FranklinCovey Style Guide For Business and Technical Communication

by Covey, Stephen R.

• ISBN13: 9780133090390
• ISBN10: 0133090396
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-06-01
• Publisher: Pearson FT Press

Summary

Style Guide: For Business and Technical Communicationcan help any writer produce documents that achieve outstanding results. Created by FranklinCovey, the world-renowned leader in helping organizations enhance individual effectiveness, this edition fully reflects today's online media and global business challenges. The only style guide used in FranklinCovey's own renowned Writing AdvantageTMand Technical Writing AdvantageTMprograms, it covers everything from document design and graphics to sentence style and word choice. This edition's many improvements include extensive new coverage of graphics, writing for online media, and international business English. Through dozens of examples and model documents, writers learn how to overcome "writer's block" and efficiently create documents from start to finish. FranklinCovey's experts show how to get powerful results from every email; add distinctiveness and power to any online presence; write far more effective proposals, letters, memos, reports, and resumes; and improve all forms of documentation, from business procedures to highly technical content. You'll learn how to quickly discover and prioritize the information you need, whether you're planning a presentation, leading a meeting, or managing a project. The authors reveal how to design visuals that communicate messages instantly and intuitively, and use charts, color, illustrations, maps, photos, and tables to supercharge any presentation. Packed with up-to-the-minute examples, this A-Z guidebook can help you write more effectively no matter who you are whether you're a business or sales professional who must motivate and persuade, a technical professional who must explain challenging content more clearly and accurately, or a student who needs stronger writing skills to succeed in school and in your career.

Author Biography

In 1996, Stephen R. Covey was recognized as one of Time magazine's 25 most influential Americans and one of Sales and Marketing Management magazine's top 25 power brokers.

Dr. Covey is the author of acclaimed books, including the international bestseller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People which has sold more than 20 million copies in 38 languages throughout the world. Other bestsellers authored by Dr. Covey include First Things First, Principle-Centered Leadership, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, and The 8^th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness ^.

Dr. Covey’s most recently released books include Everyday Greatness: Inspiration for a Meaningful Life (2006), The Leader in Me: How Schools and Parents Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child at a Time (2008), Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times (2009), Great Work, Great Career (2009), and The 3rd Alternative.

Dr. Covey is co-founder and vice chairman of FranklinCovey, the leading global professional services firm with offices in 123 countries. FranklinCovey shares Dr. Covey’s vision, discipline and passion to inspire, lift and provide tools for change and growth of individuals and organizations throughout the world.

Dr. Covey holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, an MBA in Business Administration from Harvard University, and a doctorate from Brigham Young University. He has also received 10 honorary Doctorates. He has made teaching principle-centered living and principle-centered leadership his life’s work.

Dr. Covey lives with his wife Sandra in Provo, Utah. He is the father of nine, a grandfather of 52 and great-grandfather of four.

 

Table of Contents

Preface     ii

Improving Communication Quality     iii

Contents     iv

Foreword     viii

Author Acknowledgements     ix

Reference Glossary

Using the Reference Glossary (Introduction)      2

Abbreviations     3

Acronyms     8

Active/Passive     9

Adjectives     12

Adverbs     15

Agreement     16

Apostrophes     19

Appendices     21

Articles     23

Bias-Free Language     25

Bibliographies     29

Boldface     32

Brackets     33

British English     34

Capitals     36

Captions     40

Charts     43

Citations     50

Cliches     51

Colons     54

Color     55

Commas     60

Compound Words     63

Conjunctions     65

Contractions     68

Dashes     69

Decimals     70

Editing and Proofreading     71

Electronic Mail     74

Ellipses     78

Emphasis     79

English as a Second Language     82

Ethics     86

Exclamation Marks     88

False Subjects     89

Faxes     90

Footnotes     92

Fractions     94

Gobbledygook     95

Graphics for Documents     97

Graphics for Presentations     103

Graphs     111

Headings     121

Hyphens     124

Illustrations     126

Indexes     132

Intellectual Property     134

International Business English     137

Introductions     139

Italics     141

Jargon     143

Key Words     144

Letters     145

Lists     164

Managing Information     167

Maps     170

Mathematical Notations     177

Meetings Management     179

Memos     182

Metrics     185

Modifiers     191

Nouns     193

Numbering Systems     194

Numbers     195

Online Documentation     197

Organization     202

Outlines     208

Page Layout     210

Paragraphs     217

Parallelism     222

Parentheses     223

Periods     225

Persuasion     226

Photographs     230

Plurals     238

Possessives     240

Prepositions     242

Presentations     243

Project Management     246

Pronouns     251

Punctuation     256

Question Marks     258

Quotation Marks     259

Quotations     261

Redundant Words     262

References     264

Repetition     267

Reports     269

Resumes     274

Scientific/Technical Style     278

Semicolons     281

Sentences     282

Signs and Symbols     286

Slashes     288

Spacing     289

Spelling     291

Strong Verbs     296

Style     297

Summaries     301

Tables     303

Tables of Contents     311

Thinking Strategies     314

Titles     317

Tone     319

Transitions     322

Underlining     323

Units of Measurement     324

Verbs     325

Word Problems     328

Word Processing     340

Wordy Phrases     345

Writing and Revising     347

Model Documents

Using Model Documents (Introduction)     358

Letters

Response: With Information and Directions     359

Response: To a Concerned Customer     360

Response: To a Complaint     362

Complaint: With a Request for Action     363

Complaint: With a Tactful Request for Aid     364

Employment Reference     366

Employment Verification     368

Bid Solicitation     369

Sales: With a Soft Sell     370

Sales: Template/Mail Merge     373

Customer Service     374

Memos

Procedure     376

Request: For Clarification of a Problem     378

Summary: For an Executive Audience     380

Proposal: To an Antagonistic Audience     382

Request: With Informal Instructions     384

Technical: With a Recommendation     387

Recommendation     388

Status Report: With an Outcome Orientation     389

Safety: With a Mild Reprimand     390

Personnel: With Suggested Procedures     391

Response: With Instructions     392

Transmittal: For Attachments     394

Others

Resume: Problem-Solution Format     395

Resume: Performance Format     396

Resume Cover Letter     397

Minutes     398

Job Description     400

Executive Summary: For a Proposal (Financial Services)     401

Executive Summary: For a Proposal (Training)      402

Executive Summary: For an Audit     404

Marketing Fact Sheet     405

Mission Statement     406

Procedure: For a Business Process     408

Procedure: For a Technical Process     411

Technical Report     415

Web Page: With Informative Content     419

Index     421