7.1: Drafting: Basic Philosophy

Keep a few things in mind as you start the drafting process. A draft is not the finished product, and each sentence does not have to be polished and perfect. Your focus should be to get your ideas on paper. Don’t obsess about grammar, punctuation, spelling and word choice at this point-that comes later. You don’t have to fix every mistake as you see it-you can catch these during the editing process.

It’s helpful to keep an eye on your outline when drafting your masterpiece, especially when you’re writing something longer than a page or two. By periodically checking your outline, you are less likely to lose focus and include irrelevant information.

Have you ever sat down to start your first draft and found yourself just staring at the blank computer screen or paper? If you suffer from writer’s block, we’ll cover strategies for overcoming this fairly common problem at the end of this chapter.

Three Part Structure: An Introduction, Body and Conclusion

What is your draft going to look like? Is it going to be one huge paragraph? In most cases, you’ll organize your draft in a three-part structure-introduction, body and conclusion.

• The introduction must capture your audience’s attention, establish rapport and announce your purpose.
• The body must be an effective sequence of ideas that flows logically in a series of paragraphs.
• The conclusion must summarize the main points stated in the body and close smoothly.

Let’s take a closer look at this structure. We’ll examine these parts out of order-first, the introduction, then the conclusion and lastly the body where we’ll spend most of our time.

Drafting the Introduction

The introduction sets the stage and tone for your message. Although the content and length of your introduction may vary with the writing template, the introduction should, at a minimum, clearly state your purpose ("bottom line") and the direction you plan to take the audience.

A typical introduction has three components: stage setting remarks, a purpose statement and an overview.

• Stage-setting remarks set the tone of the communication, capture the audience’s attention and encourage them to read further. Stage-setting remarks are optional, so you can omit them in very short messages or in messages where you don’t want to waste words.
• The purpose statement is the one sentence you’d keep if you had only one. It specifically states your purpose, thesis or main point. For some examples and more details, refer back to chapter \(3 .\)
• The overview is like a good roadmap-it clearly presents your main points, previews your paragraph sequence and ties your main points to your purpose.

Stage-Setting Remarks: Use them properly!

Stage-setting remarks are optional. Though they add polish to an introduction, your reader has to be able to pick which sentences are "setting the stage" and which sentence is the "bottom line."

If you’ve received feedback that readers are sometimes confused about the purpose of your writing, get to the point quickly and don’t overdo stage-setting remarks. Too many preliminaries can backfire and actually confuse the reader.

Keep the BLUF (bottom line up front) acronym in mind as you write.

Here’s an example of a short introduction that contains all three components:

Communication is essential to mission accomplishment, and all Air Force personnel should be able to write effectively. (Stage-Setting Remarks) This handbook provides general guidelines and specific formats for use in both staff environments and Professional Military Education schools. (Purpose Statement) It begins with an overarching philosophy on military communication, then describes processes and techniques to improve writing and speaking products, and summarizes the most common formats used in Air Force communication. (Overview)

Even though readers read the introduction first, you don’t have to write it first. If the introduction doesn’t come easily or naturally, you can work on another part of the communication and then return to it. Some writers backpedal and don’t want to work on the introduction until the rest of the communication is written. Others insist it guides them in shaping the content or body of their message. Regardless of when you write the introduction, make sure that it captures your purpose and make sure it prepares your audience for what is to come.

Here’s the bottom line on your introduction: It must be an appropriate length for your specific communication and it should contain a clear statement of your purpose and direction.

Drafting the Conclusion

The conclusion is the last and often neglected part of a well-arranged communication. Sometimes inexperienced writers stop writing as soon as they finish discussing their last main idea. That’s not an effective conclusion. The conclusion is your last chance to summarize your communication and give your audience a sense of closure.

An effective conclusion often summarizes the overall theme and main points discussed in the body. If you have a simple, straightforward purpose, you might want to emphasize it by restating it in slightly different words in the conclusion. If you have a complicated purpose or a long, involved communication, you’ll probably need to emphasize your main ideas and state your proposals or recommendations.

For effective endings, restate the main ideas or observations or emphasize the main thrusts of arguments. Under no circumstances apologize for real or perceived inadequacies or inject weak afterthoughts. Conclude your communication with positive statements based on your preceding discussion. In general, avoid bringing up new ideas in the conclusion; these belong in the body of your communication.

Your introduction and conclusion should balance each other without being identical. To check this, read your introduction and then immediately read your conclusion to determine if your conclusion flows logically from your introduction and whether it fulfills your purpose. An effective conclusion leaves you with a sense you’re justified in ending your communication. You’re ready to call it a day only when you assure your audience you’ve accomplished the purpose stated in your introduction.

Introductions and conclusions: How long?

The length of your introduction and conclusion will be proportional to the length of your overall writing assignment. On a one-page assignment, they may be very short, while lengthy staff studies or publications may contain introductions and conclusions that are several paragraphs long. Introductions and conclusions to books are often an entire chapter!

Remember that introductions and conclusions are designed to help your readers; use good judgment in determining the appropriate length for your assignment.

Recall our sample introduction; here’s a short conclusion derived from that introduction and the body (which we don’t have right now):

As Air Force personnel, we can’t accomplish our mission without effective communication. Hopefully, this handbook has provided you with some practical tools to improve your communication skills, specifically speaking and writing. Keep it handy and refer to it often as you prepare and review a variety of spoken and written products throughout your career.

Even without the "body" available, you can see how the introduction and conclusion complement each other.

Drafting the Body

The body of your communication is the heart of your message. It includes your main ideas about your subject and supporting details under each main idea.

The body typically consists of several paragraphs. The total number of paragraphs (and overall length of the body) will depend on your purpose and subject. As a general rule, write a separate paragraph for each main idea-you might confuse your reader if you have two or more main ideas in a single paragraph. In a longer communication, you may find it necessary to use more than one paragraph to cover one main point or idea.

So much for a quick review of introductions, conclusions and bodies, let’s now dig down a little deeper into the paragraphs that make up the body of your communication.