Introduction to Professional Communication Book

I. PRINCIPLES.

1. Becoming a Professional Communicator.

2. Learning the Basics of Professional Communication.

3. Examining Form and Format, Style, and Organization.

4. Controlling Language Skillfully.

5. Using Traditional Organizing Strategies.

6. Creating Visuals.

II. PRACTICE.

7. Designing Four Typical Professional Communications.

8. Planning and Researching Professional Reports.

9. Producing a Long Report.

10. Handling Correspondence.

11. Participating in Groups and Making Oral Presentations.

12. Surviving the Job Search.

III. REVISIONS.

1. Spelling, Hyphenation, and Using A/AN Correctly.

2. Subject-Verb and Pronoun Antecedent Agreement.

3. Gender-Neutral Language, Persons, and Pronoun Case.

4. Paragraph Exchange, A.

5. Verb Tense and Voice.

6. Capitalization and Punctuation.

7. Sentence Patterns and Sentence Combining.

8. Paragraph Exchange, B.

9. Faulty Parallelism, Dangling Modifiers, and Split Infinitives.

10. Techniques for Writing Concisely and Smoothly.

11. Specific Tips for Revising.

12. Paragraph Exchange, C.

IV. READINGS.

1. How Many Trees Does It Take to Build and Airplane?, John E. Brasure, Technical Communication.

2. Did You Say What You Said or Did You Say What I Think You Said?, Tom D. Lewis, Management Accounting.

3. Cybernetics Qualified: Technical vs. Creative Writing, Ben H. Meis, Community and Junior College Journal.

4. What Do You Mean You Don't Like My Style?, John Fielden, Harvard Business Review.

5. Gobbledygook, Stewart Chase, from the Power of Words.

6. The Direct Writing Process for Getting Words on Paper, Peter Elbow, from Writing with Power.

7. Organizing the Technical Description, W. Earl Britton, Technical Communication.

8. Clear Only If Known, Edgar Dale.

9. Ten Report Writing Pitfalls: How to Avoid Them, Vincent Vinci, Chemical engineering.

10. The Dismal State of Business Letters Today, Peter Dalda, Wall Street Journal.

11. Letters that Sell, The Royal Bank of Canada Monthly Letter.

12. Defensive Writing, Mary C. Bromage, California Management Review.

13. Clear Writing Means Clear Thinking Means …, Marvin H. Swift, Harvard Business Review.

14. The Sounds of Silence, Edward and Mildred Hal.

15. The Business of Listening, John L. DiGaetani, The Foundation for the School of Business at Indiana University.