Written communication is becoming a problem issue in many firms and organisations. Hierarchical networks and communication structures are getting more complicated every day. Employees with a technical, juridical or commercial background have to perform complicated communication tasks as part of their job.
Linguists can help structure business writing by developing textframes that are customized to the needs of a specific type of firm or organization. To do this, they can employ a method for structuring information in texts. In this method, the so-called 'central question' (the question to which the text is the answer) is connected to certain stock frames.
The first step for a linguist working for a specific firm is to discover whether there are recurring 'central questions' behind a set of texts. Next he has to find a suitable stock frame that is connected with these central questions. The last and most difficult step is adapting the stock frame to the needs and wishes of the future users.
In this article the steps that are mentioned above are described and illustrated. The example that is given is of a large Dutch semi-government organization, the "Sociale Verzekeringsraad" (Social Security Council).
An Economic and Social Security Council at the United Nations
