Contents

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

FOR INSTRUCTORS AND STUDENTS

HOW TO WRITE ANYTHING

To Write or Not to Write?

What Communications Professionals Want You to Know About Writing at Work

What Kind of Writer Are You?

The Seven Steps

STEP 1: GET THE ASK CLEAR

How to Write by Avoiding Writing

STEP 2: WRITE FOR YOUR READER

How Writing a Business Plan Can Make You a Better Business Writer

STEP 3: START STRONG AND SPECIFIC

STEP 4: BE CONCISE

Writing Is Rewriting

STEP 5: FILL IN MISSING CONTENT; DELETE EXTRANEOUS CONTENT

STEP 6: WRITE IN PLAIN ENGLISH

STEP 7: IF SOMETHING FEELS WRONG, FIX IT

The Checklist

The Checklist in Action: Before and After Examples

Write It and Then Read It Out Loud

Types of Business Writing

THE BASICS

E-mail

Hints and Tips for Effective E-mails

The Etiquette of E-mail Writing

Requests

Escalated Request When a Deadline Is Approaching

Bad News Messages

Instant Messages

Presentations

Creating Visuals

Proposals

BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS

Introductions

Recommendations

Thank-yous

For Deeper Connection and Reflection, Write It by Hand

Apologies

PROMOTING YOUR BUSINESS AND YOURSELF

Web Copy

Blogs

Social Media

Creating Content for Your Website or Blog

Press Releases

Speeches

The Art of the Anecdote

Bios

EMPLOYMENT MATTERS

Résumés

Cover Letter for Your Résumé

Follow-up Message After a Job Interview

Five Tips for Communicating with Millennials in the Workplace

Job Descriptions

Job Advertisements

Performance Reviews

Resignation Letters

Termination Letters

Resources

WRITING SKILLS

Overcoming Writer’s Block

The Secret to Overcoming Writer’s Block

Editing Your Own Writing

STYLE

Active Voice—Make Your Writing More Direct

Reading, Writing, and Leadership

This What?

Gender-Neutral Language

GRAMMAR AND USAGE

Sentences, Fragments, and Run-ons

Pronoun Pitfalls

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

“That” and “Which”

Split Infinitives

Ending a Sentence with a Preposition

“Unique”

“Would Have,” “Could Have”

COMMONLY CONFUSED WORDS

PUNCTUATION

How to Use a Comma

How to Use Colons and Semicolons

How to Use Parentheses, Brackets, and Dashes

How to Use Capital Letters

How to Use Quotation Marks

Acknowledgments

Appendix A: Business Writing Survey

Appendix B: List of Common Prepositions

Contributors

Index