FranklinCovey Style Guide: For Business and Technical Communication

FranklinCovey Style Guide: For Business and Technical Communication can help any writer produce documents that achieve outstanding results. Created by FranklinCovey, the world-renowned leader in helping organizations enhance individual effectiveness, this edition fully reflects today’s online media and global business challenges. The only style guide used in FranklinCovey’s own renowned Writing Advantage TM and Technical Writing Advantage TM programs, it covers everything from document design and graphics to sentence style and word choice. This edition’s many improvements include extensive new coverage of graphics, writing for online media, and international business English. Through dozens of examples and model documents, writers learn how to overcome “writer’s block” and efficiently create documents from start to finish. FranklinCovey’s experts show how to get powerful results from every email; add distinctiveness and power to any online presence; write far more effective proposals, letters, memos, reports, and resumes; and improve all forms of documentation, from business procedures to highly technical content. You’ll learn how to quickly discover and prioritize the information you need, whether you’re planning a presentation, leading a meeting, or managing a project. The authors reveal how to design visuals that communicate messages instantly and intuitively, and use charts, color, illustrations, maps, photos, and tables to supercharge any presentation. Packed with up-to-the-minute examples, this A-Z guidebook can help you write more effectively no matter who you are — whether you’re a business or sales professional who must motivate and persuade, a technical professional who must explain challenging content more clearly and accurately, or a student who needs stronger writing skills to succeed in school and in your career.

Table of Contents:
Preface     ii Improving Communication Quality     iii Contents     iv Foreword     viii Author Acknowledgements     ix Reference Glossary Using the Reference Glossary (Introduction)      2 Abbreviations     3 Acronyms     8 Active/Passive     9 Adjectives     12 Adverbs     15 Agreement     16 Apostrophes     19 Appendices     21 Articles     23 Bias-Free Language     25 Bibliographies     29 Boldface     32 Brackets     33 British English     34 Capitals     36 Captions     40 Charts     43 Citations     50 Cliches     51 Colons     54 Color     55 Commas     60 Compound Words     63 Conjunctions     65 Contractions     68 Dashes     69 Decimals     70 Editing and Proofreading     71 Electronic Mail     74 Ellipses     78 Emphasis     79 English as a Second Language     82 Ethics     86 Exclamation Marks     88 False Subjects     89 Faxes     90 Footnotes     92 Fractions     94 Gobbledygook     95 Graphics for Documents     97 Graphics for Presentations     103 Graphs     111 Headings     121 Hyphens     124 Illustrations     126 Indexes     132 Intellectual Property     134 International Business English     137 Introductions     139 Italics     141 Jargon     143 Key Words     144 Letters     145 Lists     164 Managing Information     167 Maps     170 Mathematical Notations     177 Meetings Management     179 Memos     182 Metrics     185 Modifiers     191 Nouns     193 Numbering Systems     194 Numbers     195 Online Documentation     197 Organization     202 Outlines     208 Page Layout     210 Paragraphs     217 Parallelism     222 Parentheses     223 Periods     225 Persuasion     226 Photographs     230 Plurals     238 Possessives     240 Prepositions     242 Presentations     243 Project Management     246 Pronouns     251 Punctuation     256 Question Marks     258 Quotation Marks     259 Quotations     261 Redundant Words     262 References     264 Repetition     267 Reports     269 Resumes     274 Scientific/Technical Style     278 Semicolons     281 Sentences     282 Signs and Symbols     286 Slashes     288 Spacing     289 Spelling     291 Strong Verbs     296 Style     297 Summaries     301 Tables     303 Tables of Contents     311 Thinking Strategies     314 Titles     317 Tone     319 Transitions     322 Underlining     323 Units of Measurement     324 Verbs     325 Word Problems     328 Word Processing     340 Wordy Phrases     345 Writing and Revising     347 Model Documents Using Model Documents (Introduction)     358 Letters Response: With Information and Directions     359 Response: To a Concerned Customer     360 Response: To a Complaint     362 Complaint: With a Request for Action     363 Complaint: With a Tactful Request for Aid     364 Employment Reference     366 Employment Verification     368 Bid Solicitation     369 Sales: With a Soft Sell     370 Sales: Template/Mail Merge     373 Customer Service     374 Memos Procedure     376 Request: For Clarification of a Problem     378 Summary: For an Executive Audience     380 Proposal: To an Antagonistic Audience     382 Request: With Informal Instructions     384 Technical: With a Recommendation     387 Recommendation     388 Status Report: With an Outcome Orientation     389 Safety: With a Mild Reprimand     390 Personnel: With Suggested Procedures     391 Response: With Instructions     392 Transmittal: For Attachments     394 Others Resume: Problem-Solution Format     395 Resume: Performance Format     396 Resume Cover Letter     397 Minutes     398 Job Description     400 Executive Summary: For a Proposal (Financial Services)     401 Executive Summary: For a Proposal (Training)      402 Executive Summary: For an Audit     404 Marketing Fact Sheet     405 Mission Statement     406 Procedure: For a Business Process     408 Procedure: For a Technical Process     411 Technical Report     415 Web Page: With Informative Content     419 Index     421

About the Author :
In 1996, Stephen R. Covey was recognized as one of Time magazine's 25 most influential Americans and one of Sales and Marketing Management magazine's top 25 power brokers. Dr. Covey wasthe author of acclaimed books, including the international bestseller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which has sold more than 20 million copies in 38 languages throughout the world. Other bestsellers authored by Dr. Covey include First Things First, Principle-Centered Leadership, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, and The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness. Dr. Covey’s most recently released books include Everyday Greatness: Inspiration for a Meaningful Life (2006), The Leader in Me: How Schools and Parents Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child at a Time (2008), Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times (2009), Great Work, Great Career (2009), and The 3rd Alternative. Dr. Covey was co-founder and vice chairman of FranklinCovey, the leading global professional services firm with offices in 123 countries. FranklinCovey shares Dr. Covey’s vision, discipline and passion to inspire, lift and provide tools for change and growth of individuals and organizations throughout the world. Dr. Covey held a BS in Business Administration from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, an MBA in Business Administration from Harvard University, and a doctorate from Brigham Young University. He also received 10 honorary Doctorates. He made teaching principle-centered living and principle-centered leadership his life’s work. Dr. Covey lived with his wife Sandra in Provo, Utah. He was the father of nine, a grandfather of 52, and great-grandfather of four.