Introduction -- Understanding workplace communication -- Communicating across cultures -- Fundamentals of business writing -- Adapting your words to your readers -- Constructing clear sentences and paragraphs -- Writing for a positive effect -- Basic patterns of business messages -- Developing your writing process and choosing the best form -- Getting to the point in good-news and neutral messages -- Maintaining goodwill in bad-news messages -- Making your case with persuasive messages and proposals -- Conducting a winning job campaign -- Fundamentals of report writing -- Preparing informative and influential business reports -- Choosing the right type of report -- Conducting research for decision makers -- Using visuals to make your point -- Oral forms of business communication -- Communicating effectively in meetings and conversations -- Delivering oral reports and business speeches -- Elements of professionalism : technological proficiency and correctness -- Leveraging technology for better writing -- Conveying professionalism through correctness -- A Corrections for the self-administered diagnostic test of correctness -- B Physical presentation of letters, memos, and reports -- C General grading checklists: punctuation, grammar, numbers, spelling, proofreading technique, strategy, and formatting -- Special codes and checklists : messages and reports -- E documentation and the bibliography -- Photo credits -- Index.