Business and Professional Writing: A Basic Guide, Third Edition
  • Publication Date: September 24, 2025
  • ISBN: 9781554816460 / 1554816467
  • 470 pages; 6¾" x 9"

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Business and Professional Writing: A Basic Guide, Third Edition

  • Publication Date: September 24, 2025
  • ISBN: 9781554816460 / 1554816467
  • 470 pages; 6¾" x 9"

Write with Clarity. Communicate with Confidence.

Business and Professional Writing is a book that practices what it preaches. The authors deliver direct, engaging guidance on workplace communication with a friendly, no-nonsense approach and realistic examples and practical strategies ensure clarity, concision, courtesy, correctness, and positivity at every turn.

The text offers guidelines and templates for business correspondence, reports, promotional materials, job searching, and oral presentations, and covers style, editing, document design, information security, and ethics. Exercises guide students through the process of creating and revising each genre, and helpful tips, reminders, and suggested resources appear throughout.

Please note that this edition is particularly well suited to the needs of American students; for Canadian courses, please see Business and Professional Writing: A Basic Guide.

Comments

Business and Professional Writing is a comprehensive and practical guide to writing in a wide range of genres…. I appreciate how easy it is to navigate, and I expect that instructors of an array of professional and business communication courses will find it an ideal text for their classes.” — Monica Miller, Middle Georgia State University

Business and Professional Writing presents clear and concise discussions of a wide range of workplace writing tasks. Its strengths lie in providing numerous visual examples to demonstrate formatting, many of which are annotated, and in its use of consistent rhetorical language and concepts so that students will learn skills they can apply to any future business writing tasks. Importantly, all information is conveyed in the plain, straightforward language that the authors promote in the book’s pages.” — Tracey Schneider, Auburn University

PART I THE BASICS OF STRONG WRITING

Chapter 1 Plain Language

  • Business Communication versus Academic Writing
  • Plain Language
  • Exercises

Chapter 2 The Seven Cs of Good Professional Communication

  • Introduction
  • 1. Clear
  • 2. Concise
  • 3. Concrete and Specific
  • 4. Complete
  • 5. Courteous
  • 6. Coherent
  • Exercise: Identifying Transitions
  • 7. Constructive
  • Conclusion
  • Quiz on the Seven Cs

Chapter 3 The Eighth C: Learning Grammar Language

  • Introduction
  • Grammar Language
  • Parts of Speech
  • Sentences and Clauses
  • Conjunctions
  • Quiz on Sentences
  • Clauses and Conjunctions Determine Punctuation
  • Punctuation
  • Review of Commas, Semicolons, and Colons
  • Quiz on Punctuation
  • Grammar Odds and Ends
  • Quick Quiz
  • Conclusion
  • Quiz #1 on Grammar
  • Quiz #2 on Grammar
  • Quiz #3 on Clauses

Chapter 4 Copy-Editing

  • Introduction: What Is Copy-Editing?
  • Using Spellcheck, Grammar, and AI Editing Programs
  • Other Copy-Editing Tasks
  • Copy-Editing Symbols
  • Using a Word Processor for Copy-Editing
  • Conclusion
  • Copy-Editing Exercise

PART II DOCUMENT DESIGN

Chapter 5 Basic Document Design

  • Introduction: The Importance of Good Document Design
  • Modular Design
  • Lists
  • List Review
  • Exercise on Lists
  • Headings
  • Headings Review
  • Graphics
  • Graphics Review
  • Summing Up

Chapter 6 Formatting for Correspondence

  • Introduction
  • Memos and Emails
  • Memo Exercise
  • Letters
  • Letter Exercise
  • Correspondence Review

PART III CORRESPONDENCE

Chapter 7 Emails and Memos

  • Introduction
  • Emails and Memos
  • Emails
  • Memos
  • Scans and Faxes

Chapter 8 Letters: Good News, Neutral, and Bad News

  • Introduction
  • Good-News and Neutral Letters
  • Good-News and Neutral Letter Review
  • Bad-News Letters
  • Bad-News Letter Review
  • Bad-News Letter Exercises

Chapter 9 Persuasive Letters

  • Introduction
  • Three Rhetorical Techniques
  • AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action)
  • Persuasive Communication Ethics
  • Persuasive Letter Review
  • Exercise

PART IV WRITING FOR A JOB

Chapter 10 Cover Letters

  • Introduction
  • The Cover Letter
  • Conclusion
  • Exercise

Chapter 11 Résumés

  • Introduction
  • Reverse Chronological Résumé
  • Functional Résumé
  • Combined Chronological and Functional Résumé
  • Electronic or Scannable Résumé
  • Conclusion
  • Exercises

PART V PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS

Chapter 12 News Releases

  • Introduction
  • News Releases
  • Exercise
  • Follow-Up Questions and Exercises

Chapter 13 Brochures

  • Introduction
  • Brochures Are AIDA Documents
  • Conclusion
  • Exercises

Chapter 14 Digital Media and Marketing

  • Introduction
  • Websites
  • Social Media
  • Writing in a Post-Truth World
  • Negotiating AI
  • Internet Security
  • Exercise

PART VI ORAL PRESENTATIONS

Chapter 15 Individual Oral Presentations

  • Introduction
  • Individual Presentations
  • Individual Presentation Checklist
  • Exercises

Chapter 16 Group Presentations

  • Introduction
  • Preparation
  • Content
  • Delivery
  • Group Presentation Checklist
  • Exercise

PART VII REPORTS

Chapter 17 Informal Reports

  • Introduction
  • Progress Reports
  • Problem-Solving Reports
  • Incident Reports
  • Proposal Reports
  • Conclusion
  • Discussion Questions
  • Exercises

Chapter 18 Formal Reports

  • Introduction
  • Formal Report Design
  • Formal Report Formatting
  • Analytical Reports
  • Formal Proposals
  • Surveys
  • Exercises on Surveys and Graphs
  • Minutes
  • Conclusion
  • Formal Report Checklist
  • Discussion Questions
  • Exercise 1: A Formal Proposal Report
  • Exercise 2: An Analytical Report

Chapter 19 Formal Proposal Report Example

Chapter 20 Formal Report Example

Appendix Answers to Exercises

Paul MacRae is a retired instructor of business and professional writing at the University of Victoria.

Joel Hawkes is an instructor of writing and literature at the University of Victoria.

Laura Fanning is a former university writing instructor, now an independent contractor specializing in workplace communications.

  • • Concise and direct instruction, with personality
  • • Tone is friendly and encouraging rather than formal or academic
  • • Strong coverage of marketing and promotional writing
  • • Coverage of grammar helps to strengthen writing skills and emphasizes correctness in business writing
  • • Clean and uncluttered layout, with many concrete examples, instructive images, and helpful tips
  • • Online Instructor’s Resources include lecture notes; PowerPoint slides; suggested assignments and exams; grading rubrics; sample syllabi; and machine-gradable multiple-choice quizzes

New in the third edition:

  • • New material on intercultural communication
  • • New chapter covering guidance on AI, digital writing, and writing for social media

Online Instructor Resources include lecture notes, PowerPoint slides, suggested assignments and exams, grading rubrics, sample syllabi, and machine-gradable multiple-choice quizzes.

Download a Sample: Chapter 7