Lessons to Develop a Writer's Toolkit:
Selected Readings
Dr. Stuart Blythe
Department of English & Linguistics
Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne
You can find many texts designed to help writers create clear, effective prose. Here are a few titles I recommend:
Brusaw, Charles T., Gerald J. Alred, and Walter E. Oliu. Handbook of Technical Writing. (New York: St. Martin's Press.) Check bookstores for latest edition.
This handbook is arranged alphabetically by topic. It's a thorough reference, and it's easy to use, if you know what you're looking for. Want to know how to write a proposal? Look under "P." Want to know when to use who's and whose?Look under "W." And so on.
Gopen, George D., and Judith A. Swan. "The Science of Scientific Writing." American Scientist, (November-December 1990): 550-558.
If you don't want to read an entire book, this essay offers a helpful introduction to writing style. The advice is based on studies of readers' expectations regarding good prose.
Kolln, Martha. Rhetorical Grammar: Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects. (New York: Longman). Check bookstores for the latest edition.
Don't let the title fool you. This book is as much a style guide as it is a book book on grammar. I recommend Kolln's book because it is readable and provide many helpful exercises.
Lanham, Richard. Revising Prose. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.)
Lanham offers a useful set of steps for analyzing your writing, but about half the book argues for clear writing in the humanities, which will probably seem irrelevant to readers in science and technology. Those readers may prefer Lanham's Revising Business Prose, which is geared more toward business people.
Smith, Edward L. and Stephen A. Bernhardt. Writing at Work: Professional Writing Skills for People on the Job.(Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Publishing Group.)
This books addresses numerous issues relating to writing in the workplace--from parts of speech to punctuation to clear style. It also offers a variety of exercises with each chapter. As the title implies, this book is written for people on the job. Examples and exercises are geared specifically to workplace situations.
Strunk, William, and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. (New York: MacMillan Publishing Co.)
Many people consider this little book to be a classic. It reads more like a treatise on clear style than a collection of tips and exercises. Many continue to rely on it. The original version by William Strunk is available online at Bartleby.com.
Williams, Joseph. Style. (New York: Longman). Check bookstores for latest edition.
Along with Kolln's book, Williams's is my favorite because it offers many exercises to help reinforce each lesson, because it's quite readable, and also because it saved my hide when I was an undergraduate by helping me earn the respect of a professor who believed clear writing was paramount.
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last updated: 2003.12.23
originally created: 2000.12.21
© Stuart Blythe | blythes@ipfw.edu