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Shibboleths for National Grammar Day
For National Grammar Day, I’m posting a slightly edited version of “Shibboleths and entering the professions,” which appeared on Pros Write back in 2012. I wrote the original in response to the raised...
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Another lesson on the bottom line
A quick story…I was working from home on slides for a presentation this afternoon. As I got ready to head to campus, my phone alerted me to a text message from a co-worker: This state needs to invest...
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Learn to analyze a workplace audience to deliver an effective message
Know your audience. This would count as a platitude for good writing without some specifics. So this post provides a specific system for analyzing a workplace audience. That system requires writers to...
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A terrific test for assessing a job candidate’s writing skill
A few days ago, Lee Salz published Help! My salespeople can’t write! He notes that writing skill has become critical because business-to-business selling involves lots of emails and electronic...
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Kudos to Google. And the Center for Plain Language.
Yesterday, Time.com reported that Google ranked #1 for their privacy policy. The Center for Plain Language judged how well 7 big tech firms followed plain-language guidelines. A communication is in...
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Choose active vs. passive voice strategically
No grammatical construction raises the ire of writing “experts” like the passive. Geoff Pullum (a regular contributor to Lingua Franca at the Chronicle of Higher Education) provided two marvelous...
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Thinking and Interacting Like a Leader ebook released today
The 2nd edition of Thinking and Interacting Like a Leader: The TILL System for Leadership Communication is now available as an ebook on Google Play. The book is a concise guide to help current and...
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Theory? Or experience?
Many people believe you have to choose between experience and theory when you want to gain knowledge or skills. But the choice represents a false dichotomy. It’s on my mind today as I get ready to meet...
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Check out the 4th Edition of Revising Professional Writing
The 4th edition of Revising Professional Writing in Science and Technology, Business, and the Social Sciences is now available. It’s an affordable workbook at $39.95 USD, with over 400 revision and...
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Read. Then write.
One of the most important things any teacher or manager can do to help novices become pro writers is to discuss sample messages with them. Reading thoughtfully precedes writing successfully! The key to...
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Plain language requires attention to the writer’s organization
[This post should have appeared on October 13 to acknowledge International Plain Language Day. More important, it should have appeared AFTER parts one and two.] In the first two posts defining what I...
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Plain language requires attention to the text
To celebrate International Plain Language Day, I’m republishing a four-part series in which I defined “plain language” a couple of years ago. Part three was accidentally published last night. [sigh]...
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Plain language requires attention to the audience
In Part One of my attempt to explain how I understand plain language, I focused on the elements of a text that must be managed to create a plain language document. Anyone who has known me for long,...
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Plain language requires attention to the process
The first three parts of my series on defining plain language focused on the three aspects of the rhetorical triangle: (1) textual elements like style and organization, (2) reader outcomes like...
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Does essay writing help you succeed as a writer at work?
Today’s post is in honor of the National Day on Writing. U.S. students spend years writing essays. They believe they know how to write. (And also often believe that writing is meaningless.) What they...
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Readers label you based on your style
I’m in Seattle at the Association for Business Communication conference. Erin Kane and I will present “Reader Perception of Workplace-Writer Attributes” this afternoon. (Our fellow researchers, Nicole...
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Reaching (and respecting) veterans with plain language
To honor our US veterans today, let me share an example of exemplary writing practice from the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). A team working on a form wanted to use the question, “When were...
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Feds make better grades in 2015
The Center for Plain Language recently released final grades for US federal agencies. After completing a rigorous evaluation process, they concluded that Participation by agencies in the Center for...
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Theory? Or experience?
Originally posted on Pros Write: Many people believe you have to choose between experience and theory when you want to gain knowledge or skills. But the choice represents a false dichotomy. It’s on my...
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The (sub)genre of the executive summary
When a business professional needs to influence other people to do something not obviously beneficial to them, the individual often writes a persuasive document. That’s why we have proposals, business...
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