Synopses & Reviews
In today's society, a wealth of information can be obtained at the touch of a button. But while information is abundant, time, unfortunately, is not. How do you present your material in a way that grabs--and holds--the attention of your audience? Whether you are writing a report, drafting email, creating a Power Point presentation, or building a Web site, this book shows how to use language that is easily accessible, never oppressive. It explains how to organize content in progressive, digestible detail, allowing readers to navigate a document's contents and to move quickly to areas of interest. And it describes how to link ideas within a document and across the mediums of print, Internet, and CD-ROM. Each two-page spread covers one subject and is linked to other subjects for further study. More than one hundred sets of recommendations, backed by concrete examples, cover everything from common grammatical mistakes to the basics of using charts and tables.
Review
"This is a valuable, and in places excellent, tool for writers, especially those writing for the Web. The format is designed to appeal to those whose medium of choice is the Internet, which generally works very well: each two-page spread is divided into columns labeled 'technique,' 'example,' and 'comment.' A box entitled 'links,' however, which directs the reader to related topics, seems as obtrusive as it is potentially helpful. The book opens with a valuable compendium of online thesauri, dictionaries, style guides, etc., and a thorough discussion of how to use Microsoft Word's features to organize content and streamline formatting. The rest of the book is devoted to topics such as structure, writing devices, common usage errors, and economical writing. Ross-White clearly hopes his book will be the Elements of Style of the computer age, and in the main it is. It's jarring, however, when he declares that a sentence that begins, 'It appears that Cuba will' should be changed to 'Cuba will.' What if Cuba doesn't?" Reviewed by Andrew Witmer, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Synopsis
An Elements of Style for the twenty-first century.
Synopsis
An for the twenty-first century.
About the Author
Bruce Ross-Larson is the founder of the American Writing Institute and president of Communications Development Incorporated. He lives in Washington, DC. His books include Edit Yourself, Powerful Paragraphs, Riveting Reports, and Stunning Sentences.