PART ONE: THE WRITING PROCESS

Writing in the Business World

Finding Your Focus

Sizing Up Your Work Style

What to Do When You're Stuck

Organizing Your Ideas

Paragraphing

Continuity: Using Transitions

Adding Visual Interest: Layout, Illustrations and

PowerPoint Presentations

Revising

Proofreading

Staying on Top of the Paper Flow

PART TWO: WRITING WITH POWER

Steps Toward a Clear Style

Writing to Persuade

Writing with Energy

Trimming Wordiness

Varying Your Sentences

Avoiding Tangled Sentences

Eliminating Biased Language

PART THREE: SPECIFIC BUSINESS WRITING

Email and Fax Messages

Memos

Letters

Agendas and Minutes

Instructions or Directions

Reports

Websites

Newsletters and Press Releases

Proposals

Résumés

PART FOUR: SPECIAL PROJECTS

Research on the Internet

Crediting Outside Sources

Recurring Projects

Long-term Projects

Collaborative Projects

The Spoken Word

Editing Other People's Drafts

Writing for Others

PART FIVE: CORRECTNESS—USAGE

Commonly Confused Words

One Word or Two?

Spelling

Capitalization

Abbreviations and Numbers

Correct Pronouns

Consistent Pronouns

Pronouns: Avoiding Vagueness

Verbs: Agreement with Subjects

Verbs: Consistent Tenses

Word Endings: s and ed

 

PART SIX: CORRECTNESS—PUNCTUATION

Periods: Avoiding Sentence Fragments and Run-on Sentences

Commas

Semicolons and Colons

Dashes and Parentheses

Hyphens

Apostrophes

Quotation Marks

Italicizing (Underlining) or Quoting Titles

APPENDIX

Sample Business Documents

Memo

Bad News Memo

Detailed Email

Email Templates

Letter of Recommendation

Meeting Agenda

Press Release

Cover Letter for Résumé

Résumé (Emphasis on Accomplishments)

Résumé (Emphasis on Skills)

Résumé (Limited Experience—Concealing Current Employer)

Résumé (Significant Experience)

 

Guidelines for Preparing Documents

Basic Formatting For Business Documents

Shortcuts for ‘Word'

Grammar Review: Common Sentence Patterns

The Anatomy of a Sentence: How to Diagram

A List of Valuable Sources

About the Authors