Writing Under Pressure: The Quick Writing Process

By Sanford Kaye

Book Overview

Most writing is done under pressure. An executive has to produce a three-page position paper by tomorrow at nine. A department head suddenly has to write a one-page action memo by noon. A graduate student has a twenty-page research paper due in a week. Or a sophomore has to answer four essay questions for a three-hour exam. Indeed, most students and professionals write under pressure--limited time, limited space, a supervisor or instructor to please--yet few approach the task systematically.
In Writing Under Pressure, Sanford Kaye provides a system--the Quick Writing Process (QWP)--that focuses on real-world writing tasks and shows how to produce the clearest, most honest, most powerful work possible under the constraints of time and space. A writing instructor with twenty-five year's experience teaching students and professionals in business and government, Kaye shows writers how to budget time--how much time to allot to planning, generating material, drafting and polishing to get the meaning they are after--and how to use this time efficiently. In addition, he discusses particular writing situations in which Qwp can be applied to make the most of what the writer knows. For instance, he shows how to take exams, revealing how instructors select questions and evaluate essays. He also considers writing in business and government, featuring an insightful analysis of a memo by Colonel Oliver North that highlights one of the most important issues writers in business and government face: whether to write the truth as they see it or simply what their boss wants to hear. Kaye shows how to break through the stiffling organizational codes and write memos and position papers that count.
___Most guides to writing ignore the constraints of time and space. In Writing Under Pressure, Sanford Kaye tackles these problems head on, making this volume an essential reference for students, businessmen, and government officials--for anyone faced with a difficult writing assignment that has to be done now.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195052234
• ISBN13: 9780195052237
• Release Date: December 1988
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.8" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Quick and complete.

More than a how to write fast manual this book addresses the process of writing from start to finish. The steps are laid out in an easy to follow fashion with gems like "talent is the result of consistent practice" dispensed along the way. The author advocates a structured thought process without falling into the programmatic do's and don'ts of the ordinary writing text. In summary, great for a new writer or rusty writer looking for a writing framework to make the process easier. If you already have an efficient writing stlye then not needed, for the rest of us, great book.

A great reference book - you will refer to it many times!!!

I've had this book since the first paperback edition came out in 1990, and have referred to it many times over the years. The material is well layed out, easy to read and more importantly, easy to apply! You definitely won't regret buying this book!

This is the Writing book you want on your shelf

When I first got into college, I had absolutely no idea how towrite. I had written papers in high school, yet it had always been an agonizing process. As a result, I dreaded every paper assignment, and put off writing until the last minute. Then, one day, in the midst of such procrastination, I discovered this book on the library's shelf. Shelved between two books on grammar, this book looked like another long-winded treatise on sentence construction. Yet after opening the book, I was pleasantly surprised. Sanford Kaye's book, Writing Under Pressure, puts forth an interesting, well thought out strategy for writing papers. Through a case study, and then specific applications, he outlines his strategy in a clear, easily understandable way that is immediately applicable. Yet this is not this book's main strength. Kaye clearly loves writing, and he communicates this in a way that makes the reader feel the same way. Now, this is the book I turn to whenever I feel overwhelmed by a writing task. So if you are looking for a book on writing, or even if you are not, you cannot do better than Sanford Kaye's Writing Under Pressure.

If you can read, you can write . . .

This book takes the !!ARRGH!! out of writing. Concentrating on academic assignments, the author, who has been there-done that, lets students in on his secrets of how to relax and make ANY subject interesting to the writer - and, therefore, the reader. Writing Under Pressure is clearly written (the author practices what he preaches), but contains enough lightness and human touches to make you forget you're not reading it for pleasure. I would recommend this book to someone who is learning (or re-learning) how to write assigned term papers or essays.

The best book on writing I have ever read.

I learned how to write quickly and with meaning by reading this book