Greetings! My name is Chrissine, and tonight I’ll be presenting on professional

communication, which is crucial to advancing a career, accomplishing academic

goals, and achieving success in life in general. This workshop is being recorded for

future use and display. Welcome to all here and those viewing the recording.

Professional Communication

Wednesday, September 15, 2016 @ 7 pm ET

Presenter – Chrissine Rios, MA

Kaplan University Writing Center

Access the recording of the live workshop here:

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http://khe2.adobeconnect.com/p8a6r62iot2/

Key Concepts of Professional Communication

This workshop covers the key concepts of professional communication intended to

increase your awareness of how you communicate in professional contexts such as

work, school, and in your community. We’ll review the communication process,

communication types and skills, and the contexts and purposes for professional

communication. Since persuasion is one important purpose, we’ll also look at the

four persuasive or “rhetorical” appeals and how to appeal to a professional audience

such as a professor when writing an email. Then, before we conclude,

I’ll provide links to resources that you can use to continue your development

of professional communication skills.

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Communication happens when information passes between two or more people.

Communication is a two-way process whereas the sender sends a message and

the receiver conveys feedback to the sender.

Communication may seem one way at times such as when you watch the news or

see an advertisement or are given a new policy to follow at work. But indirect

feedback still usually occurs so that the senders of these messages know their

message was received. Market research, for example, analyzes the indirect

feedback of consumers and viewers via their purchases or behaviors. Surveys and

polls also provide receivers a way to provide feedback. Online information often

comes with social media buttons and comment areas for feedback too.

Whether immediate and direct as in a face-to-face conversation or indirect and

delayed as in mass media, feedback is essential to our communications whether

personal or professional. Feedback ensures the sender’s message has been

received and the meaning of the message is being understood.

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Communication Types

We use different types of communication to convey information to others. When

face-to-face or on the phone, we’re using verbal communication. We also hear

verbal communication on TV, the radio, and when watching films or videos.

Information is also exchanged nonverbally. Body language, facial expressions,

clothing, hair styles, how we act, our postures, how we sound—the tone and pitch of

our voice—even how we smell conveys information, and we receive or perceive this

type of information from others too. Whenever two people are in a space together,

nonverbal communication is being conveyed.

We also write to communicate be it on a printed page or digitally via a webpage,

email, or text. In school, the essays and reports you write are forms of written

communication.

Visual information is also used to communicate; art, pictures, logos, charts, even

PowerPoints all communicate messages. In order to understand the information

being communicated, you need strong communication skills.

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In the picture, a woman (with her back to us) is being interviewed by a panel of

professionals. The body language of the interviewers on the panel expresses

nonverbal cues of listening.

Listening is a communication skill. More specifically, listening is a comprehension

skill like reading whereas speaking and writing are production skills in

communication. In face-to-face communication, both production and

comprehension skills are essential to effective communication. To be an effective

speaker, you need to be an effective listener as they are part of the same

communication process. And to be an effective writer, you need to be an effective

reader. Our comprehension skills help us to know how to regulate and develop our

production skills. They tell us about our audience and how we are being

understood.

In the scenario of the professional interview pictured, the nonverbal cues of the

listeners, their eye contact, upright postures, attentive and thoughtful but otherwise

neutral gazes would indicate to the speaker that they are listening and they are

interested, which would help the speaker know that she is being heard and

understood, and it may even encourage her.

Imagine if the people on the panel were looking every which way or were rolling

their eyes or looking at their phones. Nonverbal feedback by the listeners helps the

speaker regulate his or her communication and to adapt it to be better understood

by those listeners. An interview is an example of professional communication.

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Professional communication is different from the personal communication you use

every day with your friends and family due to where it’s done and why.

Professional communication is done in professional contexts such as the workplace

or at school. When you give a presentation, write a report or paper, email a

supervisor or professor, collaborate with coworkers or classmates on a group

project, or post a comment on a professional blog, website, or academic discussion

board, you are writing in a professional context.

Professional communication is also used in everyday business dealings such as

consulting with a sales agent, taking out a mortgage at the bank with your partner,

or scheduling an appointment at the dentist. You would also use professional

communication in public or civic situations such as if you were welcoming guests to

a social event or making a ceremonial speech—a eulogy or a toast, or if you were

introducing someone to a group of people at a conference or convention or

presenting or receiving an award.

Professional communication in all these examples is goal oriented and useful. It’s

used for the purpose of informing or persuading others in order to get work done or

accomplish a goal.

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If you’ve ever tried to get anyone to do anything you wanted, however, you already

know it’s not easy to persuade people to think, believe, and behave the way you

want. People don’t change their minds or actions without good reason.

Additionally, people have to trust the person or the authority of the person doing the

persuading.

And they need to feel connected emotionally—they have to feel like changing their

ways or their mind.

The timing also needs to be right and appropriate for the person being persuaded.

Meeting or appealing to all this criteria in order to persuade others is why

persuasion is an art, also known since ancient Greek times as Rhetoric.

Classical rhetoric tells us that effective persuasion depends on ethos, pathos, logos,

and kairos.

• Ethos, also called the ethical appeal, refers to the character—the credibility and

likability—of the speaker or writer.

• Pathos, also called the emotional appeal, refers to the connection or empathy the

receivers feel in response to the persuasive message.

• Logos, also called the logical appeal, refers to the soundness and sensibility of

the words, symbols, data, or images being communicated—logos refers to the

message itself and how it is conveyed in a form and mode that can be received

and understood or has meaning to the receiver.

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• Finally, kairos, refers to the timeliness of the message given—its relevance to

what’s happening now and appropriateness for the receivers—meaning the tone

and level of formality should be tailored to the intended audience.

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When you are communicating professionally, your number one consideration should

be your audience, the person or people receiving your message. Knowing your

audience will help you tailor the message, so it is well received and so your purpose

to inform or persuade is achieved.

In professional communication, you may not know your audience personally,

however, so appealing to your audience is about knowing the culture of the

workplace, school, or community and conforming to the standards of

communication expected within that culture.

For instance, in US universities such as Kaplan, we uses Standard American

English to communicate, and you’ll use this in US workplaces as well. Although the

level of formality will vary according to your familiarity with your specific audience,

when communicating in professional contexts such as for business or school, you’ll

want to use formal rather than informal style. Formal style refers to standard

language usage regarding word choice and phrasing, spelling and grammar. Also,

in establishing your ethos—your character or professional persona—you’ll want to

use a polite tone complete with courtesies such as greetings and salutations. And

since the purpose of professional communication is to inform and or persuade, it’s

important that the information provided is complete, accurate, clear, and concise.

We will see how all this is applied in a student email to a professor.

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Writing a Professional Email

We will look at the following elements of a professional email:

• Your “From” address

• The “To, Cc, Bcc” lines

• The option to Reply or Reply all

• The subject line

• A polite greeting

• The message, ensuring it has

o complete information

o a clear purpose

o concise style, and

o correct info and usage

• A polite closing

• And your name

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Writing an Email to a Professor

• From: When writing your professor, use your school email address. This is the

surest way to receive the most efficient response. When you use your

personal email, you risk your email being identified as spam, especially if your

email has an attachment or link in it. Also, if you use a personal email address

that is not your first and last name, your professor will not immediately know

you are a student. Professor’s prioritize student email, so it helps if your email

address indicates you are a student. You’ll always want to avoid using email

addresses with funny nicknames. Sending an email from bigdaddy@hotmail

or winelover@gmail will not foster a professional persona, and when writing to

your professor or to any professional for school, work, or business purposes,

you do want to be professional. Since your recipient cannot see you, your

email address is what creates the first impression in the communication.

• To, Cc, Bcc: The “To” line is where you type your professor’s email address.

When writing to your professor, use your professor’s school email address. If

your instructor writes you from a personal email address, you can reply to it,

but include their school address in the To line or the Cc line as well.

o Cc stands for carbon copy, and it’s optional. If you are writing an email

to your professor on behalf of a peer group, you could add their email

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addresses here, and they will each receive a copy of the email. The

email addresses in the To and Cc lines are visible to all recipients.

o Bcc stands for blind carbon copy. Addresses typed here are not be

visible to the people in the To or Cc field. The Bcc line is most commonly

used for emailing a large a group of people. Your professor might use it

when emailing the class, for example. Using the Bcc line is a

professional courtesy. For one, it reduces the amount of email people

receive since email addresses typed here will not receive a reply even if

one of the To or Cc recipients reply to all. Also, using Bcc keeps

everyone’s email private since sharing other people’s email addresses

can create privacy issues. You will not likely use it when simply emailing

your professor unless you wanted to send a copy of your email to your

personal hotmail or yahoo account and wanted to keep that address

private.

• Reply or Reply all: When replying to an email, the Reply button will send the

email only to the one person who sent the email. The Reply All button will send

the reply to all the addresses listed in the To and Cc lines. Be careful not to

“reply all” accidently. The whole class, for example, will not need to know about

your particular question or issue.

• Subject line: Be specific about the subject of your email and include your course

number, so your email address quickly identifies you as a student and the

subject line indicates the class you’re in and the topic of your email.

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• Polite Greeting: Begin your email with a formal greeting such as Dear, Hello,

Good morning, Good afternoon, or Good evening, and use the honorific

“Professor” or if you know your professor has a PhD then use Doctor or Dr.

before his or her last name. Only use your professor’s first name if you are

replying to an email in which your professor signed the email with his or her first

name. But if this is the first email you are writing to your professor, being more

formal will be most appropriate. Say, “Dear Professor Smith” not “Hi Zack” if

your professor’s name is Zackeriah Smith.

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• Message: An effective professional email needs to be complete, clear, concise,

and correct.

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o Provide complete information about who you are and what you are

writing about. Your professor may teach multiple courses, and all have

different assignments. Be specific. Use the particular name of the

assignment, not just “paper” or specify that you are asking about the

essay, not the Discussion Board, or the reading assignment.

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o Next, state clearly your purpose for writing. You can even say, “I am

writing because…” or “I am writing to ask if...” Also clearly state what

you are requesting: “Could you please email me to let me know if it is

too late to change my topic and use a different article?”

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o It’s also a smart strategy to indicate that you have sought the answer on

your own. This goes back to being Complete. In the example, the

student writes, “I...read in the syllabus that we are to use the article we

selected in Unit 4. In seminar last week, some students were talking

about changing topics and using different articles, but I’m unsure if you

said this was okay or not.” You will not want to waste your instructor’s

time by asking something that is answered right in your syllabus. Read

the syllabus first. Read the assignment instructions.

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o Concise style: Professional writing is concise. It is closely related to

technical writing. Professional and technical writing is useful” and goal

oriented. It informs and or persuades for the purpose of getting work

done. It is therefore well edited and to the point. It is okay to sandwich

the message in kind expressions such as “I hope you are having a good

day” or “I look forward to our next seminar!” But professional emails are

not appropriate for personal details about why work is late or what your

family problems are. Identify your purpose for writing and clearly and

kindly state what you are doing about it and what kind of help you need,

and your professor will respond professionally and kindly in return.

o All information as well as the grammar, spelling, capitalization, and

punctuation should be also be correct, double-checked, edited, and

proofread.

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Finally, to conclude your email, sign off with a polite closing such as “Thank you,”

“Kind regards,” or “Best.” As a professional email, you’ll want to refrain from

religious-based salutations such as “God bless.” Remember your audience is the

number one consideration, and you will not want to make assumptions about shared

beliefs beyond you both being part of the university community.

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Professional communication is key to your success in your academics and your

career. Remember you will be developing a professional persona in all your

professional communications, so keep in mind the four appeals of rhetoric in the

process—ethos: be ethical; logos: be reasonable; pathos: be empathetic; and

kairos: be appropriate, and you will do great!

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For more writing support, connect with the KUWC’s new public webpage. You can

actually Google and find this page. This is also a great way for you to stay

connected to the KUWC through our blog and Twitter. Many of our resources are

here as well.

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The best time to do a paper review in the Kaplan University Writing Center is after

you have written your first draft. When you come to us early, we can help you the

most by helping you with the structure of your paper. Many students send papers at

the last minute because they want us to simply proofread their paper. However,

KUWC writing tutors do not simply proofread the paper for you; we want to help you

learn to write and proofread your own papers. You can submit a first draft, and then

submit a later draft if you need further help on an assignment.

If you need help before you write the first draft, you can use live tutoring. During live

tutoring, you can ask questions and brainstorm with a tutor. Live tutors can help

you with other stages in the paper writing process as well. Come visit us. We can

be found under the My Studies tab, then under Academic Support Center.

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On the main Academic Support Center page, you will see the Writing Center links.

These include Live Tutoring, Paper Review Service, the Writing Reference Library,

Citation Guidelines, Workshops, English Language Learner, and Fundamental

writing help. Notice, you can access the Kaplan Guide to Successful Writing on the

right hand side in both print and audio form. Come visit us.

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Writing Center

Writing Tutor

Paper Review and Q&A Services

Writing Reference Library

Citation Guidelines (APA & more)

Writing Workshops

Graduate Student Resources

English Language Learners

Writing Fundamentals Program

Effective Writing Podcasts Series

First-Term Student Resources

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Chrissine Rios, Tutor, Resources

Amy Sexton, Tutor, Workshops

Write us at kuwc@kaplan.edu!

Workshops are recorded and recording links, with an accompanying PowerPoint, are

posted on the Writing Center Workshops page after the workshop.

Additional Kaplan University Writing Center Resources

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Survey Link

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Connect with the Academic Support Centers.

ASC Blog

@KaplanASC on Twitter

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