Book description
Practical, proven techniques to make writing for business more effective and less stressful.
Thanks to e-mail, voice mail, cell phones, pagers, and, of course, the ever-expanding Web, we live in an age of information overload. Although all of these wonders were designed to make life and communication easier and faster, speed and efficiency have come with a price. Clear business writing has never been more difficult or stressful.
Writers are expected to respond quickly to an endless flow of e-mail messages. Readers complain about an increasing lack of clarity along with an abundance of mechanical errors. Supervisors and managers are bewildered by employees’ inability to simply say what they mean and the lack of appropriate tone and sense of decorum in the written communications they produce.
This book presents proven techniques developed in Dr. Iacone’s seminars that will enable greater ease, proficiency, and clarity in writing. The conversational, instructional format walks you through the actual stages of the writing process—from planning and writing the first draft, to editing and proofreading. This invaluable handbook also includes helpful guidelines to correct punctuation, lists of often-confused words, and step-by-step procedures for generating effective e-mail, memos, letters, and reports.
Salvatore J. Iacone, Ph.D., is a management training consultant whose specialty is designing and conducting business and technical writing and editing programs for major corporations, government agencies, and universities. His national and international clients have included AT&T, Duracell, Pfizer, Honeywell, and IBM. Dr. Iacone is the author of several books and articles.
Table of contents
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedicaiotn
- Acknowledgements
- Contents
- Introduction
- Chapter 1: Writing to the Point
- Chapter 2: Getting Started: Stop Staring and Start Writing
- Chapter 3: It’s Not About You: Writing for Your Reader
- Chapter 4: The Right Package: Organizing and Evaluating Information
- Chapter 5: Don’t Obfuscate: Writing With Clarity and Precision
- Chapter 6: Leave Out the Commercials: Let the Sentences Sell the Message
- Chapter 7: Who Do You Think You Are? Tone and Style
- Chapter 8: Last Restroom for 300 Miles: Editing for Content and Structure
- Chapter 9: Don’t Trust the Spell-Checker: Proofreading Made Easier
- Chapter 10: E-mail: To Send or Not to Send?
- Chapter 11: Memo, Letter, and Report Guidelines
- Chapter 12: Instructions, Presentations, Proposals, and Resumes
- Appendix A: Business Letter Models
- Appendix B: Guidelines to Punctuation
- Appendix C: Grammar and Usage Review
- Appendix D: Often-Confused Words
- Appendix E: The Correct Use of Prepositions That Follow Certain Words
- Appendix F: Capitalization
- Appendix G: Plural Nouns
- Appendix H: Compound Nouns/Words
- Writing Aerobics: Review Exercises to Test Yourself
- Index
- About the Author
Product information
- Title: Write to the Point
- Author(s):
- Release date: February 2003
- Publisher(s): Career Press
- ISBN: 9781564146397
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