Words: I Know What I Want To Say - I Just Don't Know How To Say It

how to write essays, reports, blogs, presentations, books, proposals, memos, and other nonfiction

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Last edited by ImportBot
December 20, 2023 | History

Words: I Know What I Want To Say - I Just Don't Know How To Say It

how to write essays, reports, blogs, presentations, books, proposals, memos, and other nonfiction

  • 2 Want to read

Words skillfully guides you, step by step, through your entire writing project. Written in a conversational style, Words explains how to shape, focus, organize, and polish your nonfiction writing. It coaches you through the process of discovering what you want to say, how you want to say it, and how you convey your ideas with precision, clarity, and confidence.

Words is for born writers, aspiring writers, and for people who have writing thrust upon them. If you are a student, Words provides a step by step approach to writing that works across disciplines and will serve you well throughout your academic and professional career. If you write books, proposals, essays, memos, reports, blogs, manuals, presentations, memoirs, articles, journals, speeches, or creative nonfiction, Words is the book for you.

Overview

Section A, Knowing What You Want To Say, presents practical strategies for discovering your key word and your key idea, generating a title, and connecting with your audience. Thoughtful writing begins with a single word, a specific goal, and a well-defined audience.

Section B, Knowing How To Say It, provides realistic techniques for writing your introduction, creating a shared context, conducting a guided tour of your ideas, and creating a satisfying ending. We all see the world through a slightly different lens because of our individual experiences and expectations. Writing is successful when readers see the world through your lens.

Section C, Editing, offers common sense guidelines for editing your work and writing concise, confident, and credible sentences. It explains how the misuse of verbs is the leading cause of wordiness and how wordiness is the leading cause of poor writing. It also explains how the English language contains only four basic punctuation marks and three basic sentence types.

Comments About The Book And The Author

"No instructor has changed the course of my life more than Mark Hanen. His teaching style was a gift. . . . Words is chock-a-block full of many of the same crystal clear tips he taught in his classroom, and they are written in the same engaging style as when he presented them to his students. If readers take away even a smidgeon of his advice, they will be well on their way to becoming a better writer."

Donna Kane's reviews, essays, poetry, and short fiction have been published widely as well as been aired on CBC and Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac. She is the award-winning author of two collections of poetry, and her writing appears in several anthologies.

"When I get positive comments from crown counsel or colleagues about my report writing I recall that many of the writing skills I possess are a direct result of the class I took with Mark. He was a teacher who truly enriched my education. He taught me to organize my thoughts and clearly articulate them in my writing."

Beth Parslow is a Sex Crimes Investigator & Supervisor with the RCMP.

With wisdom, clarity, and humour, Mark Hanen offers a common sense guide about how to write. . . . Mark's approach is fresh and insightful. Student writers and even more experienced professional writers will benefit from having Mark Hanen's Words at their fingertips.

Dr. Steve Roe is the Dean of Academic and Vocational Programs at Northern Lights College. He is the co-editor of the composition textbook Designs for Disciplines.

Publish Date
Publisher
JustOneWord
Pages
195

Buy this book

Book Details


Table of Contents

Introduction
Before You Write
ONE - Discover Your Keyword
1. Make A Keyword List
2. Consider Quotations
3. Create A Working Title
4. Design A Poster
Chapter One Summary
TWO - Determine Your Key Idea
A. Identify Your Overall Goal
B. Choose One Genre
C. Link Your Goal And Genre
D. Understand the Conventions of Your Genre
Chapter Two Summary
THREE - Understand Your Audience
1. Make The Audience Real
2. Acknowledge Their Point Of View
3. Speak Their Language
Chapter Three Summary
As You Write
FOUR - The Introduction - Establish A Shared Context
A. Start With A Descriptive Title
B. Consider An Epigraph
C. Set The Stage
D. Outline Your Key Idea
Chapter Four Summary
FIVE - The Middle - Conduct A Guided Tour
1. Keep Your Promise
2. Use Transitional Devices
3. Provide Evidence
4. Document Your Sources
Chapter Five Summary
SIX - The Conclusion - Create A Satisfying Ending
1. Restate Your Key Idea
2. Create A Frame
3. Comment
4. Call For Action
5. Close With A Clincher
Chapter Six Summary
After You Write
SEVEN - Write Concise, Confident, And Credible Sentences
1. Avoid To Verbs
2. Avoid Too Many Verbs
3. Avoid Contractions
4. Consider Ownership
5. Write In The Plural Voice
6. Think In Terms Of Periods And Commas
The Period
The Semicolon
The Colon
The Comma
Special Cases: Dashes and Parenthesis
Punctuation Summary
7. Use Three Sentence Types
Simple Sentences: Making Sense
Transitional Words and Simple Sentences
Compound Sentences: Transitional Words and Connection Techniques
Complex Sentences: Transitional Words and Demotion Techniques
Sentence Type Summary
8. Use Parallel Structure
9. Use Precise Modifiers And Verbs
10. Verify Word Definitions
11. Simplify
Chapter Seven Summary
EIGHT - Use A Checklist
One Crucial Checklist
Acknowledgements

Edition Notes

Published in
Dawson Creek, BC Canada

The Physical Object

Format
Paperback
Pagination
195
Number of pages
195
Dimensions
8.5 x 5.5 x inches

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL25436431M
ISBN 13
9780987930705

Source records

ISBNdb

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON
December 20, 2023 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
January 20, 2014 Edited by Mark Hanen The book is currently listed at biblio.com, but it does not have any description or cover image. I added both items as well as a table of contents and excerpts and a link to the book's website.
January 20, 2014 Created by Mark Hanen Added new book.