For the next two days, I’m excited to be visiting my alma mater to lead a workshop sponsored by LSU’s Master of Science in Analytics program in the Ourso College of Business. If you are curious about the agenda or materials, check out 3 Things You Need To Know About Writing in the Workplace.
If I need a lawyer, I’m gonna call up Mr. Kaplitt. Here’s a letter he wrote for a client who received a “cease and desist” letter written in indecipherable legalese. Huffington Post posted a short video about this one. Or read his letter for yourself. Bet Mr. Kaplitt’s phone has been ringing off the hook! Related…
TEDEd brings us short lessons on many subjects. There are currently eight lessons in the TEDEd Playing with Language series. That’s where I found one called How did English Evolve that explains why some words are less “plain” than others. So I flipped it to create my own lesson related to plain language. (It’s a very simple process.)…
The prevalence of directile dysfunction in men is well established, at least by women in North America. (I’m talking about the inability to ask for directions when traveling in unfamiliar locations.) But, while working on a lecture-tutorial devoted to transitions (e.g., “however,” “because,” etc.), it occurred to me that amateur writers also suffer from a version of this malady. Except their…
My students have demonstrated they understand how to identify the rhetorical context of management messages at this point. (I hope to have a couple of guest posts based on their first exam in a few days.) Now we start analyzing the linguistic details of communication behavior. Last week, I introduced them to some concepts from linguistic pragmatics…
My last post argued that the use of prescribed minimums does our students a disservice. They learn to fluff up their prose to make documents longer. When those students enter the workplace, their prose style is entrenched. That means, as a writing teacher who attempts to build a bridge between school and work, most of…
Because I have had to keep my administrative hat on a lot recently (I am working toward an August 1 deadline for a university report), it took a while to get the video tutorial on word choice complete. It was designed to help amateurs think about the choice of vocabulary in workplace documents thoughtfully, intentionally, and strategically….