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Step 1
Talk to your boss or the person who assigned you the writing task to handle to ensure you know exactly what's expected of you. If you received the instructions for the assignment in writing, read through them and be sure you understand them completely and then talk to your boss if you need to. If you receive the assignment verbally take copious notes and ask any questions they don't answer before starting the task.
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Step 2
Make notes on how you want to proceed with the writing assignment. Before you handle the job, you should formulate a game plan. This might not be necessary, if it's a simple memo to compose, but if the task is larger, such as a report or article for the newspaper, then it's best to jot down your ideas before actually starting the writing assignment. Include things like the intended audience, the information you should convey, any resources that should be included and other pertinent details.
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Step 3
Put together a memo. It's usually sufficient to write your memo in an email. You need to add the parties that you need to address and put in all the important information. This can be a note to your staff that you or your boss will be out of the office, a meeting that people have to attend or an announcement for an upcoming employee event or luncheon.
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Step 4
Do a monthly report. Many offices ask you to submit a monthly report to your supervisor about all the activities you and your staff did for the month. If you don't have a staff, you still may have to do a monthly report for your supervisor advising him of your activities for the month. You'll need to handle these types of writing assignments on a regular basis and will most likely set up a routine that works best for you.
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Step 5
Finalize a particular project you're working on and submit the information in writing to your supervisor. After completing projects, you may need to put together a summary for your supervisor. This can include an outline of what you did, the people who worked on the project with you and the results of the project. This is another writing assignment you might have to handle on a regular basis and you should work up an outline before you begin.
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Step 6
Write an article for a publication that your work publishes. This is more in depth and needs to have resources and sources. It can be anything from an assignment that you handled to work that you do on a regular basis. You should handle these writing assignments as professionally as possible and might even consider having someone else proofread the final draft for you.
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Step 7
Complete the final draft of the writing assignment, do a spell check and proofread it. Present it to your boss for his approval--he may want to make some changes or he may want to add something at the last minute. Once approved, deliver the document to the appropriate place to finish handling the assignment.
Comments
howdyd said
on 6/20/2009 I'd add the following to the second part [assignment given verbally] of Step 1:
Write a confirming email to your boss that includes as a minimum; the objective of the piece, the format, the due date, and the intended audience.
It's called CYA.
judy8074 said
on 11/14/2008 Fine article. Here's more tips: When you proofread, make sure you haven't used the incorrect form of a word. The spell checker knows that "bridal" and "bridle" are both spelled correctly, but it doesn't know whether you used the correct one. The first is for weddings; the second is for saddling up horses.
Another person will catch more errors when proofreading, than will the author of the material.