The Professional Writing Guide is for people who wish to improve the quality of their documents and the efficiency of their writing.Busy executives and other writers in organisations, who may spend between 30 and 80 per cent of their working time writing, will find it invaluable because it clearly outlines the principles that underlie effective documents. This book will enable executives to write confidently, competently, and persuasively.High quality output is crucial to a company's image and to a professional's own career advancement. Errors in a document can prove expensive. The Professional Writing Guide is an indispensable and accessible reference tool as well as a comprehensive style manual for writers who wish to avoid those expensive mistakes and make a positive impression.Written by two long-term professional writing educators with extensive experience of consulting to Australian business and industry, this lively and highly practical book features workable, reliable, and powerful strategies that can be used to systematically eliminate the writing problems of organisational writers.

Table of Contents

AcknowledgementsPrefaceChapter 1 Writing in the Business EnvironmentChapter 2 Reading in the Business EnvironmentChapter 3 Using Experimental ThinkingChapter 4 Critical ThinkingChapter 5 Choosing an Appropriate Document FrameworkChapter 6 Structuring ParagraphsChapter 7 Shaping SentencesChapter 8 Considering LanguageChapter 9 Choosing the Right WordChapter 10 Deciding How to PunctuateChapter 11 Revising and Editing Your DocumentsChapter 12 Choosing Good DesignChapter 13 The Impact of Technology on WritingChapter 14 Future Directions for Professional WritingIndex