Books about plain English and clear writing

Here’s a list of some of the books we enjoy and find useful. The links go straight to Amazon.com or a similar page where the book can be purchased.

 

Plain English specifics

Cutts, M. Oxford Guide to Plain English. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Blamires, H. The Penguin Guide to Plain English. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin, 2000.

 

Good writing

James, N. Writing at Work. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 2007.
Williams, J M. Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace. 6th ed. Chicago: Pearson Education, 2006.
Brown, R. Making Business Writing Easy: What effective writers really do. Christchurch: Media Associates, 2001.
Williams, J M. Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace. 2nd ed. Chicago: Pearson Education, 2000.
McAlpine, R. Crash Course in Corporate Communications. 3rd ed. Wellington: CC Press, 2006.
Watson, D. Death Sentences: How Clichés, Weasel Words, and Management-Speak are Strangling Public Language. New York: Gotham Books, 2005.

 

Dictionaries

Oxford Dictionary of English. 2nd ed. Ed Soanes, C and Stevenson, A. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. 6th ed. Ed Stevenson, A. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
The New Zealand Oxford Dictionary. Ed Deverson, T and Kennedy, G. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2005.
The Reed Dictionary of New Zealand English. 3rd revised ed. Edited by H W Orsman and revised by N Wattie. Auckland: Reed, 2001.

Style Guides

The Write Style Guide for New Zealanders: A Manual for Business Editing. 2nd ed. Wellington: Write Group, 2004.
Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers. 7th ed. Wheat Ridge: Council of Science Editors, 2006.
Chicago Manual of Style. 16th ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2010.
Write Edit Print: Style Manual for Aotearoa New Zealand. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service and Lincoln University Press, 1997.

 

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Maori

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori (Maori Language Commission). Te Matatiki: Contemporary Maori words. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Ngata, H M. English–Maori Dictionary. Wellington: Learning Media, 1993.
Or at: http://www.learningmedia.co.nz/ngata/
Ryan, P M. Dictionary of Modern Maori. Auckland: Heinemann Education, 1994.
Williams, H W. A Dictionary of the Maori Language. 7th ed. Wellington: Legislation Direct, 2005.

 

Web writing

McGovern, G. Killer Web Content. London: A & C Black, 2006.
Redish, J. Letting Go of the Words. San Francisco: Morgan Kaurmann Publishers, 2007.
Krug, S. Don’t Make me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. Indianapolis: New Riders Publishing, 2000.
McAlpine, R. Write me a web page Elsie. Wellington: CC Press, 2008.
Harnack, A and Kleppinger, E. Online! A Reference Guide to Using Internet Resources. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000.

 

Legal writing

Kimble, J. Lifting the Fog of Legalese. Durham, Carolina Academic Press, 2006.
Asprey, M. Plain Language for Lawyers. 4th ed. Sydney: The Federation Press, 2010.
Clarity: Journal of the international association promoting plain legal language. Ed Clement, J.
http://www.clarity-international.net/journals/default.htm for online copies.
Butt, P and Castle, R. Modern Legal Drafting. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Scalia, A and Garner, B A. Making Your Case: the Art of Persuading Judges. St Paul: Thomson/West, 2008.

 

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Information and document design

Williams, R. The Non-Designers Design book. 3rd ed. Berkeley, Peachpit Press, 2008.
Norman, D A. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books, 2002.
37signals. Defensive Design for the Web: How to Improve Error Messages, Help, Forms, and Other Crisis Points. Berkeley: New Riders, 2004.
US Department of Health and Human Services and US General Services Administration. Research Based Web Design and Usability Guidelines. Version 2. Washington: US Government Printing Office, 2004 or later.

 

Proposal writing

Pugh, D G, and Bacon, T R. Powerful Proposals: How to Give Your Business the Winning Edge. New York: AMACOM, 2005.
Sant, T. Persuasive Business Proposals: Writing to Win More Customers, Clients, and Contracts. New York: AMACOM, 2004.

 

Presentations

Duarte, N. Slide:ology. The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations. Sebastopol: O’Reilly Media, 2008.

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