Write Like a Pro

Ten Techniques for Getting Your Point Across at Work (and in Life)

Carl Hausman

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781440844140
• eBook ISBN: 9781440844157
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Writing
• Index: Business

For those looking to become great business writers, this practical guide supplies clear instruction and examples of how to organize thoughts into written form, impart information with pinpoint accuracy, persuade, and hold the reader's interest: in short, to use language to get what you want. In today's business world, writers need to be prepared and comfortable with various forms of writing: reports, blogs, social media, white papers. Written by an established expert on writing and communication, journalism professor Carl D. Hausman, Write Like a Pro: Ten Techniques for Getting Your Point Across at Work (and in Life) can make you a better writer, regardless of your experience and current skill level; and will teach you how to vastly improve your written communication through a straightforward, easy-to-follow method. This book doesn't just cover the essential "mechanics" of good writing; it focuses on developing the more subtle skills of infusing your writing with eloquence, power, accuracy, and persuasiveness—and it shows readers how to achieve those qualities with no-nonsense advice. The information is highly accessible, sometimes amusing, and replete with memorable examples that demonstrate what works and teaches a strategy for solving any writing problem. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to write effectively, in any form, from emails to complaint letters to social media.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Expanded Contents
• Introduction
• How to Use This Book
• Chapter 1. Deploy a Professional Writer’s Strategy to Produce Engaging, Powerful, and Persuasive Writing—and Do It on a Schedule
• Chapter 2. Use Proper Paragraphing to Grab Your Readers by the Nose and Lead Them through Your Piece (And Make Them Like Being Led)
• Chapter 3. Employ Muscular, Accurate Words to Do Your Heavy Lifting
• Chapter 4. Make Your Writing Come Alive with Vivid Style
• Chapter 5. Don’t Turn Off the Reader by Making Dumb Mistake’s with You’re Grammar and Usage
• Chapter 6. Use Concrete Examples, Explanations, and Evidence to Reinforce Your Point (Speaking of Concrete, the Hoover Dam Used Enough Concrete to Build a Road from New York to California)
• Chapter 7. Use Simple and Proven Techniques of Persuasion If Your Aim Is to Motivate or Convince
• Chapter 8. Show, Don’t Tell—Master the Technique at the Heart of Compelling Writing
• Chapter 9. Borrow from the Best: Use Quotes to Add Power to Your Writing
• Chapter 10. Grow as a Writer Using This Ten-Step Plan
• Chapter 11. The Ten Techniques in Action: Step-by-Step Demonstrations of the “Write Like a Pro” Techniques in Various Styles o Writing
• Notes
• Suggested Readings
• Index