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Examples of Public and Professional Writing

This page offers you links to example documents and guidelines for creating different types of public and professional writing.

In any professional setting—whether it is in the public (or governmental) sector, the nonprofit sector, or the for-profit sector—there are common documents whose forms are fairly standard (letters, memos, reports, and press releases, for example). The predictable form of these documents allows readers to access information quickly and allows them to compare information across different documents. In many cases, you will not want to totally confound your readers' expectations for a document. In the case of a resume, for example, readers expect the document to fall into the recognizable resume genre. If the resume doesn't look at all like what we imagine we should see in a resume, we have to take some time to figure out how to read it. Some readers may not take that time; others may be intrigued enough to do it. As a writer, you have to weigh risks, think about what form offers you and what it keeps you from, and then make some decisions. Knowing simply how to format a commonly used document does not guarantee that your version will be effective—format is a tiny part of the whole process. The arguments you present, the evidence you provide, your language, your style—all of these take a lot more work than correctly typing a memo in memo format.

Some documents require both the writerly choices that show up on the page as well as those that have to do with packaging and design. A brochure, for example, can be a tri-fold double-sided sheet of paper with very little text, or it can be a long booklet. A newsletter can be a few paragraphs with little formatting or a longer, more elaborate piece that resembles a magazine. A document that a nonprofit publishes in order to tell an audience about their work in a certain area could take many different forms, none of which are completely dictated by a standard form established by convention.

Below you will find some "how-to" guides and example documents. As you look at these, please note the limitations of "how to" guides and look for the ways in which the writing works more generally, aside from form, and at how form hinders or facilitates the writer's project. Think of these materials critically and analytically rather than imagining that they offer a template that you can just pour your words into in order to create an effective document.

You can scroll through the list or click on one of these links to jump to the section you want:

Correspondence | Reports | Persuasive Documents | Career Materials | Press Materials | Proposals | Creating Websites

Correspondence: Letters and Memos

These sites offer some documents for free and require a fee for others:

Internal memos offers collected memos from companies of all sizes.

The Smoking Gun collects all kinds of official documents for their entertainment value.

Reports: Letter Reports, Memo Reports, Manuscript Reports, and More

For examples of reports, try the U.S. General Accounting Office. You can read reports prepared with your tax dollars for the people who represent you.

Persuasive Documents: Documents That Make a Case

The documents in this section range from those that use journalistic research and carefully designed presentations to educate or persuade audiences to those that digest the results of research in order to disseminate key findings.

The State Initiatives in End-of-Life Care series informs policymakers about how public policy can be improved to ensure that more Americans get adequate end-of-life care.

The Snapshots series of the Aspen Institute's Nonprofit Sector Research Fund presents key research findings in a reader-friendly format.

Getting By, Getting Ahead uses stories told by women to help readers understand the impact of welfare policies on women's lives. The writers also assembled materials in which they reflect on the stories and offer specific guidance on how change might take place.


Career Materials: Resumes, CVs, Cover Letters, Thank-you Notes

Monster.com's Career Advice Center contains some sample interview letters, thank you letters, and even letters that try to do "damage control" after a poor interview.

MonsterTrak offers tips on creating a resume and other job-seeking help.

The Purdue OWL offers detailed information and examples to help you create effective job materials.

A number of sites offer guidelines for constructing CVs:

The University of N. Carolina Office of Postdoctoral Services offers a PDF document of guidelines for constructing a CV.

Dartmouth College also offers tips on constructing a CV.

About Grad School provides many links to material about CVs.

Example CVs: an anthropology CV,

Press Materials

Writing and Publishing Op-Eds

Communications Consortium Media Center offers brief submission guidelines for 100 newspapers and tips on writing op-eds.

Creating Press Releases

The University of Washington provides guidelines for creating press releases.

The Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility at the University of Chicago offer An Anatomy of a Press Release.

Proposals

Grant Proposals

The Foundation Center presents a short course in proposal writing as well as many other resources for those seeking grants.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York offers links to great resources on writing grant proposals.

The Cornell Community and Rural Development Institute offers Finding the Funds You Need: A Guide for Grantseekers.

Business Plans

The Small Business Administration offers guidelines for business plans as well as links to examples.

Creating Websites

Try Greg Markel's tutorial on designing for the web.

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