Business Writing Resources

Welcome

Welcome to our resources page for writers.

If you're working on improving your writing skills, especially in a business setting, this page is for you. You will find here insightful videos, plus recommendations on websites for writers, books, style guides, mind-mapping tools, and other good reads on business writing topics.

Videos for Writers

A collections of videos we've found useful for improving writing skills:

Zinsser on the Value of Active Voice

Anne Lamott on Down, Up and Dental Drafts

William Zinsser—American writer, editor, literary critic, and teacher—offers his take on active and passive voice. This clip is from the audio version of his book "On Writing Well."

Best-selling author Anne Lamott speaks with Dean Nelson of UCTV about her writing process. My favorite section in which she explains her different drafts starts at 13:59.

EL101 on Business Writing—Basic Rules and Guidelines

English Language 101 (EL101) offers a succinct and useful introduction to business writing—includes an overview of their basic rules and guidelines for grammar and usage.

EL101 on Strong Subjects and Avoiding There and It as Subjects Words

In this video, English Language 101 (EL101) explains how to build strong, declarative sentences. She explains how you can boost your writing by avoiding there and it as subject words.

EL101 on How to Avoid Wimpy Subjects and Just Say Who Did What

English Language 101 (EL101) helps us write more powerfully by avoiding converting verbs into nouns (nominalization). This is useful for turning passive voice into active voice.

EL101 on The Importance of Keeping Subjects and Verbs Near Each Other

English Language 101 (EL101) helps us write more clearly and powerfully by using active verbs and keeping them close to their subjects—another technique for reducing passive voice.

EL101 on What's the Big Deal about Active Voice

In this video, English Language 101 (EL101) explains the difference between active and passive voice and why active voice tends to be a better (and less expensive) choice.

EL101 on How to Recognize and Use a Variety of Verb Types

In this more advanced video, EL101 explains transitive, intransitive, and state-of-being verbs. This is useful for recognizing passive voice and (when appropriate) converting it to active voice.

About those Dashes

Okay, so the volume of the music track is a little high, but otherwise, this is a great video on how to use the dashes—hyphens, n-dashes, and m-dashes.

Anne Lamott on Writing

In Anne Lamott's "12 truths" TED talk, she offers her wit and wisdom about life and how to be a better writer. My favorite segment is about the writing process and starts at 6:44.