"Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, 'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.'"

"Superb writing advice... hilarious, helpful and provocative." -- "New York Times Book Review."

"A warm, generous and hilarious guide through the writer's world and its treacherous swamps." -- "Los Angeles Times."

"A gift to all of us mortals who write or ever wanted to write... sidesplittingly funny, patiently wise and alternately cranky and kind -- a reveille to get off our duffs and start writing "now," while we still can." -- "Seattle Times."

Underscores the critical importance of effective writing in the justice system and how to achieve it. This user-friendly guide to effective writing for the justice system teaches readers to write cogently and accurately across the spectrum of criminal justice-related disciplines. With an examination of common writing problems that interfere with good reporting and documentation, it underscores the importance of skilled written communication as a cornerstone of competent practice within criminology. It provides examples of strong writing that demonstrate communication of cultural competency and help students develop critical thinking/writing skills. Of outstanding value are numerous examples of real-world writing alongside discussion questions and explanations, enabling students to think critically and truly understand what constitutes good writing.Actual forms and records used in practice are included along with real-world writing examples drawn from all areas of practice: police, corrections, probation and parole services, social work, miscellaneous court documents, and victim advocate services. The book's interactive approach to writing includes forms on which students can practice their skills, practice tests, and chapters organized around the standard curriculum taught in most criminal justice programs. Key Features: Addresses the increasingly common issue of student deficiencies in cultural competency and critical thinking as they relate to writing skills Offers an interactive approach based on real practice and tied to students' interests Includes examples of good and poor writing, with corrections and explanations for the "bad" examples Displays actual forms and records used by law enforcement agencies, correctional departments, and related organizations Fosters the development of critical and culturally competent writing skills

A distinctive collection of more than 90 effective poetry-writing exercises combined with corresponding essays to inspire writers of all levels.

What do you do if you find yourself weeping in the stalls? How should you react to Jude Law's trousers or David Tennant's hair? Are you prepared to receive toilet paper in the post? What if the show you just damned turns out to be a classic? If you gave it a five-star rave will anyone believe you? Drawing on his long years of experience as a national newspaper critic, Mark Fisher answers such questions with candour, wit and insight. Learning lessons from history's leading critics and taking examples from around the world, he gives practical advice about how to celebrate, analyse and discuss this most ephemeral of art forms - and how to make your writing come alive as you do so. Today, more people than ever are writing about theatre, but whether you're blogging, tweeting or writing an academic essay, your challenges as a critic remain the same: how to capture a performance in words, how to express your opinions and how to keep the reader entertained. This inspirational book shows you the way to do it. Foreword by Chris Jones, Chief theater critic, Chicago Tribune

ECPA Top Shelf Book Cover Award Our written words carry weight. Unfortunately, in today's cultural climate, our writing is too often laced with harsh judgments and vitriol rather than careful consideration and generosity. But might the Christian faith transform how we approach the task of writing? How might we love God and our neighbors through our writing? This book is not a style guide that teaches you where to place the comma and how to cite your sources (as important as those things are). Rather, it offers a vision for expressing one's faith through writing and for understanding writing itself as a spiritual practice that cultivates virtue. Under the guidance of two experienced Christian writers who draw on authors and artists throughout the church's history, we learn how we might embrace writing as an act of discipleship for today-and how we might faithfully bear the weight of our written words.

Literary Studies provides students with an accessible overview of everything they need to know to succeed in their English courses-literary terms, historical periods, theoretical approaches and more. This guide helps students gain the analytical skills that will benefit them in college and as educated citizens after graduation.

The bad reputation many businesses have in our time is intimately connected to the lack of clarity in the language they use. TO BE CLEAR is a call to arms, urging businesses to stop using the language of nonsense and start using language that has clarity and meaning. It's a lucid, entertaining and practical guide for anyone who cares about language to help them improve their communications and thus also their business practices.

Get big writing help in a small package with POCKET KEYS FOR WRITERS. Based on the authors' research and experience in the college writing classroom, this book offers everything you need to improve your writing. The sixth edition features three new extended examples to help you build important critical thinking skills that will serve you well in your college writing and beyond. From navigating the research process to understanding the mechanics of writing and using punctuation to finding and documenting print and electronic source materials, POCKET KEYS FOR WRITERS assembles concise and practical information in one clear, easy-to-use handbook that you'll find yourself turning to again and again.

The 7 Deadly Sins (of Writing) takes a whimsical approach to correcting common "pitfalls of prose" that any writer can use to grow in their craft. Borrowing an idea from the Middle Ages, the book likens each of the seven Deadly Don'ts to the Seven Deadly Sins-and flips each one on its head so the reader can take away a Divine Do instead. As a veteran book editor, the author shares the most common mistakes she sees writers make and how they can avoid them.

Much more than a style guide that teaches students the correct way to set up a footnote, Where Credit is Due provides complete nuts-and-bolts information for all aspects of researching, writing, laying out, and presenting a research or term paper. The book begins by providing an idea list for information resources, both print and nonprint. It then provides clear guidelines for including the information within the paper and attributing it correctly, whether the original source is a book, a short story, a letter, or a poster; a filmstrip, computer software, a radio broadcast, or a telephone call. Once the report is researched and drafted, Where Credit is Due offers checklists for content, grammar, format, and proofreading, as well as complete guidelines for correctly formatting everything from the title page to the index. Sample pages and a glossary of terms are also included. An essential reference text for high school and college students enrolled in any course where a research/term paper is required.

A master class for any would-be author of fiction from one of the most successful writers of crime fiction in the world

'After a number of years teaching writing courses and appearing at writers' conferences, I began to see that creating a process book utilising one of my novels as an example of each step of my process might prove useful to people who are interested in novel writing or in how this individual writer approaches the complicated task of putting together a British crime novel.'

As the author of twenty-four novels, Elizabeth George is one of the most successful - and prolific - novelists today. In Mastering the Process, George offers a master class in the art and science of crafting a novel, sharing her wealth of experience with would-be novelists, and with crime fiction fans. Using her actual work to illustrate the various steps of novel writing that she explores in this book, she illustrates her points about plotting, characterisation and technique with great clarity and generosity.

Drawing from her personal photos, early notes, character analyses, and rough drafts for every stage of her novel Careless in Red, George offers us an intimate look at the procedures she follows, from researching location to imagining plot to creating characters to the actual writing and revision processes themselves. At the same time, she gives invaluable advice for writers about what has worked for her - and what hasn't. Mastering the Process provides writers with practical, prescriptive, and achievable tools for creating a novel, editing a novel, and problem solving when in the midst of a novel, from a master storyteller at the top of her game.

Elizabeth George has taught creative writing both nationally and internationally for over thirty years and is the author of Write Away, described as 'one novelist's approach to fiction and the writing life'.

The criminal justice process is dependent on accurate documentation. Criminal justice professionals can spend 50-75 percent of their time writing administrative and research reports. The information provided in these reports is crucial to the functioning of our system of justice. Report Writing for Criminal Justice Professionals, Sixth Edition, provides practical guidance-with specific writing samples and guidelines-for providing strong reports. Most law enforcement, security, corrections, and probation and parole officers have not had adequate training in how to provide well-written, accurate, brief, and complete reports. Report Writing for Criminal Justice Professionals covers everything officers need to learn-from basic English grammar to the difficult but often-ignored problem of creating documentation that will hold up in court. This new edition includes updates to reference materials and citations, as well as further supporting examples and new procedures in digital and electronic report writing.

Learn how to write for the results you want every time, in every medium! Do you wish you could write better? In today's business world, good writing is key to success in just about every endeavor. Writing is how you connect with colleagues, supervisors, clients, partners, employees, and people you've never met. No wonder strong writers win the jobs, promotions and contracts. Business Writing For Dummies shows you, from the ground up, how to create persuasive messages with the right content and language every time--messages your readers will understand and act on. This friendly guide equips you with a step-by-step method for planning what to say and how to say it in writing. This sytem empowers you to handle every writing challenge with confidence, from emails to proposals, reports to resumes, presentations to video scripts, blogs to social posts, websites to books. Discover down-to-earth techniques for sharpening your language and correcting your own writing problems. Learn how to adapt content, tone and style for each medium and audience. And learn to use every message you write to build better relationships and solve problems, while getting to the "yes" you want. Whether you're aiming to land your first job or are an experienced specialist in your field, Business Writing For Dummies helps you build your communication confidence and stand out. Present yourself with authority and credibility Understand and use the tools of persuasion Communicate as a remote worker, freelancer, consultant or entrepreneur Strategize your online presence to support your goals Bring out the best in people and foster team spirit as a leader Prepare to ace interviews, pitches and confrontations Good communication skills, particularly writing, are in high demand across all industries. Use this book to gain the edge you need to promote your own success, now and down the line as your career goals evolve.

In 1995, the D&AD published a book on the art of writing for advertising. The then best-selling book remains an important reference work today-a bible for creative directors. D&AD and TASCHEN have joined forces to bring you an updated and redesigned edition of the publication. Regarded as the most challenging field in advertising, copywriting is usually left to the most talented professionals-often agency leaders or owners themselves. The book features a work selection and essays by 53 leading professionals in the world, including copywriting superstars such as David Abbott, Lionel Hunt, Steve Hayden, Dan Wieden, Neil French, Mike Lescarbeau, Adrian Holmes, and Barbara Nokes. The lessons to be learned on these pages will help you create clearer and more persuasive arguments, whether you are writing an inspiring speech, an engaging web banner or a persuasive letter. This is not simply a "must-have" book for people in advertising and marketing, it is also a "should-have" for anyone who needs to involve or influence people, by webpage, on paper, or in person. About the series Bibliotheca Universalis - Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic TASCHEN universe!

"On Writing Well" has been praised for its sound advice, its clarity, and its warmth of style. It is a book for anybody who wants to learn how to write, whether about people or places, science and technology, business, sports, the arts, or about yourself. Its principles and insights have made it a cherished resource for several generations of writers and students.

This revised 30th anniversary edition contains a new introduction and a new chapter on how to write a family history or a memoir.

When writing a dissertation or thesis, it is essential to produce a work that is well-structured and well-presented. Giving clear examples throughout, this book offers all the practical advice that students will need, when writing a dissertation or thesis.

• Part 1: Content - from the layout order of contents to the compilation of the bibliography and appendices
• Part 2: Presentation and Style - the details of how work should be presented and covering aspects such as writing styles, page numbers, margins and abbreviations.

The first edition of this book contributed to improving countless dissertations and this new edition will continue to do the same - using the practical advice and guidance it offers could mean the difference between success and failure.

"Contrary to the old adage about finding new names for old things, Writing Online: Rhetoric for the Digital Age gives new life and new meaning to old names. The book and its companion website transform ancient rhetoric as a process of oral composition-invention, arrangement, memory, style, and delivery-into a digital rhetoric, a dynamic process of writing for the World Wide Web: dynamic because it shows not only how to write in a Web-based medium but, more importantly, how to learn and adapt to a medium that is constantly evolving and changing. Unlike conventional books that provide specific solutions to specific problems, Writing Online reenacts the process of solving Web-based writing problems, explaining everything from how to create a simple web page to how to develop a sophisticated content management system and everything in between: HTML, HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and much more. As a digital rhetoric, moreover, Writing Online recreates the ancient processes of oral composition for a digital era. Digital invention becomes a push-pull process of transmitting information via searches, alerts, news aggregators, and read-write algorithms. Digital arrangement becomes a question-and-answer process inviting multiple responses via intuitive navigation systems and dynamic patterns of organization. Digital memory transforms the ancient memory palace into a dynamic, programmable content management system. Digital style provides computer-based tools to enhance writers' word choice, argumentative structures, and feedback. Digital delivery resituates speakers and writers in onscreen environments that balance functionality and aesthetics for optimum responsiveness and usability." -James P. Zappen, Professor, Department of Communication and Media, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

This highly practical book reveals that there are many ways of being creative that will help us grow as Christians. As well as journaling, we can try: *mind-mapping *composing a letter to God or from God to us *considering what we would like to appear in our obituary *dialoguing in prayer with Jesus, with particular obstacles in our lives, or with God's silence *addressing difficult issues through imaginary conversation *using poetic language to express emotions, to celebrate the wonder of an extraordinary moment or to articulate one of the great biblical truths.

Originally published in 1907, as the revised edition of an 1893 original, this informative and engaging textbook sets out to contain and explicate all of the elements of English grammar. Primarily aimed at secondary school students, this book condenses and synthesizes the most important information, recognising and demonstrating throughout 'how much the half is greater than the whole'. Notably, 'a good supply of sentences for correction has been added to the concluding chapters on syntax' and questions appear at the end of each chapter to reinforce learning. Most questions have been chosen from Cambridge and Oxford Local Examination Papers and papers from the Royal College of Preceptors. Chapters are broad in scope; chapter headings include, 'Inflexion of nouns', 'Auxiliary and defective verbs' and 'Syntax of verbs'. This book will be of considerable value to anyone with an interest in the history of the English language and the history of education.