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Unlike all other texts in the field, which emphasize paper documents and outdated practices, only Bovée and Thill present the full range of electronic media that students will need to know to meet employer expectations.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,
9th Ed.
Excellence in Business Communication,
8th Ed.

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Business Communication Essentials,
3rd Ed.

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Business Writing

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Business Writing: Don’t Ask Too Many Questions

Friday, July 25th, 2008

Yesterday I received an e-mail solicitation that was a good example of a bad technique: asking too many questions. It began with this question:

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Mind Map Your Business Writing

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

Stuck writing that presentation or report? Maybe you’re procrastinating and feeling guilty about it. Here’s a tip: use a mind map. Mind maps use both your left brain logical side and your right brain creative side. As you doodle your map, you’ll get new ideas and will make new connections. Before you know it […]

New Year’s Resolutions–More or Less

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

Most New Year’s resolutions have to do with more and less. I will exercise more. I will eat less. I will delegate more. I will spend less time working late. In the spirit of more and less, I offer these suggestions for improving your business writing in the coming year.

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Six Proven Tips for Making Your Business Correspondence Inviting to Read

Friday, July 11th, 2008

With today’s business moving at the speed of broadband, everyone expects better results in record time. Every day, we deal with hundreds of communications in the form of e-mails, letters, phone calls, chats, and meetings—and that’s before we tackle the “to do” list.
It’s no wonder that many business messages often reads as if they […]

Best Practices for Bullet Points

Monday, July 7th, 2008

The days of long sentences in long paragraphs are long gone. Our readers need to retrieve information fast. An excellent way to help them do this is to lay out information in bulleted lists.
Definition: A "bullet point" is an item introduced by a dot ("bullet") or a similar icon, like this:

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War of the Words

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

Not only do I recall my first job, I recall my first memo, a recommendation on how to shorten a lengthy approval cycle. That was 20 years ago, and I doubt that the cycle has changed a bit, but that’s not what I recall about the memo. What I remember is how quickly my […]

Workplace Etiquette: How to Handle Condolences

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

When we read the daily headlines that detail the casualties of war, auto accidents, fires, urban shootings, and other similar events, the tragedies seem somehow removed until someone we know is harmed. Then we often are speechless at the time when our action would mean the most to the bereaved.
When something tragic happens to a […]

The State of Business Writing Today

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

There is a crisis in the workplace today, and believe it or not, it’s about the quality of writing.
That’s right:
poor writing skills are at the core of issues such as

low productivity,
inferior quality, and
poor customer relations.

Think about […]

Three Easy Steps to Cut the Fat in Business Writing

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

Do people often misread or misunderstand your writing? You may be obscuring perfectly good ideas in useless words. These three easy steps can help you cut the fat from your writing.

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Five Essentials of Thank-You Notes

Friday, June 6th, 2008

It’s simple, of course, but a handwritten note from a business always gets my attention because it’s so rare.
Inevitably, I either tell people about a note or blog about it.
Here’s one I recently received from, surprise of surprises, my new gym:

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