The Essentials of Technical Communication, Second Edition clearly and concisely highlights the basic rhetorical guidelines that will help you successfully get your message across in today's workplace. This brief text incorporates a wealth of real-world documents and scenarios to help you understand key communication principles (Chapters 1–6) and then apply those principles to the most common types of professional documents, including e-mails, letters, memos, technical reports, proposals, progress reports, instructions, websites, and oral presentations (Chapters 7–12).

• Case studies contextualize documents and provide numerous examples of initial and final drafts to help you see how to plan, draft, and revise effectively in different situations.

• Quick Tips boxes and Guidelines summarize information crucial to workplace communication.

• Checklists review basic principles and help you ensure that your professional documents achieve your purpose.

• Exercises at the end of each chapter guide practice in the techniques outlined in the text.

• Appendixes contain a brief guide to grammar, punctuation, and usage; a style sheet for the most commonly used documentation systems; and an annotated report for study.

• An Instructor's Manual with a Test Bank is available on CD. (Instructors: contact your sales rep to request a copy.)