A Guide to Writing in Business

Table of Contents:
Introduction: A Guide to Writing in Business Thinking like a business writer Questions business writers ask Kinds of evidence business writers use Ethics in business writing Distinguishing fact, opinion, and value Researching business Using databases to locate business publications Researching specific companies Strategies for optimizing your online searches Evaluating online resources Checklist for evaluating online sources Reading the business literature Active reading How to read quantitative and qualitative data Writing papers and projects in business Considering your purpose Understanding your audience in business Checklist for assessing the writing situation Planning and drafting Organizing your document Revising and editing Writing conventions in business Writing strong sentences Choosing words carefully Presenting data Integrating, citing, and documenting sources Avoiding plagiarism and recognizing intellectual property Quoting, summarizing, and paraphrasing sources In-text citations (APA style) Reference list (APA style) Genres of writing in business Email Memos and briefs Critique of an article or case Competitive analysis Business proposal Research report Analysis and recommendation report White paper Presentations Glossary of vocabulary in business Practice activities Practice activity: Learning about the field Practice activity: Writing for multiple audiences Practice activity: Using Google Scholar Practice activity: Article summary and critique Practice activity: Writing a memo to ask for reimbursement Practice activity: Revision workshop Practice activity: Planning a research study Practice activity: Formulating a research question about a topic Practice activity: Evaluating online information Practice activity: Locating and evaluating sources Practice activity: Understanding the difference between quantitative and qualitative data Answers to selected activities Sample student writing: Business More help with documentation: APA style APA-style reference list: Additional examples Editing strategies Subject-verb agreement Pronoun agreement, reference, and case Strong verbs Sentence fragments Run-on sentences Distracting shifts Parallel structure Clear, uncluttered sentences Sentence emphasis Commas Apostrophes Quotation marks

About the Author :
Stephen A. Bernhardt is Professor of English and the Andrew B. Kirkpatrick Chair in Writing at the University of Delaware, where he teaches composition, grammar, and technical writing. His professional interests include computers in composition/distance education, writing across the curriculum, professional and technical communication, and visual rhetoric. He has also taught at New Mexico State University and at Southern Illinois University. The author of many journal articles and technical reports, Bernhardt is also the author of Writing at Work (1997) and coeditor of Expanding Literacies: English Teaching and the New Workplace (1998). Bernhardt designed the research plan and reworked content for Writers Help. Nancy Sommers, who has taught composition and directed composition programs for thirty years, now teaches in Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. She led Harvard’s Expository Writing Program for twenty years, directing the first-year writing program and establishing Harvard’s WAC program. A two-time Braddock Award winner, Sommers is well known for her research and publications on student writing. Her articles “Revision Strategies of Student and Experienced Writers” and “Responding to Student Writing” are two of the most widely read and anthologized articles in the field of composition. Recently she has been exploring different audiences through blogging and through publishing in popular media. Sommers is the lead author on Hacker handbooks, all published by Bedford/St. Martin’s, and is coauthor of Fields of Reading, Tenth Edition (2013).