Writing
Introduction
Many diverse non-fiction writing genres fall under the umbrella of transactional writing. Transactional writing has a purpose in mind, typically to convey information and ideas to a reader. The following four categories best describe the information’s intended use:
In order to encourage someone to purchase a good or service, clear wording is frequently employed in advertisements. The goal of a transactional text that aims to persuade is often to explain why the good or service is so great and how it can make someone’s life better. Customer reviews or aggressive phrasing, such as “limited-time-only” offers, may be used to persuade customers to make a purchase. It has frequently been used in politics to try and persuade people to vote a certain way. Persuasive, transactional writing may also aim to alter a person’s view on a specific issue. See our collection of persuasive writing samples.
To argue:
Transactional texts that argue aim to make their points valid with supporting facts. Learn more about argumentative writing in our post How Does the Writer Use Language to Create a Strong Impact. Transactional texts that argue frequently assume the shape of a review or political flyer to make their argument. A critic could insist on a point they made about a book or movie and attempt to convince you that their viewpoint is valid by supporting it with facts. Literature and political campaign posters for or against political ideologies and programs may also include argumentative language. Speeches, like debates, can also include argumentative rhetoric.
To inform:
Transactional writings that provide information give you the facts about a subject. For more about informational writing, see How Has the Writer Structured the Text to Interest You as a Reader. This might be done to amuse or inform someone. Newspapers, magazine articles, and flyers marketing services and goods are examples of informational texts. Letters and emails you might write to friends to update them on your activities or convey crucial information are also examples of informational, transactional writing. A birthday party invitation is an informational text since it provides all the details you need to know to join the celebration. Giving directions or chronicling someone’s life are examples of informational writing that provide the reader with the facts on which to base their decisions.
To advise:
Advisory transactional texts provide information to help readers make decisions. Explore this further in our blog post What Does a Medical Writer Do. Advisory texts are typically more balanced than persuasive texts since they present a variety of possibilities. They require extensive study to provide the reader with all the data they require to make their own decisions. An illustration would be writing an article for a magazine on the best ways to go to and from school. You could list the advantages and disadvantages of a few different options and offer your opinion on which route is best, but the reader would ultimately make that decision.
It’s important to remember that a text frequently has more than one of these objectives in mind. Check out this balanced argument lesson pack, which includes argumentative and informational writing. Book Writing Founders UK is a platform for aspiring authors in the United Kingdom to connect, learn, and publish their work.
Transactional Writing Examples
Examples of transactional writing include the following:
Email confirmations
A meeting, appointment, or reservation is confirmed with a confirmation email. They should contain the time, date, place, and other pertinent details.
Letters of Resignation
When an employee wishes to quit their position, they utilize resignation letters. They ought to be formal, concise, and contain the departure reason as well as the date of resignation.
Minutes of Meeting
The actions of a meeting are recorded in meeting minutes. They ought to list the meeting’s date, time, participants, subjects covered, and any conclusions or actions taken.
Reports on Sales
Sales reports have used to compile sales information for a given time frame. They should contain details like sales volume, revenue, and any trends or patterns that have been noticed.
READYING YOURSELF TO WRITE A TRANSACTIONAL TEXT
Preparation is essential for writing tasks of any kind. Fortunately, there is an acronym we can learn to assist us in remembering the crucial components of transactional writing preparation:
GAPS
Students should complete the GAPS before starting to write by responding to the inquiries asked by each letter of this acronym.
Let’s look at this:
What genre of text have you required to write? What distinguishes that genre?
The audience Who is asking you to write this for? Is it a person or a group?
What are you hoping to accomplish with the text? The argument, counsel, persuade, or inform?
Is the writing official or casual? Optimistic or somber in tone? Simple or difficult?
Usually, by carefully reading the query or writing prompt, one can immediately find the answers to these questions.
In situations where they have given more latitude in what they write, students must make sure that they have addressed these questions fully before starting to write.
Before beginning to write, failing to provide definite answers to these questions will almost certainly result in unclear purposeful writing.
What ARE THE ESSENTIAL SKILLS REQUIRED TO WRITE A TRANSACTIONAL TEXT?
As was already said, transactional writing texts are written for a number of audiences, serve a variety of objectives, and span a wide range of genres.
Therefore, not every transactional text a student creates will require the use of the set of strategies and abilities described below.
The student will need to use their knowledge of each writing context to apply their grasp of the abilities and approaches below once they have mastered each one to determine which one best suits their current needs.
Students will find recalling the specific writing strategies easier if they use the abbreviation AFOREST.
Let’s examine each one individually:
Allegation and appeal
The recurrence of an initial consonant sound in a string of words has referred to as alliteration. Tongue twisters are a simple approach to demonstrate the idea; for instance,
Peter Piper took a handful of pickled pepper.
Alliteration has frequently employed in texts with headlines since the method draws the reader in and keeps them reading. Of course, it can also use to highlight a point or idea within the body of the text.
Appeal serves as a reminder to consider the readership the content has meant to appeal to, as this will significantly impact the tone of the writing.
It will also influence the author’s choice of pronouns for their writing.
As an illustration, in a speech where the speaker directly addresses the audience, the speaker may regularly utilize pronouns like you and us.
For instance:
“Action must be taken to prevent this” should be used instead.
The pupil writes… “We need to do something to stop this,”
AVERAGE
A crucial persuasion weapon, facts can take many different shapes. A statement that can be independently verified as true is a fact. One powerful persuasion strategy is using statistics to back up factual claims.
Whatever shape facts take, they can be used to inform and entertain readers and influence them.
Statistics
Statistics have employed to substantiate facts, along with percentages and other numbers.
For instance,
For many people, the start of the week is very stressful. So much so that adult men’s chance of having a heart attack on Mondays is around 20% higher than adult women’s, and vice versa.
The “Threes Rule”
The magic number is three. Our brains are drawn to patterns because they aid in forming meaning and make it memorable. It is used in numerous everyday expressions.
For instance,
“Calm, collected, and cool.”
“Sweat, blood, and tears”
It’s all about the setting.
While it’s generally best to stay away from cliché, students can create their own patterns by following three principles to make their writing stand out.
Main Attributes Transactional Writing Type and Elaborate Information
| Transactional Writing Type | Purpose and Characteristics | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Persuasive Writing | Aimed at encouraging the purchase of goods or services, changing views on an issue, often used in politics, employs customer reviews or aggressive phrasing. | Advertisements, Political Campaigns |
| Argumentative Writing | Seeks to validate points with supporting facts, often in the form of reviews or political flyers. | Critic Reviews, Political Flyers |
| Informational Writing | Provides facts about a subject, can be for amusement or information, includes newspapers, magazine articles, etc. | Newspapers, Magazine Articles, Flyers |
| Advisory Writing | Offers information to help readers make decisions, more balanced and requires extensive research. | Magazine Articles on Various Topics |
| Email Confirmations | Confirms meetings, appointments, or reservations with essential details. | Confirmation Emails |
| Letters Of Resignation | Used by employees to formally resign, contains departure reason and resignation date. | Resignation Letters |
| Minutes Of Meeting | Records the proceedings of a meeting, listing participants, topics covered, and conclusions. | Meeting Minutes |
Conclusion
Writing transactions is an essential component of contemporary communication. It’s critical to comprehend the traits, varieties, and instances of transactional writing, whether you’re creating a letter, email, memo, report, or another type of formal writing. You may write great transactional writing that effectively communicates your message by using the advice provided in this article.
