top Employees 

Business writing helps highlight which employees have a strong command of the English language and those that don’t, based on a cover letter they submit for their job application, for example.

Applicants who submit a piece with fewer grammar errors will create a good impression compared to those who submit something full of mistakes.

3.  Business Writing Shows One’s Level of Intelligence 

Even if one applies for a job that doesn’t require any writing, the way they present themselves is very significant.

Making a few grammar mistakes might seem small, but HR departments at various companies will pick up on that. 

They will immediately conclude that those who are not good at writing are not as intelligent as those that are good at writing. Don’t be turned down for a job due to poor writing skills.

Before you submit anything like a job application, for example, proofread it because presenting flawless documents will make you come across as smart.

4. Good Record Keeping 

Everyone who works in business knows that information that is passed through word of mouth doesn’t last long. The same applies in colleges, and that is why students take notes during lectures.

Having information on a piece of paper or in writing helps preserve their research for many years, and that is what business writing skills bring to the table. They help one keep accurate records that can be used when needed, even if it is in 5 or 10 years. 

Exercises to Improve Business Writing Skills

There are plenty of exercises out there that one can take to help them improve their business writing skills.

These exercises do a great job in helping one generate ideas, practice a different form of writing, develop a new style, and more.

1. Practice Free Writing

This is where a professional essay writer follows their intuition and brings to life in writing whatever is on their mind. Everything writing is premeditated and not planned, that is what freewriting is all about.

You can set yourself a time of 1 hour or 30 mins for example and begin writing down thoughts that come to your mind. The things written down do not need to make sense or be cohesive; the whole idea here is practicing how to brainstorm.

Any edits you wish to make in the piece can be done once everything you had in your head has been written down.

2.  Practice With Random Sentences 

For this exercise, what you need to do is choose a sentence from a particular piece of writing you’ve been reading and use that as your first sentence.

As far as the story you write, you can take it in any direction, but the most important thing is starting with words written by someone else. This exercise is helpful because it gives you a foundation to begin your piece and requires you to come up with your ideas after that.

3.  Read Content That Is Written by Others 

There are plenty of pieces out there that have been written by so many amazing writers. You can take inspiration from them and incorporate the style and tone that the authors use into your piece.

Pick up as much as possible from the way the paper is paced, the theme, the images, sentence structure, and more. By taking note of the various techniques experts use, one will improve their writing.

4.  Edit Someone Else’s Work 

To consider yourself a master writer, you must not only be able to write well but edit well as well. The best way to do this is to go to blogging sites, choose an article that you like, and try to proofread the content to see if there are any spelling mistakes.

Mark any areas you feel need improvement in the content and make corrections or practice editing. This will help you improve your overall writing and produce work that isn’t filled with grammar mistakes, just like professional writing services.

5.  Produce a Guide 

If there is a topic that you are good at or process a respectable amount of knowledge, you can put together a “how-to guide”. You can practice how to break down complicated concepts into easy pieces for people who don’t have a lot of knowledge to understand.

Research takes time, but what this will do is improve your organizational and analytical skills. The research you produce might inspire new content that can be written by someone else in the future.

6.  Watch People

Observation is very important in this exercise, and you need to write about things that you’re seeing when you are out watching people in public. Hit the park or the local supermarket, watch what people are doing and see where your thoughts will take you.

Not only will this help you become more creative, but watching people lets you interact with the world and makes your writing more natural.

7.  Try Using Vocabulary Builder Prompts 

There is a great as well as a horrible way to use words you’re not familiar with when it comes to your writing. Using vocabulary prompts does help because one can build on their grammar and better their writing to make it more accurate and better express their best ideas.

Final Thoughts 

Overall, the better your business writing skills, the more responsibility you’ll be given either at college or university to get effective results . If you are working for a big company, they will want the pieces that they put out to be accurate and should show clarity. If you are the best communicator they have, they will often come to you to draft posts, emails, newsletters, essays, and more. Good business writing skills give you the chance to have a long and successful career in any field, even if it is very competitive.

_____________________________________

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The Palmer Method of Business Writing

Drill 1: Oblique straight line and oval exercises

Palmer Method of Business Writing: Drill 1

Drill 2: Two-space compact oval and oblique straight line exercises

Palmer Method of Business Writing: Drill 2

Drill 3: Two-space compact oval and minimum letters

Palmer Method of Business Writing: Drill 3

Drill 4: Developing a uniform, continuous motion

Palmer Method of Business Writing: Drill 4

Drill 5: Forcing movement drill

Palmer Method of Business Writing: Drill 5

Drill 6: Capital A

Palmer Method of Business Writing: Drill 6

Drill 7: Capital O

Palmer Method of Business Writing: Drill 7

Drill 8: Capital O

Palmer Method of Business Writing: Drill 8

Drill 9: Capital C

Palmer Method of Business Writing: Drill 9

Drill 10: Capital C

Palmer Method of Business Writing: Drill 10

Drill 11: Small o

Palmer Method of Business Writing: Drill 11

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Writing exercises you can do in 10 minutes or less

Writing is an art. Getting better at it requires lots and lots of practice.

Writing is a skill set anyone can improve with a bit of dedication, direction, and practice. The trick is figuring out what actions will truly help you become a better writer and which are simply a waste of time.

One of the best strategies great writers use for improvement are writing exercises — guided written activities that develop specific writing-related skills. The key is to choose daily writing exercises that align with your goals.

Writing skills

Writing is a skill made up of several smaller skills. A few that apply to both nonfiction and fiction writers are:

  • Punctuation
  • Conciseness
  • Organization
  • Idea generation

The best writing exercises focus on helping you improve one or two specific elements at a time. It’s similar to how athletes go to the gym to train certain muscle groups. Impressive performance is the result of targeted practice.

You become great at the big thing (e.g., writing) by becoming gradually better at the small things (e.g., grammar, style, speed, etc.).

We learn how to write well by writing consistently.

Below, you’ll find a list of 8 activities you can try, along with clear directions on how to start them, and short explanations of how each one will help you grow as a writer.

Let’s jump right in.

#1 Transcribe another author’s work

The desire to become a great writer often comes as the result of reading a great piece of writing. It could be a book, letter, speech, or an article.

Two questions generally come to mind for the aspiring writer: How did they do that? and How can I learn to do that too?

One of the best ways to learn from an expert writer is to transcribe their work. There are two ways to approach this exercise.

Directions:

  • Get a copy of the material you want to learn from (e.g., book, article, etc.).
  • Choose a section of the material, like a single chapter or a few paragraphs, to focus on.
  • Option 1: On a physical notebook or sheet of paper, rewrite the text word-for-word.
  • Option 2: On a computer, use a tool like Google Docs, Microsoft Word, or Notion to type their content word-for-word.

This practice of transcribing their work will give you a hands-on experience of what their writing feels like. You’ll get an intimate sense of their style, word choice, and organization.

The more you engage in this practice, the more you'll adopt parts of their style as your own. But don't worry about losing your own voice in the process. This exercise will highlight both the good and bad in other writers' styles so that you can pick and choose the elements that make sense for you.

#2 Funnel real reactions into writing

The most difficult part of writing is having something to say. Many writers sit at their stations only to wind up staring at a blank page.

That’s because they haven’t yet understood that creativity is an input-output mechanism. If your input is empty from a lack of reading, conversations, and new experiences – then you’re output will suffer.

However, one way to jumpstart your creative output is by inciting a reaction.

  • Find a news story, trending video, or hit song that stirs up a positive or negative emotion in you.
  • Set a timer for 10-20 minutes.
  • On a piece of paper or computer, begin reacting to the item. Try to write without any breaks until the timer goes off.

When writing out your ideas, feelings, and arguments, remember they don’t need to create a cohesive narrative. The goal is simply to reopen your mind and get the creative words flowing once again.

What you’ll often find is that your reaction writing will generate unrelated ideas you can use for future projects, and you'll leave the exercise feeling unblocked and ready to work on what's next.

#3 Describe an in-person setting

Whether you write nonfiction or fiction, being able to accurately depict people, places, and things will come in handy.

Similar exercises will encourage you to create your own settings and describe what you imagine in your mind’s eye. While this can be helpful to a small degree, it won’t help you capture the true details that bring items to life for readers. To do that, you’ll need in-person exposure.

  • Visit a local coffee shop, museum, or similar location with lots of activity.
  • Spend a few minutes observing your surroundings. No need to look for anything specific, just see what you end up noticing.
  • Next, spend a few minutes writing down the most memorable elements in a bulleted note style. Aim to capture at least a few features for each sense: what do you smell, hear, see, feel, and taste?
  • Later that day, write a paragraph describing the setting using the notes you took earlier.

The goal of this exercise is for the paragraph you write to transport you back to that place. A successful description is rarely an exhaustive one. Instead, it picks and chooses the most important parts that a reader needs to know.

For extra practice, show your paragraphs to your friends and family and ask for their reactions. Did it make them feel like they were there? If not, what could be improved?

#4 Try vocabulary builder prompts

There’s a good way and a bad way to use unfamiliar words in your writing.

The not-so-great method is to string together several large, scholarly words in order to impress your readers. Generally, this only serves to confuse them. A better way is to build your vocabulary so that you can occasionally sprinkle in interesting words that more accurately describe the ideas you’re writing about.

Moderation is key. This method keeps your writing accessible while also giving readers something to discover along the way. So, how do you build a useful vocabulary?

  • Subscribe to a free service like Merriam-Webster’s word of the day or pick up a book like this vocabulary builder .
  • Discover a new word each day.
  • Spend a few minutes writing 3-5 practice sentences that include the word. If possible, try to include the word in another piece of writing you do later in the day.

Realistically, you're not going to remember 100% of the words you learn. Instead, the intention is to build your familiarity with uncommon words so that as you develop your writing and editing skills, you’ll become more comfortable reaching for these terms.

#5 Develop a freewriting habit

A lot of thought goes into most writing. There's research, planning, outlining, drafting, and editing. All of these are necessary. But, pushing all of these to the side, at least temporarily, can lead to surprising results.

There's a practice called stream of consciousness writing (aka freewriting), which tasks creators with the challenge of brain dumping their way into a piece of work. A common form of this practice is morning pages, an activity in which a writer fills up three pages as soon as they wake up in the morning, essentially clearing their mind of any mental clutter, so they're free to work on what matters most.

First, here are the steps to follow for a flexible freewriting exercise.

  • Open a notebook or locate paper and a writing utensil; this exercise works best when done by hand, rather than digitally.
  • Set one of two goals: either to fill up the entire page with words or to write until an alarm sounds (suggested time: 5-10 minutes).
  • Begin quickly writing down any words, ideas, and sentences that come to mind. They do not need to be connected or coherent. The goal is to fill the page with whatever comes out.

Second, here is a video that walks you through the more specific practice of morning pages.

Engaging in freewriting is an excellent way to empty your mind to focus on the task at hand while simultaneously improving your speed at getting ideas out of your head and onto the page.

#6 Brainstorm multiple headlines

Just like writing is a skill made up of many smaller skills, any single piece of writing includes a collection of individual parts.

There are introductions, transitions, and conclusions. Different types of sentences aim to accomplish different objectives. Throughout any article, book, or other writing pieces, small changes can drastically change the tone, voice, and purpose.

One way to practice influencing these individual parts is by brainstorming multiple headlines. These can either be for pieces you have already written, plan to write, or for titles you’ve found online.

  • Start with a complete title, whether it's one you created or found.
  • Experiment with it by changing the words and organization until you have 20-30 different versions. The greater the differences, the more beneficial the exercise will be.
  • Review your iterations and look for patterns that you can implement in other parts of your writing.

Headlines are a great tool to work with because they are standalone bits of content that can significantly impact meaning. As you improve at creating a variety of headlines quickly, you'll be able to apply the same skills to other parts of your writing, such as testing multiple introductions or conclusions.

#7 Edit other people’s writing

Finally, one of the most widely practiced and helpful writing exercises is to edit the writing of others.

Editing is a slightly different skill set than writing and requires creators to approach content with a more analytical lens. Instead of getting an article or chapter finished, the purpose is to make the writing better . Better could mean clearer, more concise, or more complete.

In some cases, good editing adds content. In others, it removes. It all depends on the particular project, paragraph, and sentence at hand, which is why it's a skill set every writer would benefit from refining.

  • Find an unfinished piece of writing to edit. Online writers groups (like Foster.co ) and local meetups are a great way to do this.
  • Start by reading the entire piece to understand what it was trying to accomplish.
  • Next, add notes that would help the writer reach their goal. It's important not to only suggest how you would do it, but to try and put yourself in the other writer's shoes.
  • Afterward, go through the piece again, looking for smaller areas to improve, such as grammatical mistakes and punctuation errors.
  • Always positively word your comments. Writing is difficult, and a little kindness goes a long way.

Although you don’t want to edit while you write, because it will slow you down, developing the skill will unconsciously help you construct cleaner first drafts. Furthermore, you’ll get a better sense of how an editor works so that you can work well together and apply their notes more effectively.

The best exercise

Above all else, the best writing exercise is to create consistently .

As long you carve out time regularly to write, you’ll see your skills improve over time. Targeted exercises can help accelerate your growth, but they should never fully replace doing the work that matters most ( like writing your book or publishing your newsletter ).

The world is waiting for your words, so go get started.

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Exercise in Eliminating Wordiness in Business Writing

  • An Introduction to Punctuation
  • Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
  • M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
  • B.A., English, State University of New York

This exercise will give you practice in eliminating wordiness from workplace memos , letters , emails , and reports .

Instructions: The following sentences are wordy. Without eliminating any essential information, revise each sentence to make it more concise . When you're done, compare your edited sentences with those of your classmates.

  • It is my objective to utilize more fully and satisfactorily both my university educational experience and my skills as an editor, preferably in a full-time employment position with your firm.
  • As per our discussion with reference to the antiquated and outmoded climate-control system in the Campus Security Building, it is my recommendation that purchase is made from a source-to-be-identified of a new, environmentally-friendly heat pump that is both cost-effective and fully compliant with all local and state regulations.
  • On the afternoon of June 12 at the most recent meeting of the ad hoc committee on workplace communication policies, each and every member of the committee was in agreement with one another that first and foremost it is imperative that all forms of workplace communications be completely accurate and perfectly clear.
  • In consideration of your recent email message received last week re. what is perceived to be the "excess time" required by our company to provide an effective response action to certain problems identified in the aforementioned email, please be assured that it is our policy to respond as promptly as possible to all legitimate customer concerns.
  • An extended discussion of an improved and more robust mission statement that is aligned with the basic fundamental business objectives of this organization will require clearly structured facilitated sessions conducted in full transparency and with the active participation of designated representatives from all departments.
  • Check Your Knowledge: Using Contractions and Apostrophes Effectively
  • Exercise in Identifying Sentences by Structure
  • Workplace Communication Skills for ESL Learners
  • Review Exercises in Subject-Verb Agreement
  • Best Practices for Business Writing
  • Practice in Using Adjectives Formed From Nouns and Verbs
  • The Complimentary Close in a Letter or Email
  • How to Use the Different Forms of Pronouns
  • How to Write a Business Report for English Learners
  • Tips to Write a Great Letter to the Editor
  • Exercise in Identifying Adjectives
  • The Definition and Examples of Salutations
  • Writing Informal Emails and Letters
  • 5 Ways to Cut the Clutter in Writing
  • Exercises in Identifying Subjects and Verbs
  • Email Message

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The Science of Strong Business Writing

  • Bill Birchard

business writing practice exercises

Lessons from neurobiology

Brain scans are showing us in new detail exactly what entices readers. Scientists can see a group of midbrain neurons—the “reward circuit”—light up as people respond to everything from a simple metaphor to an unexpected story twist. The big takeaway? Whether you’re crafting an email to a colleague or an important report for the board, you can write in a way that delights readers on a primal level, releasing pleasure chemicals in their brains.

Bill Birchard is an author and writing coach who’s worked with many successful businesspeople. He’s drawn on that experience and his review of the scientific literature to identify eight features of satisfying writing: simplicity, specificity, surprise, stirring language, seductiveness, smart ideas, social content, and storytelling. In this article, he shares tips for using those eight S’s to captivate readers and help your message stick.

Strong writing skills are essential for anyone in business. You need them to effectively communicate with colleagues, employees, and bosses and to sell any ideas, products, or services you’re offering.

business writing practice exercises

  • Bill Birchard is a business author and book-writing coach. His Writing for Impact: 8 Secrets from Science That Will Fire Up Your Reader’s Brain will be published by HarperCollins Leadership in April 2023. His previous books include Merchants of Virtue, Stairway to Earth, Nature’s Keepers, Counting What Counts, and others. For more writing tactics, see his website .  

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COMMENTS

  1. 7 Exercises to Improve Business Writing Skills

    These exercises do a great job in helping one generate ideas, practice a different form of writing, develop a new style, and more. 1. Practice Free Writing. This is where a professional essay writer follows their intuition and brings to life in writing whatever is on their mind.

  2. Drills

    The Palmer Method of Business Writing Drills Drill 1: Oblique straight line and oval exercises Drill 2: Two-space compact oval and oblique straight line exercises Drill 3: Two-space compact oval and minimum letters Drill 4: Developing a uniform, continuous motion Drill 5: Forcing movement drill Drill 6: Capital A Drill 7: Capital O

  3. 10-minute workouts to improve your writing

    One of the best strategies great writers use for improvement are writing exercises — guided written activities that develop specific writing-related skills. The key is to choose daily writing exercises that align with your goals.

  4. Business Writing: Exercise in Eliminating Wordiness

    This exercise will give you practice in eliminating wordiness from workplace memos, letters, emails, and reports . Instructions: The following sentences are wordy. Without eliminating any essential information, revise each sentence to make it more concise. When you're done, compare your edited sentences with those of your classmates.

  5. The Science of Strong Business Writing

    Strong writing skills are essential for anyone in business. You need them to effectively communicate with colleagues, employees, and bosses and to sell any ideas, products, or services you’re ...