Recommended Texts

Unlike all other texts in the field, which emphasize paper documents and outdated practices, only Bovée and Thill present the full range of electronic media that students will need to know to meet employer expectations.

Business Communication Today,
10th Ed.

Excellence in Business Communication,
9th Ed.

Business Communication Essentials,
4th Ed. Take a Tour

How These Texts Compare
Is Your Business Communication
Textbook Preparing
Students for the Future
or the Past?
Do You Know the
Fallacies about Teaching
Electronic Media?
Does Your Textbook
Cover Business
Communication 2.0?
Video:
A Fundamental Shift in the
Way We Communicate.
(See the New Media
Covered Only by
Bovee and Thill. Are You
Using the Right Text?)
A Letter to Instructors
Video:
Alert! A Paradigm Shift Is
Impacting Business
Communication Courses
Major Study: Thousands of Companies Using Social Media. Will Your Students Be Prepared to Use Social Media on the Job?
Study: 91% Using Social Media.in the Inc. 500-- America's Fastest Growing Private Companies. (Social Media Should Be Part of Your Course. Only Bovee & Thill's Texts Offer Social Media Coverage.)
Teach Your Students How to Use Social Media on the Job. (See sample pages here of Bovee & Thill's coverage you won't find in any competing texts.)
Business Communication Is Changing Due to Social Media (Are Your Students Learning about These Changes from Your Current Text?)
Hundreds of Social Media Examples
Teach Introduction to Business?

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How the Internet Changed Writing in the 2000s

March 11, 2010

Back in 1997, Jakob Nielsen looked at how people read web content (basically, they scan it) and argued web writing should

  • highlight keywords (often using hypertext links)
  • use straight, clear headlines and subheads
  • deliver one idea per paragraph
  • cut word count to half that of conventional writing
  • employ bulleted lists.

Many web writers, whether they’ve read Nielsen’s advice or not, use these practices because readers respond to them. The impulse to scan is a good thing because readers’ impatience inspires economy among writers.

At the same time, people are mastering more kinds of writing. Other technologies that grew more popular this decade required a different mode of expression: Instant messaging invited a breezy, fast-thinking tone; blog comments (again, the thoughtful ones) sharpened our debate skills; Twitter enforced even more economy onto our words. In all of these, we were nudged toward something all writers aspire to: a strong, distinct voice.