Clik here to view.
Another lesson on the oxford comma
Related articles A little fun related to the Oxford comma (proswrite.com) A light-hearted lesson on the Oxford comma (proswrite.com) The Oxford comma: Decried, defended, and debated [infographic]...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pros right visuals for presentations
OK. I know the title of this post is a little strange because of the use of “right.” But it captures the lesson I try sharing with anyone who asks me how to be a better presenter. Getting the visuals...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Enjoy some cod English today
This post has nothing to do with writing in the workplace. But I discovered the Inky Fool not long ago. An entertaining site for those who love language. You’ll find a post by Mark Forsyth on Cod...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A little platitude humor
To honor both my love of puns and my disdain for platitudes, I’m sharing this Duck-Billed Platitude cartoon today. For more on the fight against platitudes, see Tracy Allison Altman’s recent post over...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Comparing organizations who promote workplace document quality
I recently discovered the Simplification Centre, which originated at the University of Reading in the UK, now functioning as a non-profit organization devoted to what they call information design. For...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Warren Buffett, pro writer
I was reading my digitial issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education (CHE) this morning and found Ben Yagoda’s Warren Buffett Is a Better Writer Than I Am. Damn It. (Yagoda is one of a handful of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Deep impact
Reblogged from The Stroppy Editor: If you don’t like words being moved from one grammatical category to another, then you’ll hate ‘impact’. In the 17th and 18th centuries it was a verb – yes,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Friday fun with punctuation gone wild
For the funny explanation of appropriate usage, see College Humor. You can even download them as truetype fonts for actual adoption. It’s worth a few minutes! Happy Friday! Filed under: Other Stuff...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Amateurs suffer from too much AND too little knowledge
It’s a conundrum. Do amateurs struggle to write successfully in the workplace because they have too much or too little knowledge? The answer is “yes.” Here’s what I mean. Amateurs suffer from too much...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why I prefer watching something other than a newscast
To celebrate my birthday with Pros Write readers, I thought I’d share some of the OTHER interesting things that have happened on March 28. On this date in 1960, when I was born, Time magazine’s cover...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The genre of research articles
This post is devoted to the genre of research articles. (If you need a brief introduction to what I mean by “genre,” read Pros have contextualized knowledge.) The ultimate proving ground for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Speaking of how readers judge writers . . .
It’s a mistake to think your readers aren’t forming perceptions of you based on your written messages . . . My favorite in this amusing image about text messages is the first one. It’s no coincidence...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Amateurs don’t know they don’t know
I’ve been struggling to understand why teaching undergraduate students to write for the workplace is so difficult since around 1988. Quite a while back, I recognized that students have to clear a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Is your vision clear — or blurry?
I’m working on a post about research articles, but it’s not ready for the world yet. So I wanted to share a terrific piece on vision statements from Gavin over at Make A POWERful Point. He contrasts...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The genre of research articles: Introduction sections
Today’s post begins a series on the different sections that make up a research article (RA). I’m tackling the Introduction section first. The Introduction provides a “frame” for the research. It sets...
View ArticleClik here to view.
So you’re learning to write like a professional researcher?
Although I don’t have much time today, I promised the doctoral students I met with at LSU last Friday that I would share an interesting phrasebank from the folks at the University of Manchester for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pros test their draft documents — with readers
Because pro writers recognize their limitations, they adopt practices designed to overcome them. One of those practices is testing a draft before delivering the final document. That’s why I highlighted...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pros avoid sexist language
Within Western culture, there are few workplaces with ONLY men or ONLY women. In theory, our workplaces are gender neutral. Our language, however, sometimes perpetuates a world in which women are...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Friday fun with dirty words (your friends won’t know are dirty)
Because it’s Friday and we all need a little more fun, I’m sharing The Dirty Etymology of 9 Everyday Words by Romy Oltuski, who wrote this piece for mental_floss.** I don’t know Romy, but I share her...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Texting as fingered speech
Check out this TED talk by linguist John McWhorter about the language of texting. McWhorter makes the point that texting operates less like the language of writing than the language of speaking. So...
View Article