Writing that Works: Communicating Effectively on the Job (9th edition)
In the preface, the authors state that this book has been successful because “it effectively prepares students to apply the writing process to the documents and situations they will encounter in the workplace—regardless of their academic background or occupational interest” (Oliu, Brusaw, & Alred, 2007, p. v). Walter E. Oliu is a communications consultant and has taught at various universities; Charles T. Brusaw worked for 20 years as a technical writer and has worked in advertising, public relations, and curriculum development, has served as a business-writing consultant, and has taught at the college level; and Gerald J. Alred is an English professor who teaches professional writing and directs the Graduate Certificate Program in International Technical Communication.
The focus of the text is the writing process and document design for different workplace genres. The majority of the textbook focuses on written communication between employees—i.e. memos or emails, for example—and written communication between employees and outside parties. There is little focus on verbal communication, particularly amongst employees within a workplace. One of the most unique elements of the book are the “Voices of the Workplace” contributions—from a president, CEO, customer service manager, sportswriter, first grade teacher, associate attorney, information analyst, mechanical engineer, congressional staff member, licensed mental health counselor, marketing media coordinator, university senior career counselor, and the like, who bring the workplace perspective into the text.
WRITING PROCESS
The entire book, in some way, is devoted to the writing process, from brainstorming to delivering your information to your audience to styling your texts precisely. The authors address assessing audience and purpose, writing the draft, and then revising the draft. In Part Two, collaborative writing is discussed in terms of writing with a team and dealing with conflict in collaboration, and is then outlined, including planning, research, writing, review, and revision.
RESEARCH AND WRITING TECHNOLOGIES
Part Two, chapter 6 deals extensively with research. Primary research is broken down into experience, interviewing (determining whom to interview, preparing, conducting, and expanding your notes), observing, and using questionnaires, for which an example is provided in-text. The authors detail library and Internet research, then discuss source documentation. Here, a special section is devoted to APA and MLA guidelines.
Writing technologies are only intermittently covered throughout the text, touching on topics such as writing for the web or on the web, composing e-mails, instant message correspondence, graphics software for design, and presentation software.
RHETORIC AND PERSUASION
Chapter 1 discusses how to determine your purpose and assess your audience’s needs, two factors that effect the organization of information and its effectiveness and persuasiveness. But other than persuasion, rhetoric is hardly, explicitly written about. Much of the book deals with determining what your purpose is based on who your audience is, particularly in regards to different forms of workplace writing. In chapter 13, Writing Proposals, the authors briefly touch on persuasive writing—here naturally, rather than anywhere else in the book, because a proposal is intended to do just that: persuade. And in chapter 14, the practice of delivery is explored, including practice run-throughs and using techniques like eye contact, movement and gesture, vocal pace, volume, and inflection.
STYLE AND TONE
Due to the nature of this textbook—i.e. effective written communication in the workplace—style and tone are essential elements. In Part One, the authors touch on emphasis, including active and passive voice, point of view, and language elements such as word choice, bias, and using plain language versus jargon. In Part Two, the different styles of source documentation are outlined before the authors move on to style issues in document design, and Part Three deals specifically with choosing the appropriate medium and form for a given situation, including writing and formatting letters, memos, and international correspondence, as well as a brief look at sending email and instant messages and the “netiquette” that entails. Later, in chapters 8, 9, and 15, style and tone are again attended to as the authors define how to write and format letters and memos, deal with tone—especially in positive and negative messages, and discuss writing for the web, particularly how simple style and appropriate tone are essential for web content. Finally, Part Four in its entirety is devoted to stylistic tools including sentences, punctuation, and mechanics.
DOCUMENT GENRES AND TYPES OF WRITING
This textbook focuses extensively on the different genres of workplace writing and the types of writing one might be required to do in the workplace. The longest section of the textbook, by far, is Part Three, Writing at Work: From Principle to Practice. Here, the authors spend six chapters (nearly 200 pages) covering how to write business correspondence, informal and formal reports, instructions, and proposals. Each chapter includes several sample documents as well as writer’s checklists.
DOCUMENT DESIGN
Document design is an important component of this textbook. The authors explain the importance of document design, in general, before detailing the importance of design for the different genres mentioned previously—formal reports, emails, etc. From margins, columns, typography, and templates to illustrations, format consistency, headings, and page design, document layout and design are well defined. Chapter 7, Designing Effective Documents and Visuals, “provides guidelines and models for designing” (Oliu, Brusaw, & Alred, 2007, p. 205), emphasizing that clarity and consistency allow your reader to better understand and use your document for their needs.
VISUALS AND ORAL COMMUNICATION
While the focus of this textbook tends to revolve around written communication—i.e. words rather than visuals—the authors do try to incorporate discussion on using visuals, as well as giving presentations and conducting meetings. Chapter 7 looks specifically at typography, highlighting devices, page design, and integrating visuals like tables, graphs, flowcharts, maps, and photographs, and within each section, the authors implement many of the very tools and techniques they are outlining in the book.
Overall, this textbook seems like a very comprehensive collection of guidelines for writing and achieving success in the workplace. Each chapter is introduced with an overview and closed with a summary, exercises, and suggestions for collaborative classroom, research, and web projects. With this edition, the authors aim to incorporate more attention to global communication, ethics, digital tips, visual communication, and finding a job.
WORKS CITED
Oliu, W. E., Brusaw, C. T., & Alred, G. J. (2007). Writing that works: Communicating effectively on the job (9th ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s.