Description: Create more engaging presentations, more actionable emails and more persuasive memos. The need for sharp writing skills in business is greater today than ever before. We’re surrounded by mountains of text on our virtual and actual desktops every day. Learn how to choose the most powerful words and write the most effective documents and give yourself a much needed edge.

Better Business Writing begins with a self-assessment quiz so you can review your current abilities.

Then you’ll learn how to:

• Master the basics of business writing

• Recognize and correct common mistakes

• Avoid redundancies and stay "on message"

• Address special issues such as bad news and sensitive topics

• Understand and write to your audience

Contents: Part 1: Back to the Basics • Mastering Spelling, Punctuation, and Usage • Six Tips for Better Spelling • Punctuation Pointers • Part 2: Choosing Your Words Carefully • Sharpening Your Writing Style • Deleting (Unnecessary) Redundancies • Forming Parallel Construction • Recognizing Cliches • Avoiding Sexist Language • Part 3: Improving Your Business Writing • Strengthening Your Memos • Using Email Effectively • Ten Tips for a Better Memo • How to Begin • Part 4: Writing for Special Circumstances • Special Kinds of Business Writing • Conveying Bad News Tactfully • When the News Is Especially Sensitive • Writing Persuasively • Using the Motivated Sequence Outline • Part 5: Know Your Audience • Identifying Communication Styles • Writing to Specific Styles • Ten Techniques for Effective Communication • Voluntary Learning Contract • Appendix • Appendix to Part 1 • Appendix to Part 2 • Appendix to Part 3 • Appendix to Part 4

About the Author: Sue Brock (M.A. Communication) has taught full-time for the Communication Studies department at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, since 2002. She has also taught business communication in Cal State Hayward’s Department of Marketing and in the Communication Studies Department at San Jose State University.

Before coming to Cal Poly, Sue worked for 15 years in communication consulting for Coopers & Lybrand, Barclays Global Investors, and Merrill Lynch in San Francisco; and for Financial Engines, Inc., an Internet startup company in Palo Alto. Her consulting work includes investment education, benefits consulting, and speech writing, and she continues to work with a variety of groups, including office assistants, engineers, and executives.

She is the author of Writing Business Proposals and Reports and the coauthor of Writing a Human Resource Manual.