HBR Guide to Better Business Writing (HBR Guide Series)DON'T LET YOUR WRITING HOLD YOU BACK. When you're fumbling for words and pressed for time, you might be tempted to dismiss good business writing as a luxury. But it's a skill you must cultivate to succeed: You'll lose time, money, and influence if your e-mails, proposals, and other important documents fail to win people over. The HBR Guide to Better Business Writing, by writing expert Bryan A. Garner, gives you the tools you need to express your ideas clearly and persuasively so clients, colleagues, stakeholders, and partners will get behind them. This book will help you:
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges. |
Contents
| 3 | |
| 7 | |
| 13 | |
Before writing in earnest jot down your three main pointsin complete sentences | 19 |
Write in fullrapidly | 27 |
Improve what youve written | 31 |
Use graphics to illustrate and clarify | 37 |
Developing Your Skills | 41 |
Watch your tone | 99 |
Common Forms of Business Writing | 103 |
Emails | 105 |
Business Letters | 111 |
Memos and Reports | 125 |
Performance Appraisals | 133 |
A Checklist for the Four Stages of Writing | 139 |
A Dozen Grammatical Rules You Absolutely Need to Know | 143 |
Be relentlessly clear | 43 |
Learn to summarizeaccurately | 49 |
Waste no words | 53 |
Be plainspoken Avoid bizspeak | 57 |
Use chronology when giving a factual account | 67 |
Be a stickler for continuity | 71 |
Learn the basics of correct grammar | 77 |
Get feedback on your drafts from your colleagues | 85 |
Avoiding the Quirks That Turn Readers Off | 89 |
Dont anesthetize your readers | 91 |
A Dozen Punctuation Rules You Absolutely Need to Know | 153 |
Common Usage Gaffes | 163 |
Some Dos and Donts of BusinessWriting Etiquette | 165 |
A Primer of Good Usage | 169 |
| 199 | |
| 203 | |
Acknowledgments | 209 |
About the Author | 211 |