Video Tutorials

Most links in the table below take you to a Pros Write post made up of (a) a brief motivation for learning about a writing topic, (b) a video tutorial, (c) the sample document used in the tutorial, and (d) related research. To hear the teaching philosophy behind these tutorials, check out Lectures in a writing class. Oh my! and Amateurs need explicit knowledge — not platitudes.

The video tutorials are between 9 and 15 minutes long. I hope to find time to update/shorten them in the future. Their content expands on the chapters in the 3rd and 4th editions of my co-authored workbook, Revising Professional Writing in Science and Technology, Business, and the Social Sciences (RPW). 

Main Topic	Blog Post	RPW Chapter
All	3 Lessons from Great Performers for Workplace Writers (or “Why do practice exercises?”)	Any
Analyzing Rhetorical Context	Get clear about your purpose before you write for workplace readers	Ch 1 (Purpose)
	Learn to analyze a workplace audience to deliver an effective message	Ch 2 (Audience)
Developing Content	Insure readers understand your message with the right content	Ch 3 (Informative Prose)
	Persuade readers with an appeal to logos	Ch 4 (Persuasive Prose)
	Help your readers see what you mean with informative graphics	Ch 5 (Informative Graphics)
Organizing Content	Improve your reader’s efficiency — and win their gratitude — with bottom line placement	Ch 6 (Bottom Line Placement)
	Manage what your readers think you mean with effective paragraphs	Ch 7 (Paragraph Unity)
	Create logical flow between sentences to promote accurate and efficient reading	Ch 8 (Cohesion)
	Lead your reader through your content with transitions	Ch 9 (Transitions)
	Think long-term and be kind to readers with well-formatted documents	Ch 10 (Format)
Managing Style	Learn to identify needless words and promote clarity	Ch 11 (Conciseness)
	Use parallel structure in lists to increase reading efficiency	Ch 12 (Parallelism)
	Choose active vs. passive voice strategically	Ch 13 (Voice)
	Choose your words carefully — when it counts	Ch 14 (Word Choice)
	Control your tone to avoid negative attention from your reader	Ch 15 (Tone)
Mastering Mechanics	Punctuation (Comma Splices & Sentence Fragments)	Ch 16 & Ch 17
	Subject-verb Agreement	Ch 19