Writing That Works, 3e_ How to Communicate Effectively in Business - Kenneth Roman [0]
Third Edition
How to communicate effectively in business:
letters
memos
presentations
plans
reports
proposals
resumes
speeches
Kenmeth Roman and Joel Raphaelson
If language is not correct,
then what is said is not what is meant;
If what is said is not what is meant,
Then what ought to be done remains undone.
—CONFUCIUS
Contents
Epigraph
Preface: Why a Third Edition?
1. Writing That Works
2. Don’t Mumble—and Other Principles of Effective Writing
3. “I Love My Computer”
4. E-mail—the Great Mailbox in the Sky
5. Memos and Letters That Get Things Done
6. Writing for an Audience: Presentations and Speeches
7. Plans and Reports That Make Things Happen
8. Recommendations and Proposals That Sell Ideas
9. Asking for Money: Sales and Fund-Raising Letters
10. Coping with Political Correctness
11. Writing a Resume—and Getting an Interview
12. Editing Yourself
13. Making It Easy to Read
Other Books That Will Help You Write Better
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Praise for
Writing That Works, 3rd Edition
Previous Books
Copyright
About the Publisher
Preface Why a Third Edition?
The first edition of this book was written on a typewriter; we delivered a typed manuscript to the publisher. We wrote the second edition on computers and delivered a printed manuscript. This edition was written on computers and e-mailed to our editor—no manuscript, not even disks.
That illustrates one of the changes in the way people communicate that propelled us to undertake a thorough revision. E-mail has become so ubiquitous that we added a chapter and revised several others to take full account of its influence. Another change in recent years is the fading of the internal memo — displaced in many uses by e-mail, in others by the presentation “deck.”
Our purpose, however, remains unchanged. We wrote the book to help those millions of nonprofessional writers who must use the written word to get results — in business, in government, in education, in the arts. That’s still our goal.
Nor have we found any cause to abandon the principles we espouse. To the contrary, the speed and ease of e-mail and word processing serve as an invitation to sloppy writing. Replacing paper with a PC screen doesn’t change the need for clear, precise communication. And replacing a formal memo with a bullet-pointed presentation deck doesn’t justify loose thinking.
In the second edition, we introduced some thoughts on how to avoid the pitfalls of sexist language. We have expanded those thoughts into a separate chapter on political correctness — and the extent to which it should or should not influence the way you write.
Throughout the book, we have freshened examples and sharpened points by practicing what we preach about editing. Coming from a world of thirty-second commercials has trained us to cut to the essence — and helped keep this book slim and our message accessible.
Nothing that follows is academic or theoretical. You will find advice you can act on, whenever you have to convert empty screen or blank paper into a letter, a memo, a report, a recommendation, a proposal, a speech, a resume. You’ll get help from specific side-by-side examples of good writing versus bad.
“Generations ago the telephone killed the art of executive writing. Now it’s poised for a comeback,” reports The Wall Street Journal, noting that e-mail sends everyone to a keyboard. No wonder companies institute writing courses.
Effective writing is hard work even for the best writers (and even on a computer), but the principles are simple. They don’t require unusual talent or special skills. They are easy to understand and easy to put into use. What you do need is a degree of determination — the perseverance to be sure you’ve said what you want to say. This book aims to help you do that with less difficulty and more confidence, and get the results you’re looking for — from everything you write.
1 Writing That Works
“Too many of the communications I get are meaningless,