The Business Writer's Handbook, Ninth Edition

divNow in its eighth edition, this classic book remains the complete business-writing reference for students and professionals alike. Alphabetically organized and easy to use, its nearly 400 entries provide guidance for the most common types of business documents and correspondence, from brochures, press releases, and résumés, to executive summaries, proposals, and reports. Abundant sample documents and visuals throughout the book demonstrate effective business communication, reflecting current practices for formatting documents and using e-mail. In addition, advice on organizing, researching, writing, and revising complements thorough treatment of grammar, usage, style, and punctuation to provide comprehensive help with writing skills. This edition has been thoroughly revised to include expanded advice for analyzing the context of different writing situations, using and integrating visuals, and dealing with ethical concerns in business writing, including plagiarism. Entries throughout have been revised, updated, consolidated, and streamlined to provide the most accurate and accessible information. Comprehensive yet concise, iThe Business Writer's Handbook/i remains the quick reference faithful users have come to appreciate.brbr/div

This fifth edition of IThe Business Writer's Handbook/I consists of nearly 700 spiral-bound pages written with both business students and professionals in mind. (It is also available in a paper-bound version, but how nice to be able to lay the book flat on one's desk for ease of reference.) "Our focus," say the editors, "is on helping professionally oriented writers develop effective skills and strategies for communicating in a rapidly changing environment," and that they do. The entries, arranged alphabetically, are straightforward and to the point. Sandwiched between items addressing issues of English grammar and word usage are guides to writing résumés, resignation letters, and everything in between (e.g., abstracts, annual reports, e-mail, executive summaries, form letters, feasibility studies, memos, mission statements, proposals, and trade journal articles). Throughout the book, the point is made that good writing has a marked effect on business communications--a short, personal collection letter, for instance, "will usually motivate a customer to pay a bill faster than will a form letter." Since the book is written for the business professional, many of the usage and grammar issues are illustrated with business-related examples, but don't think that that means the book isn't any fun. Consider the first sentence in an entry for Igobbledygook/I: "IGobbledygook/I is writing that suffers from an overdose of traits guaranteed to make it stuffy, pretentious, and wordy." I--Jane Steinberg/I