MacRae, Paul. Business and Professional Writing.

PART I THE BASICS OF STRONG WRITING 23 Chapter 1 Plain Language 25 Business Communication versus Academic Writing 25 Plain Language 27 Exercises 32 Chapter 2 The Seven Cs of Good Professional Communication 33 Introduction 33 1. Clear 34 2. Concise 39 3. Concrete and Specific 42 4. Complete 44 5. Courteous 45 6. Coherent 49 Exercise: Identifying Transitions 51 7. Constructive 55 Conclusion 58 Quiz on the Seven Cs 60 Chapter 3 The Eighth C: Learning Grammar Language 61 Introduction 61 Grammar Language 62 Parts of Speech 64 Sentences and Clauses 66 Conjunctions 73 Quiz on Sentences 78 Clauses and Conjunctions Determine Punctuation 78 Punctuation 81 Review of Commas, Semicolons, and Colons 85 Quiz on Punctuation 90 Grammar Odds and Ends 90 Quick Quiz 91 Conclusion 93 Quiz #1 on Grammar 93 Quiz #2 on Grammar 94 Quiz #3 on Clauses 95 Chapter 4 Copy-Editing 97 Introduction: What Is Copy-Editing? 97 Using Spellcheck 100 Other Copy-Editing Tasks 101 Copy-Editing Symbols 101 Using a Word Processor for Copy-Editing 103 Conclusion 105 Copy-Editing Exercise 106 PART II DOCUMENT DESIGN 107 Chapter 5 Basic Document Design 109 Introduction: The Importance of Good Document Design 109 Modular Design 110 Lists 114 List Review 118 Exercise on Lists 119 Headings 119 Headings Review 123 Graphics 124 Graphics Review 131 Summing Up 132 Chapter 6 Formatting for Correspondence 135 Introduction 135 Memos and Emails 136 Memo Exercise 140 Letters 140 Letter Exercise 149 Correspondence Review 149 PART III CORRESPONDENCE 151 Chapter 7 Emails and Memos 153 Introduction 153 Emails and Memos 154 Emails 154 Memos 157 Faxes and Scans 159 Chapter 8 Letters: Good News, Neutral, and Bad News 161 Introduction 161 Good-News and Neutral Letters 162 Good-News and Neutral Letter Review 164 Bad-News Letters 164 Bad-News Letter Review 172 Bad-News Letter Exercises 172 Chapter 9 Persuasive Letters 177 Introduction 177 Three Rhetorical Techniques 178 AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) 180 Persuasive Communication Ethics 186 Persuasive Letter Review 193 Exercise 193 PART IV WRITING FOR A JOB 195 Chapter 10 Cover Letters 197 Introduction 197 The Cover Letter 198 Conclusion 206 Exercise 207 Chapter 11 Résumés 209 Introduction 209 Reverse Chronological Résumé 212 Functional Résumé 216 Combined Chronological and Functional Résumé 219 Electronic or Scannable Résumé 223 Conclusion 227 Exercises 227 PART V PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS 229 Chapter 12 News Releases 231 Introduction 231 News Releases 231 Exercise 241 Follow-Up Questions and Exercises 242 Chapter 13 Brochures 243 Introduction 243 Brochures Are AIDA Documents 243 Conclusion 249 Exercises 250 Chapter 14 Promotion on the Web 251 Introduction 251 Creating a Website 252 Social Media 253 Exercise 258 PART VI ORAL PRESENTATIONS 259 Chapter 15 Individual Oral Presentations 261 Introduction 261 Individual Presentations 262 Individual Presentation Checklist 274 Exercises 275 Chapter 16 Group Presentations 277 Introduction 277 Preparation 277 Content 279 Delivery 279 Group Presentation Checklist 280 Exercise 281 PART VII REPORTS 283 Chapter 17 Informal Reports 285 Introduction 285 Progress Reports 286 Problem-Solving Reports 290 Incident Reports 297 Proposal Reports 300 Conclusion 306 Discussion Questions 307 Exercises 307 Chapter 18 Formal Reports 309 Introduction 309 Formal Report Design 311 Formal Report Formatting 312 Formal Proposals 326 Surveys 329 Exercises on Surveys and Graphs 337 Minutes 337 Conclusion 342 Formal Report Checklist 344 Discussion Questions 345 Exercise 1: A Formal Proposal Report 345 Exercise 2: An Analytical Report 346 Chapter 19: Formal Proposal Report Example 347 Chapter 20: Formal Report Example 36