Sole Revival needs to tell people it exists. Amara could write an email, post on social media, put up a poster or hand out flyers. Each one is a business text: any piece of writing or media a business uses to communicate. Picking the wrong one wastes effort. A long email will not reach students who never check email. A tiny flyer cannot hold a full price list for a store owner. Good business writers plan first and write second.
Topic, purpose and audience
- Topic: what the text is about. Example: Sole Revival's launch week.
- Purpose: why you are writing it. Most business texts do one of four jobs: inform (give facts), persuade (convince someone to act), request (ask for something) or thank (show appreciation).
- Audience: who will read it. Students, parents, a store owner and a pitch judge all want different things, and they need different words and details.
| Text form | Best for | Sole Revival example |
|---|---|---|
| A direct message to one person or a small group; requests and thank-yous | Asking the student council for a table at lunch | |
| Memo | A short notice inside an organization | Telling Theo the new drop-off schedule |
| Flyer | A one-page handout to inform or persuade a local audience | Launch-week flyer for the cafeteria |
| Social media post | Fast, visual messages to people who follow you | Before-and-after photo of a cleaned pair |
| Poster | A large message seen from a distance, with very few words | "Dirty kicks? Drop off Monday." on a hallway board |
| Pitch deck | A few slides that support a spoken pitch | Slides for the youth pitch competition |
| Short report | Organized facts and results for a decision-maker | Test-run results for a mentor |
| Website page | Information people can find any time | A page with prices, drop-off times and FAQs |
Researching from several sources
Research means collecting information to answer a question. Primary research is information you collect yourself, such as a survey of classmates or counting how many people pass your table. Secondary research is information someone else collected, such as a news article, a government website or a company's product page. Using several sources is safer than trusting one, because you can check whether they agree.
- Recent, with a date you can see
- Written by an expert, a government body or a trusted news outlet
- Gives evidence or explains where its facts come from
- Agrees with other good sources
- Aims to inform
- Old, or no date at all
- No author, or an anonymous post
- Makes claims with no evidence
- Disagrees with everyone else
- Mainly trying to sell you something
Synthesizing, organizing and citing
To synthesize means to combine information from several sources into one clear point in your own words. Instead of copying three facts, you notice what they have in common. Then you organize the points in an order that suits the purpose. For a persuasive flyer, put the most exciting point first. For a report, a logical order (problem, findings, recommendation) works best. Finally, cite your sources: say where the information came from. Citing shows your work is honest, and it lets readers check your facts.