As industries evolve, so do the roles of employees. For example, the e-commerce evolution marked a need for corporate Webmasters, and employees had to adopt the skills necessary to assume a corporate Internet presence. In the evolving corporate structure and workplace, non-technical employees may need to acquire technical skills, and technical employees may need to acquire skills in information design and writing. This concept of technical employees acquiring writing skills is the principal focus of Technical and Business Writing for Working Professionals, written by Ray E. Hardesty, former book review editor of Technical Communication. Hardesty credits the “change…in the business world” with placing writing responsibilities “on the shoulders of professionals for whom writing is not their primary specialty.”

The author states his goal up front: “to serve the audience of working professionals who may need a concise refresher course on the use of the English language in general and the use of language in the professional world in particular.” At 229 pages, including an index, the book is a fairly quick read. It’s divided into three main parts: “Basics of English, “Technical Writing,” and “Business Writing.” Each of these main sections consists of several separate lessons, and each lesson has a “Memory Solidifier” at the end for self-quizzing. “Basics of English” provides an overview of standards of the language, with emphasis on parts of speech and sentence structure. “Technical Writing” offers a discussion of standards and styles that establish the ideal approach to your audience. “Business Writing” contains suggested approaches to communicating in industry, from electronic memos to oral presentations.

The first section is intended as a primer for busy professionals and students with more experience on the technical side than the writing side. Hardesty breaks the section into chapters based on the parts of speech. Although the general discussion of various components of grammar is helpful, some of the examples could be stronger to directly clarify the concepts that they are intended to support. For writing professionals, the section is more of a resource to consult occasionally for the basics. My copy has some highlighted notes on some concepts that need reinforcement from time to time. (Reminders on the proper uses of that and which, and restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses are always appreciated.)

The second section, “Technical Writing,” highlights the “rules” of good technical writing. This section is aimed at technical employees who are familiar with the content but not with the task of explaining it to a non-technical audience. Here you will find practical advice about acronyms, units of measure, syntax and usage, and other writing conventions. This section also emphasizes the need to “Visualize your readers!” This consideration is necessary for all technical writers, but especially for those who are familiar with communicating advanced technical concepts with other subject matter experts but not to a nontechnical audience.

The third section, “Business Writing,” is the strongest. All types of business communication are discussed here, from e-mail and letters, to reports and proposals. The author again stresses the importance of “visualizing your audience” across the various media. The chapter on the internal report is relevant to both technical and non-technical writers who are required to write white papers in their jobs. (White papers describe a product, service, or technology, and are usually circulated within an organization to influence a business decision.) Those who are charged with writing them would find applicable information on organization and content here. The discussion of proposal writing is also relevant to writers of all stripes, as this seems to be a form of communication that many professionals and students are not familiar with. A somewhat specialized niche in writing, proposal writing can be particularly demanding, detail-oriented, and deadline-driven. Requests for proposals are usually quite specific in their requirements, and the proposal writer’s precision becomes extremely important. Because this section covers the everyday writing that all industry employees are likely to participate in at one time or another, “Business Writing” is probably the most relevant portion of this book, and the most thorough.

The “Memory Solidifiers” throughout the book may also contribute to its value as a resource, for they allow readers to make notes on their own terms and view those notes as needed when questions arise. For readers who prefer to consult their own notes rather than scan through textbooks, the “Memory Solidifiers” would be an added bonus. In my current position, we have the opportunity to train business professionals in writing skills. For that purpose, I would recommend this book to the trainer as a source of topical overviews and demonstration ideas. The “Business Writing” section would be my main reason for recommending this book, in part because it’s the strongest and in part because it’s the most relevant to our purpose. Indeed, as industries evolve, so do our roles.

Although the audience for this review contains many technical communicators, the target audience of this book would include a larger pool of employees with less writing experience. For that audience, the book would be a good introduction to basic concepts. It would make a handy quick reference to keep on hand, along with a standard such as Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. For an audience of technical communicators, this book would be a companion piece to both Strunk and White and a technical style guide as a reinforcer of the principles of effective business communication.