Reader-friendly reports : a no-nonsense guide to effective writing for MBAs, consultants, and other professionals / Carter A. Daniel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Daniel, Carter A., 1938-2013, author.

Contributor:

Books24x7, Inc.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Business report writing.

Business communication.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 v.) : ill.

Edition:

1st edition

Other Title:

No-nonsense guide to effective writing for MBAs, consultants, and other professionals

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., [2012]

Language Note:

English

System Details:

text file

Summary:

The book that has taught thousands of students how to write winning business reports For more than 30 years, Carter A. Daniel has been teaching MBA students at Rutgers University the art of effective business communication with the aid of his eminently practical guide Reader-Friendly Reports. Now available to the public for the first time, this beloved resource gives you everything you need to translate your hard-won figures, conclusions, and insights into concise and powerful reports. No definition of communication, no history, no theory, no diagrams Reader-Friendly Reports simply shows you how to: Target your audience Determine your purpose Develop your points Organize your ideas Make smooth transitions Conduct research Illustrate with clear graphs and charts Reader-Friendly Reports (the “Daniel Manual”) is the A to Z guide to ensuring you meet your first priority: making sure people can understand and remember your report from beginning to end.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

I. Planning a Reader-Friendly Report

Right and Wrong, Boss and Book

What Business Writing Isn't and Is

Understanding the Assignment

Assessing the Audience

Determining the Controlling Purpose

Organizing a Report

Recognizing the Difference between a Topic and a Thesis

Stating the Thesis in the First Paragraph

Constructing Subheaded Segments

Afterword

II. Writing a Reader-Friendly Report

Understandability

Failure to Be Neat

Failure to Write Grammatically

Failure to Write Appropriately and Effectively

Organized Paragraphs

Strong Sentences and Clear Style

The Nature of Grammar and Dictionaries

Fourteen Sentence Rules

Twelve Other Stylistic Considerations

Sentence Connectives

Numbers and Words

Possessive Apostrophes

Commas

Rule 1. Use a Comma with and, but, or, for, nor, so, yet to Separate Two Complete Sentences

Rule 2. Use a Comma to Separate a Long Introduction from the Rest of the Sentence

Rule 3. Use Commas to Separate Items in a Series

Rule 4. Use Commas-One Before and One After-to Separate an Interrupter from the Rest of the Sentence

Rule 4&amp

#189

. Use a Comma to Separate Elements That Could be Misunderstood If Read Together

Semicolons and Colons

The Semicolon

The Colon

Dashes and Hyphens

The Dash

The Hyphen

Spelling

Problem 1. Doubled or Not-Doubled Letters

Problem 2. Frequently Confused Words

Problem 3. The Uh Problem

Problem 4. The Silent-Letter Problem

Problem 5. The Suffix Problem

Problem 6. -ie and -ei

Graphs and Charts

Whether to Use a Graph

Where to Put the Graphs

How to Draw Graphs

Which Kind of Graphs to Draw

A Note on a, an, and the, for Non-Native Speakers of English

Rule 1. If It's Singular and Countable, Use a, an, or the.

Rule 2. If It's Plural, You Usually Don't Use the

III. Research Techniques

Myths and Realities

The Nine Steps in Research

Step 1. Area

Step 2. Topic

Step 3. Tentative Source List

Step 4. Working Source List

Step 5. Notes

Step 6. Thesis

Step 7. Skeleton Plan

Step 8. Final Plan

Step 9. Writing

Five Other Suggestions about Effective and Efficient Research

Variety of Sources

Availability of Information

Minimal Photocopying and Printing

Being Organized

Writing

General Tips about Different Kinds of Research

Ideas and Terms

People

Companies

Products or Industries

Countries

Footnotes

Whether to Footnote

When to Footnote

How to Footnote

IV. Other Things

Letters and E-mail

Rule 1. Write as if You Were Speaking

Rule 2. Identify the Purpose of the Letter as Close as Possible to the First Sentence

Rule 3. Don't Give Any Information You Don't Have To

Rule 4. Do Give All the Information You Have To

Rule 5. Be Absolutely Clear about What Response You Expect, or What Steps Are to Be Taken, and When, and by Whom

Rule 6. In E-mail, Have a Subject Line, and Be Sure It Says Something Specific

Rule 7. Plan before You Start Writing

Rule 8. Proofread!!!

Rule 9. Be Specific about Dates

Rule 10. Pause before You Send

Résumés

Interview Questions

Talks

Rule 1. Know What You're Talking About

Rule 2. Don't Read and Don't Memorize

Rule 3. Begin by Telling Us WHAT You're Going to Say and WHY We Should Care

Rule 4. Establish a Structure That You Will Follow

Rule 5. Tell No Jokes

Rule 6. Think of Visual Aids as Evidence to Be Commented On

Rule 7. Know How (and When) to Use the Projector

Rule 8. Keep It Simple

Rule 9. Anticipate Questions and Objections

Rule 10. End by Asking for Questions

Rule 11. Rehearse.

V. Sample Reports

A Really Bad Report

A Bad Report

A Good Internal Report

A Good External Report

VI. The Appearance of the Finished Document

Paper

Typing

Punctuation

Page Numbers

Format and Layout

Cover Sheet

Fastening

Date

Right Margin

Proofreading

Appendix: Checklists

Checklist 1. Format and Appearance of the Report

Checklist 2. Thesis and the Thesis Paragraph

Checklist 3. Subheadings

Checklist 4. Segment and Paragraph Structure

Checklist 5. Sentences and Diction

Checklist 6. Graphs and Charts

Checklist 7. Research

Index.

Notes:

Includes index.

Digitized and made available by: Books24x7.com.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9786613425751

9781283425759

1283425750

9780071782869

0071782869

OCLC:

1024286829