Writing sounds simple—you start with an attention-grabbing first
sentence, then you move on to some really interesting stuff in the
middle, and then you bring it all together at the end.
The trouble is, how do you think up that attention-grabbing first
sentence? Where do you go to find that really interesting stuff? What
do you do if your mind is as blank as the paper you’re staring at?
Sometimes writing happens the way it does in the movies. You sit
down, chew the end of the pen for a while, then you get inspired and
something fantastic comes out. This is great when it happens, and if all
your writing’s like that, well, hey, you can stop reading now. You don’t
need this book.
This book is about what to do when you’ve chewed the pen down
to the ink and you still haven’t got any ideas.
This book is intended to help students and scientists maximize the effectiveness
of the writing that they must do during their education and professional
life. One archetypal image of a scientist at work is that of an engrossed
observer who carefully records experimental findings in a laboratory notebook.
Although meticulous notekeeping is at the core of scientific research,
such an image does not fully represent the role in science of writing.
Writing for Computer Science is an introduction to the style and presentation of scientific reports with computing or mathematical content. Aimed at students and researchers, this book deals in a concise way with topics such as article design, writing style, illustrations, algorithms, as well as the scientific process itself. With a focus on writing for the mathematical sciences, it: . shows how to design an article; gives practical guidelines for writing style; explains punctuation in a no nonsense way; gives tips for the presentation of mathematics; presents best practice for graphs, figures, and tables; guides on the presentation of algorithms, hypotheses, and experiments; explains about editing and refereeing. Seminar presentation, a section on spelling conventions, and a detailed bibliography complete this handy guide to style and presentation.
If you’ve opened this book, you either are a writer, consider yourself to be a writer, or are
determined to become one. Not any old kind of writer, but a professional writer.And not any
old kind of professional writer, but one who writes for animation or comics or videogames or
maybe all three.
Writing at University is a student writing guide with a difference. It provides a deeper understanding of what writing at university is all about, with useful methods and approaches to give you more control over your academic writing.
The book explores both traditional essay and other kinds of writing that you will need to do as part of your studies. You are encouraged to build upon your existing abilities as a writer through applying practical tasks to your own work.
Writing is a lot like fishing. People who are good at fishing study and practice it. They learn which tools to use for catching the best fish in different types of water. No one is born with fishing talent. Some people enjoy it more than others, but everyone can do it if they want. The same goes for writing.
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Write to the Point_How to Communicate in Business with Style & Purpose
Write to the point is an informal step-by-step guide to improving the writing skills of business and technical
professionals for both traditional and modern electronic forms of written communication. The goal of this guide to
better business writing is to help you to write with greater ease, precision, and clarity. A conversational instructional
format will "walk" you through the actual stages of the writing process, from planning and writing the first draft to
editing and proofreading. Also included are helpful guidelines to correct grammar, punctuation, and modern usage;
lists of often-confused words; and models of suggested content and formats for e-mail, memos, letters, and reports.
Write to the Point_How to Communicate in Business with Style & Purpose
This book is about words.
More specifically, it deals with the internal structure of complex words, i.e. words
that are composed of more than one meaningful element.
Everyone has bad language habits. We hear language errors
on TV, at work, and even from our family—so many times
that the errors might seem correct. But they’re still errors, and
they can make us sound less sophisticated, or even less intelligent,
than we really are.
How’s your vocabulary? Is it okay, pretty good, or exceptional? Whatever your
answer to these questions, this is the book for you. For those whose vocabulary
ranges from okay to pretty good, here is the opportunity to improve it. The main
content is grouped into sets of words that have been taken from the SAT and GRE
examinations over the past 10 years. These approximately 1,500 words are expected
by the examiners to be familiar in one form or another to college and graduate
school applicants. They need to become familiar to you, too.
Vocabulary Basics for Business is intended for adults who wish to improve their English vocabulary. The most common reason for needing to increase or broaden vocabulary is lack of experience with reading. Not surprisingly, thoughtful reading is key to developing a broader vocabulary. Read as much as you possibly can read- anything that interests you, whether magazine or novel, textbook or junk mail, a newspaper or a cereal box, e-mail or Web pages-read.
The inspiration for The Ultimate Phrasal Verb Book came about when a student asked me for a textbook to help her learn the meanings of common phrasal verbs. I had nothing to offer. The only textbook focusing on common verbs that I could give her contains not one phrasal verb — it teaches arise but not get up, awake but not wake up, seek but not look for.
English usage is a subject as wide as the English language itself. By far
the greater part of usage, however, raises no controversies and poses no
problems for native speakers of English, just because it is their natural
idiom. But there are certain limited areas --particular sounds, spellings,
words, and constructions--about which there arises uncertainty,
difficulty, or disagreement. The proper aim of a usage guide is to resolve
these problems, rather than describe the whole of current usage.
To say that writing is rational means nothing more than
that it is an exercise of mind requiring the mastery of techniques
anyone can learn. Obviously, there are limits: one cannot
learn to write like Shakespeare or Charles Dickens. You
can't become a genius by reading a book.
A Parthian shot from one of the most important figures in post-war British fiction, "The King's English" is the late Kingsley Amis's last word on the state of the language. It's frolicsome and light and brims with the strong opinions and razor-sharp wit.
Some writing guides are not much more than a list of grammatical rules, with illustrative examples and tips on what to avoid. Even though it uses grammatical elements as its structure, this book is almost the opposite of that. Edward Johnson is an editor with a passion for language and the way it is used.
Language, in the proper sense of the term, is peculiar to man; so that, without a miraculous assumption of
human powers, none but human beings can make words the vehicle of thought. An imitation of some of the
articulate sounds employed in speech, may be exhibited by parrots, and sometimes by domesticated ravens,
and we know that almost all brute animals have their peculiar natural voices, by which they indicate their
feelings, whether pleasing or painful. But language is an attribute of reason, and differs essentially not only
from all brute voices, but even from all the chattering, jabbering, and babbling of our own species, in which
there is not an intelligible meaning, with division of thought, and distinction of words.
Faced with a writing assignment, many students go into shock, recover, and then ask,
“What do I write about?” The FUNbook of Creative Writing provides reluctant writers with
story starters that will help ease the shock. As a teacher for over twenty years, I know how
difficult it is to motivate students to write original stories using their own imaginations. Many
language arts textbooks lack good, funny, creative, and attention-grabbing story starters. The
story starters in this book are about characters with unusual names that are involved in
extraordinary situations. My students love to read them aloud and even come up with their own
ideas.
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The Art of Writing and Speaking the English Language
If there is a subject of really universal interest and utility, it is the art of writing and speaking one's own language effectively. It is the basis of culture, as we all know; but it is infinitely more than that: it is the basis of business. No salesman can sell anything unless he can explain the merits of his goods in effective English (among our people), or can write an advertisement equally effective, or present his ideas, and the facts, in a letter. Indeed, the way we talk, and write letters, largely determines our success in life.
Far more than a textbook, this is a story-driven invitation to consider his development as a writer, the practices that shape the rhythms of his writing, and his insights into what makes for good and bad writing. Yes, sometimes he is a bit crass and certainly he is focused on writing fiction, but the book is loaded with lessons and ideas that have implications for everyone who writes. I loved his notion that writing is magic-a form of telepathy. The thoughts, ideas, and images in the mind of the writer are teleported through the page into the mind of the reader. In the end, people you have never met are touched through the magic of what you write.
This book has not been written to be read – at least in the usual sense
of starting at the beginning, ploughing on to the end, and then
remembering (at best) one or two points. I have written it for a
completely different purpose, which has come from my experiences
over the past 10 years working with doctors and other health professionals
to sort out a wide range of writing problems.
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The A-Z of Correct English_Common Errors in English
The A–Z of Correct English is a reference book which has been
written for the student and the general reader. It aims to tackle the
basic questions about spelling, punctuation, grammar and word usage
that the student and the general reader are likely to ask.
The A-Z of Correct English_Common Errors in English
Technical writing requires clarity of expression and therefore simplicity of language. Technical
writing is intent on expressing certain key concepts so that these may be understood as easily as
possibly by the intended readers — be they programmers or users. Writing in a clear, concise
manner makes not only understanding the text easier for the reader, it also makes your life as a
writer of technical documentation easier — especially when you are not a native speaker of English.
For many writers, getting started is the hardest part. You may have noticed
that when it is time to begin a writing assignment, you suddenly develop an
enormous desire to straighten your books, water your plants, or sharpen your
pencils for the fifth time. If this situation sounds familiar, you may find it reassuring
to know that many professionals undergo these same strange compulsions
before they begin writing.
