Business Writing

A thorough, accessible, and results-oriented guidebook intended for today’s business environment, Business Writing: What Works, What Won’t offers the first and last word on writing memos, business letters, reports, and all other kinds of business documents. Wilma Davidson, a veteran corporate writing coach whose clients have included M&M Mars, Johnson & Johnson, Anheuser-Busch, and several other Fortune 500 companies, uses clear and memorable examples, charts, cartoons, and anecdotes to convey exactly what succeeds—and what fails—in written business communication.

This new edition of Business Writing has been fully revised and updated to cover e-mail, Palm Pilots, and the latest in word processor technology. It will be an indispensable reference for all students of business and management—a book that answers questions about style, provides guidance in matters of grammar, and reveals countless insights about writing with precision, confidence, humor, and eye-catching effectiveness.

FOREWORD

Acknowledgments

INTRODUCTION: Why I Wrote This Book

PART 1: What This Book Can Do for You

1. From Procrastination to Power: Writing Painlessly and Well
2. Where to Begin to Improve
3. Qualities of Powerful Writing

PART 2: Getting the Writing Going

4. Overcoming Page Fright
5. Getting Started: Strategies that Work

PART 3: Showcasing Your Ideas and Information Through Organization, Format, and Sentence Structure

6. Organizing Your Message
Get to the Bottom Line!
How to Tell a Bottom-Line Statement from a Purpose Statement
Bottom-Lining Exercises
When Not to Bottom-Line
Organizing the Rest of the Document
7. Formatting Ideas to Clarify Your Message
Write Headlines That Help
Use "Chunking" to Organize Your Thoughts
Chunking Exercises
Use Tables, Graphs, and Other Visuals to Give the Big Picture Fast
Use PowerPoint Slides to Aid Your Oral Presentations
Summary of Techniques That Showcase Your Ideas and Reveal Your Knack for Organizing
8. Structuring Your Sentences—to Clarify Your Intent and Add Style
Combine Sentences to Create Emphasis and Eliminate Wordiness
Combine Sentences to Present Ideas of Parallel Importance
Focus on Emphasis
Focus on Eliminating Wordiness
Vary Sentence Length to Create Rhythm
Eight Ways to Add Emphasis and Elegance to Sentences

PART 4: Choosing Your Words Wisely for Conciseness and Consideration

9. Getting Rid of Sentence Clutter
Cutting Out Ten Forms of Clutter
10. Tempering Your Tone
Considering Your Reader, Yourself, and Tone
Avoiding the Negative by Accentuating the Positive
Delivering Unpopular Messages
Using Humor
Banishing Bias

PART 5: Getting It Right: The Basics of Grammar and Spelling

11. Grappling with Grammar
The Seven Deadly Sins of Grammar
Bungle Rules
Frequently Asked Questions About Grammar . . . And Their Answers
Formal Grammar Rules You Can Bend
12. Spelling
What if You're a Lousy Speller?
Easily Misspelled Words
Forming Plurals from Our Strange Language

PART 6: Writing Quickly and Well

13. Deadline Writing: A Process for Getting It Started, Keeping It Going, Getting It Right
Phase One: Helter-Skelter Writing—the Zero draft
Phase Two: Hocus-Pocus Organizing
Phase Three: Ruthless Editing

PART 7: Talking to Other Writers—and to Your Micro Recorder

14. An E-mail Quick Guide
15. Collaborating
Giving Feedback to Others
A Word to the Wise Manager: How to Encourage Employees to be Responsible for Their Writing
16. Dictating
Can I Convince You to Try It?

pard A Process for Productive Dictating

APPENDIX: Guidelines and Model Letters
Customer Follow-up/Recap/Thank you
Confirming/Directive Memos
Encouraging the Team/Team Update
Meeting Minutes
Proposals/Recommendations
Providing/Requesting Information

Epilogue
Bibliography
Index