Business Writing: What Works, What Won't

by Wilma Davidson, Jack Dougherty, Ed.D. and Jack Dougherty Wilma Davidson

Book Overview

First published by Griffin in 1994, Wilma Davidson's clear, practical guide to business writing has established itself as a steady seller and an excellent primer for anyone who writes on the job.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312109482
• ISBN13: 9780312109486
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Priceless

For me the book was a vital part of my learning this semester. Every time we moved to a new topic I would examine the examples. For me to be able to see what a good memo looked like and what a bad memo looked like was invaluable. The different lists throughout the book, like easily misspelled words pages 208-212, were easy to use and extremely helpful. Business Writing What Works, What Won't by Dr. Davidson - 20 dollars Tuition for ENC 3250 - 399 dollars Learning to write a professional memo that will keep you from looking uneducated - PRICELESS

A book you will NEVER get rid of!

This book truly helped improve my professional writing not only at school, but at work as well. Two of my managers even commented on the memos I recently sent out to my team members to address various issues. They said I got straight to the point, my tone was even-tempered, and overall the memo was extremely effective. They also said they saw a huge difference from when I first started with the company two years ago. I said it was all because of the Business Writing book I purchased. The two areas of the book that I found most valuable were chapter 9 and chapter 14. Chapter 9 dealt with removing clutter from my sentences. I struggled with this problem in my writing before, but the chapter really helped me to avoid these mistakes. It helped me eliminate redundancy and made my writing more concise. I found chapter 14 to be extremely valuable because I use email all the time for work and school. I did not realize, though, how important it was to bottom-line and be brief in my messages. I have a tendency to dance around the topic in my emails, but this was simply not acceptable when writing memos in the business world. Time=Money!! This chapter helped me to tighten up my writing and forced me to get to the point. After reading this book I feel so much more confident when I write. I no longer worry about what my coworkers or managers will think about my memos or how they will react to them. You get the best of both worlds with this book, it is inexpensive and it improves your writing tremendously.

Regardless of skill level, this book will improve your professional writing!

I found the textbook to be an extremely helpful tool in perfecting my writing throughout the semester. While I used it sparingly for the first few weeks, I started to keep up with the reading assignments later on. The later writing samples blew my earlier work away, and I am confident that the textbook's tips were the reason for my improvement. I found three areas, the side-by-side revisions, the "Grappling With Grammar" section, and all of Chapter 9, to be immensely helpful. Early in the semester, I relied very heavily on the side-by-side revisions to really get an idea of what my writing should look like. The examples are featured are pages 33-38 and thoughout the book. Seeing an example of a cluttered, wordy memo right next to a concise, even-tempered memo made it easy to correct my mistakes. I followed a similar revising process and had fantastic results. For students who are just starting in the class, these examples are fantastic. As my overall tone and writing got better, I had to find ways to fine-tune my efforts. To reach the 5.5-6 grade level I knew it would take flawless work. Chapter 11 featured several sections entitled, "Grappling With Grammar." While I knew I was a sound writer, pages 199-203 helped solve those tricky grammar issues. The entire chapter helped with word usage, punctuation, and the technical problems that can deflate even the best memo. For writers at any level, this section was very valuable. Lastly, I found Chapter 9 to be another important tool as I perfected my writing. The other two parts helped with my tone and punctuation, but I still needed help to clear the clutter in my writing. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I have a tendency to use cliches and pretentious words. Chapter 9 addressed these issues and provided a massive list of examples. Any writer with redundaancy issues, pretentious word usage, or overuse of cliches would gain a ton by reviewing this chapter. Overall, I found the text to be amazingly helpful. While some of my textbooks gathered dust over the semester, this one certainly got its share of use. I found the information to be current, relevant, and certainly accessible for our class. I will be holding on to this book after the semester is finshed because I am confident it will help my writing in the future!

Hits the mark--and helps you hit it, too

Wilma Davidson's _Business Writing: What Works, What Won't_ is that rare book that fully addresses its title's premise. This book will have you writing more effective business correspondence and documents right away. As a freelance commercial writer, my work depends on skillfully communicating on point. This book shows how to do just that. Davidson minces no words, either. She finds the current state of business writing deplorable, filled with pointless buzzwords, passive voice, data overload, and too much pomposity. She gears her book to addressing those major problems and does so effortlessly. You'll learn how to * Restructure documents for quick reading * Tighten sentences and paragraphs by eliminating extraneous words and phrases * Use "real English" instead of business buzzwords that hinder communication * Move from dull, passive voice to a more natural active voice that holds readers' attention * And much more. Best of all, the author provides numerous outstanding examples of the distinctions between poorly written documents and their more professionally written counterparts. The book includes quizzes, asking readers to fix broken paragraphs and sentences. Unlike some other books that test readers, Davidson provides her suggestions for those fixes so the reader isn't left to wonder what the repair might be. Her section on switching from passive to active voice may be one of the best I've ever read, offering illustrations and clever examples that help beginning business writers grasp the concept. Considering I work as a writer and have read on the topic widely, it's a rarity for me to pick up a book on the subject of writing and say, "What a superlative book!" _Business Writing; What Works, What Won't_ is just that, and I recommend it without hesitation. If business writers read this book and put its recommendation into practice, we'll have a whole lot less of "It is suggested that we leverage a paradigm shift" and more of "Let's try a new direction."

My Students Love it Too!

The open, inviting and easy-to-read format was the first thing that attracted me to Wilma Davidson's book. Next was the content. She covers all the major areas that most people need to work on to become more effective and efficient writers. Her book provides solid, practical information right up front, with a of easy-to-understand examples. Last but not least is the endorsement given in the forward by Janet Emig, who revolutionized the approach to writing being taught in school systems around the world today. I use Business Writing, What Works What Wont to supplement the principles and techniques I teach in my writing workshop, which is aimed at professionals in technical fields, and they love it too, saying it is a great help and excellent resource.