Technical Writing: Process and Product (5th Edition)

Book Description

This full color 5 ^th edition of Technical Writing: Process and Product guides readers through the entire writing process—prewriting, writing, and rewriting—developing an easy-to-use, step-by-step technique for writing the types of documents they will encounter on the job. The authors' reader-friendly style engages readers in the writing process and encourages hands-on application. Discusses prewriting, writing, and rewriting in relation to ethics, audience identification, electronic communication, and the role of technical writing in the workplace. For anyone looking to utilize more effective written communication in their jobs.

Customer Reviews:

Best tech writing intro book that I have found.......2006-12-13

I am taking tech writing classes now. Our textbook was terrible. I searched everywhere for good resources and this book was the winner by far. It is a very useful how-to-do-it book. I emphatically recommend this book for anyone in a tech writing role--as a student or at work.

Technical Writing : Process and Product (5th Edition).......2006-06-02

This book contains plenty of good information on the process of technical writing. It is however very difficult to read, because of the only style is that it is constantly varying. The authors should take some of their own advice in any future editions.

Technically very good.......2005-10-18

We use this text by Gerson and Gerson for the technical writing class at the community college where I work. It is an incredibly useful book, particularly for those who are beginning their college careers, and for those who are going into technical fields that require clarity and precision.

Some of the outstanding features of this text include the following:

* Technology tips, providing useful instruction on basic computer literacy
* Techlinks, with updated online material and resources
* Writing at Work Case Studies, showing real-world examples of the ideas being presented
* Before/After Examples, which shows the value of revision
* Sportlights, similiar to the Writing at Work, again shows real-life applications of how business uses technical writing
* Checklists, for ease of remembering and following through on all aspects of the material presented
* Margin Call-Outs, sort of like pull-quotes that highlight particular points of interest in the documents being examined
* Web Workshops and a Companion Website

The units in this book include sections on correspondence (memos, email, letters, including cover letters in trying to find a job), technical publications (fliers, brochures, newsletters, etc.), electronic communications (websites and online help), report writing (MLA and APA styles are presented, as well as methods of research), and a handy handbook of grammar aids as the final section, to help with punctuation, spelling, mechanics and other items of grammatical interest.

There is also a section on oral communication - while this is not a speech textbook, so much of one's business image comes from the way one presents himself or herself orally, on the telephone, in presentations, in interviews, and in everyday conversation. The Gersons also provide some information on using PowerPoint and other visual aids in effective presentations.

This is a great textbook, useful for classroom settings as well as individual study and reference. The layout is visually interesting and well-formatted, We use it in the Tutoring Center of my college in addition to the technical writing course offered on campus, as most classes on campus have an element of writing.

Useful and valuable ...........2005-02-07

Terrific, easily readable, and highly recommended for tech writers and those learning the craft, as well as for those corporate staff who will work with tech writers.

Liked the parts on short reports, long reports, grammar, punctuation, research, graphics, oral presentations, instructions, technical description, and objectives.

Did not like the wasted political-correctness (PC) ink devoted to "sexist language," which was unnecessary and does not fit in with the value of the other material in this book. That kind of condescending verbiage detracts from an otherwise superb and useful text.

Still valuable for most readers.

This really is a good book........2004-06-09

I learned a lot from this book.

Little, Brown Essential Handbook, The (5th Edition)

Average customer rating:

Little, but essential
Expensive
useful writers handbook
Hard to Navigate
Handy Guide

Little, Brown Essential Handbook, The (5th Edition)
Jane E. Aaron
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

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Accessories:

Supplement: Exercise Workbook for the Little, Brown Essential Handbook - Little, Brown Essential Han

ASIN: 0321331591

Customer Reviews:

Little, but essential.......2007-10-01

I have assigned an earlier edition of this book for an upper-division historical geography course that featured lots of writing. The Essential Handbook is compact, easy-to-use, and inclusive of the essential information needed by college-level writers. While there are larger, more detailed works that the continuing writer will want, this little book provides a fine initiation into the world of careful and correct writing.

Expensive.......2004-09-06

The book was expensive at my school's bookstore and I regret not buying it from here. It may be called the little BROWN book but mine is purple and I have an older version which is gray...go figure!!!

useful writers handbook.......2004-01-09

My school requires all students to buy copies of this book before entering high school and I do not think they could have chosen a better book to use as a basis for grammar excercises and teaching proper citing protocol. While I have only used sections of this book, it seems to be easy to use and contrary to what an earlier reviewer said, both section names and page numbers are listed in the table of contents. The book is tiny, perfect for carrying in my backback and holds a ton of information. The only problem I have with this handbook is that there is an updated MLA pamphlet that is included with the book and it is harder to understand. Also, the book really should be brown just so the books shows some sense of humor (just kidding). I would highly recommend this book to high school students as a quick reference guide for writing research papers and projects.

Hard to Navigate.......2002-04-24

The layout of this book is very strange, rendering it hard to use. Only a summary Table of Contents appears at the beginning of the book. Worse, it is split over two facing pages--that is, the Table of Contents is presented as one page with the book binding splitting the page in the middle. And, though the book is organized by numbered sections, the section numbers (incredibly) do not appear in the summary Table of Contents. There is a detailed Table of Contents, but it doesn't appear until the literal end of the book. It spans the last page and the inside back cover and is mostly hidden by a fold-in book flap (now that's handy). Of course, this also means that the index is not actually at the end of the book, as you foolishly might have expected; it preceeds that detailed Table of Contents.

It is a lot of work to use this book. The content may be good, but if you're looking for guidance on something specific, you're going to have to dig to find it. A guide should be easy to use, not a chore, in and of itself.

Handy Guide.......2000-04-03

The Little, Brown Essential Handbook for Writers is a useful guide for grammar, style, punctuation, and other writers' needs. The plastic binding makes the book easy to manage when referencing and editing your work.

It isn't always as detailed as a writer might like on usage, but if you have a strong handle on usage, then this shouldn't be a problem.

Book Description

Ideal for your freshman composition or freshman seminar course, WRITING ABOUT THE WORLD is a thematically-arranged reader that focuses on the social sciences, sciences, and the humanities.

Cross-X: The Amazing True Story of How the Most Unlikely Team from the Most Unlikely of Places Overcame Staggering Obstacles at Home and at School to Challenge ... Community on Race, Power, and Education

Average customer rating:

Similar to 'The Game', but not about pickup artists
Not so fast!!!
Powerful tale of the fight to succeed despite racism
Strongly recommended for debaters, teachers, and teenagers
I Won a Round with Cross-X

Cross-X: The Amazing True Story of How the Most Unlikely Team from the Most Unlikely of Places Overcame Staggering Obstacles at Home and at School to Challenge ... Community on Race, Power, and Education
Joe Miller
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0374131945
Release Date: 2006-10-03

Book Description

In Cross-X, journalist Joe Miller follows the Kansas City Central High School’s debate squad through the 2002 season that ends with a top-ten finish at the national championships in Atlanta.

By almost all measures, Central is just another failing inner-city school. Ninety-nine percent of the students are minorities. Only one in three graduate. Test scores are so low that Missouri bureaucrats have declared the school “academically deficient.” But week after week, a crew of Central kids heads off to debate tournaments in suburbs across the Midwest and South, where they routinely beat teams from top-ranked schools. In a game of fast-talking, wit, and sheer brilliance, these students close the achievement gap between black and white students—an accomplishment that educators and policy makers across the country have been striving toward for years.

Here is the riveting and poignant story of four debaters and their coach as they battle formidable opponents from elite prep schools, bureaucrats who seem maddeningly determined to hold them back, friends and family who are mired in poverty and drug addiction, and—perhaps most daunting—their own self-destructive choices. In the end, Miller finds himself on a campaign to change debate itself, certain that these students from the Eastside of Kansas City may be the saviors of a game that is intrinsic to American democracy.

Customer Reviews:

Similar to 'The Game', but not about pickup artists.......2007-09-26

The premise of Cross-X is very similar to 'The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists' by Neil Strauss; a journalist decides to write a book. Joe Miller wrote it about a debater; Neil Strauss wrote it about himself. There are actually a few parallels in debate and pickup; there are rules and guidelines, some people obsess and know every little detail, it's considered a game by those who play it, etc.

So if you liked The Game for its writing, you'll like Cross-X. If you liked The Game for its subject matter, you'll probably be disapointed; Joe Miller is a cool dude, but he doesn't know NEAR as much about social dynamics as Neil Strauss.

Not so fast!!!.......2007-05-22

Aside from the questions of the politics of liberation in education and the difficulties of racial balance in urban schools, there are two inner conflicts at work in the context of this piece of reportage. The first has to do with the shift in practice in academic/policy debate from what could be called persuasive oratory - as the book presents it speeches designed to convince "Suzie's Mom" to a high speed delivery, multiple flow theoretical presentation designed for experts in the subject and style. The difference is a rate of delivery more than one and a half times that of most casual speech, laden with acronyms and jargon. And then there is the challenge to this. The second conlictis the competing areas:small schools vs. large consolidations, urban vs rural, public vs private. At the college and university level the regional organizations have almost disappeared. Debate is an endowed activity or a speciality ( sometimes for ideological reasons, one finds schools with agendas also tend to have debate programs). To really understand what goes on in this book, this inside knowledge is helpful.

So I warn, if you are not going to misread events, "What do you know about academic debate?" It is a complex world, the shifting forms of which are at work in this book: NFL (the original one), NCFL, TOC, CEDA, NDT as well as city, state and regional leagues and tournaments. At first blush it seems there are obvious nasties and obvious good guys, aspiring inner city youth and dedicated teachers, dullard administrators and power mad bureacrats. But you really need to know a bit more if you are going to truly understand this nationwide, multi linked and important activity. And it is important- the precentage of public figures with high school/college debate experience is not much less than the number of NFL (football one that is) players with highschool/college football experience. Miller portrays some empathetic individuals and some he can't stand, but it is vital that any reader be aware that this is advocacy journalism, much like the advocacy debate he is pushing for in the book. Many of the "enemies" are there because of principle not laziness or self interest. The history of debate, changing from the persuasive oratory of the sixties to the speed delivered ethos of the seventies, to the pedagogy of liberation theory influenced rhetoric in the eighties has morphed to performance activity and has filtered from colleges down to high school. Those presented as standing in the way, may in many cases be standing against the educational ideas of Pauolo Freire and Jonathon Kozol and in favor of rather traditional, non deconstructive rhetorical theory.

Mr Miller's book is told from the experience of African-American students in an inner city high school. One must consider why a student is involved in what is admittedly a highly competetive activity. His advocacy reminds me of the alternative of being highly successful in the "game" chosen by one of my outstanding students who said concerning Ebonics, "This little brown girl knows if she is going to take care of herself in this world she better know when to write 'I am' and when 'I Be.'" This is the problem of privliging of a discourse. Mr. Miller( and the performance school) do not acknowledge that within a context or ethos certain discourse is privleged and to act differently is to invite retribution. We are educated to do and not to do a number of acts. And here is the rub, what is truly discriminatory, and is the debilitating effect of any discrimination best fought on a personal or organizational basis. The argument goes on and on.

Powerful tale of the fight to succeed despite racism.......2007-02-03

Cross-X by Joe Miller covers about a year in the lives of several students from Central High School in Kansas City, Missouri as they travel on the debate team. They face racism, infighting from the state activities board, and the choices made by their own family. Miller does an amazing job taking this story and making it accessible to all readers. The stories of Ebony, Marcus, Antoine, and Brandon are poignant stories of survival. These black teenagers compete against white kids from private schools and win because of their quick wit and determination to win. Miller completely changed my ideas about debate: what it is and what it stands for. He includes a history of Central High School, a flashpoint in the controversy over Brown vs. Board of Education and also the site of an astronomically expensive renovation to encourage white families to move to the district. Instead these teens have to face ambivalent teachers, tough home lives, and peer pressure in an environment that expects them to fail. The story ultimately becomes about racism and the right to be different. The only disappointment in the book is when Miller inserts himself into the story by becoming a coach to two of the boys. As an objective observer, Miller was able to narrate a tale showing all of the different sides to these young men. As an active participant, he becomes strident as he attempts to be their savior. As such, the ending is a bit of a let-down. The book exposes the deep differences between black and white education and points out that we need to make a change so that all children have the same opportunities for education so they can succeed. It opened my eyes to the incipient racism in schools today.

Strongly recommended for debaters, teachers, and teenagers.......2007-01-28

I think that Cross-X may be one of the best non-academic education-related books that I have ever read. I want to recommend it to everyone. The book's got a lot of things that make it great: nailbiting suspense (during the descriptions of intense debate competitions), depressing history (about farcical desegregation efforts in Kansas City), highly detailed character portraits (when delving into the histories and quirks of the main characters and their families), musings on journalist ethics (when the author Joe Miller [no relation, by the way] realizes that he's becoming personally involved in the story) and reflections on the nature of racism (throughout the entire book).

As a debate teacher, many of the details about inner-city schools, their students, and the students' parents rang true to me -- and Joe Miller's self-critiques about his perceptions of the debaters and their backgrounds also rang true.

This book is so fascinating that I carried it with me everywhere so I could keep reading and find out what happens next. Usually when I do that with books, they're well-written works of fiction with detailed characters and amazing plot twists; the real-life story that Joe Miller tells is every bit as captivating as the best fiction.

I Won a Round with Cross-X.......2007-01-10

I bought this book for my daughter, who teaches in an inner city high school, after hearing it reviewed on NPR. She has loved it! The book addresses two areas very dear to her heart: high school debate and American race relations. Since I have not read the book myself, I can only tell you that it was a winner with my daughter (an educational award-winner herself).

Pocket Guide to Technical Communication (4th Edition)

Average customer rating:

Pocket guide indeed
A handy little book

Pocket Guide to Technical Communication (4th Edition)
William S. Pfeiffer
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0131721054

Book Description

This handy reference is ideal for anyone interested in improving business, technical and scientific writing. It contains samples of every major document type (resume’, business letter, etc.) and showcases well-written documents that serve as “how to” guides so readers can model the organization, structure and tone in their own writing assignments. It emphasizes the writing process, the structure and design of writing, and related topics such as graphics and oral presentations. Alphabetized for easy reference, a writing handbook is also included for quick checks of grammar and spelling. Totally updated, this text provides a text-specific Companion Website with numerous activities includinginteractive editing and revision exercises. Provides models of 17 different types of communications. Offers helpful guidelines regarding other forms of communication skills that influence effective writing such as organization and speech. Discusses the explosion of electronic communication and provides format guidelines and samples of effective e-mail. Examines the role that writing plays in other communication arts such as graphics and oral presentations.
Excellent resource for corporate training seminars in writing.

Customer Reviews:

Pocket guide indeed.......2002-01-02

This book is small and great. I learned a great deal from this book, about grammar, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization, among other things. This book, if studied and mastered, greatly improves one's techical writing technique.
The section on English as a second language leaves a bit to be desired, but I suppose it is understandable, since this book was written for native English speakers. Good book.

A handy little book.......2001-11-28

William Pfeiffer's book serves as a solid introduction to the technical writing process, and then retains value as a practical reference tool. The book showcases plenty of writing samples, and touches on some of the more common grammar problems encountered in the writing process. While not the definitive guide on writing (is there such a thing?), the "Pocket Guide to Technical Writing" is a worthy addition to the technical writer's library.

Technical Communication: A Practical Approach (6th Edition)

Average customer rating:

A solid textbook for learning technical communications

Technical Communication: A Practical Approach (6th Edition)
William Sanborn Pfeiffer
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0131198165

Book Description

Technical Communication: A Practical Approach 6e emphasizes one simple principle: you learn to write best by doing as much writing as possible. The book engages readers by having them write early (starting in Chapter 1) and provides them with consistent, easy-to-follow guidelines for writing all types of technical documents. Technical Communication: A Practical Approach 6e continues to provide a relevant, contemporary and authoritative introduction to the dynamic field of technical communication that prepares readers for the type of writing they will do on the job. Includes extensive coverage of global communication and ethics and web page design and web communication.

Content focuses on a practical process and product approach to technical communication. Information on English as a second language (included in the Handbook at the back of the book) focuses on three main problem areas: articles, prepositions, and verb use. For those writing all types of technical documents.

Customer Reviews:

A solid textbook for learning technical communications .......2007-04-21

If I had to learn technical writing all over again, this would be the book I would choose. It is a relevant, clear, and comprehensive guide to technical writing processes, skills and practices. It includes numerous examples and exercises in each chapter. The discussions of ethical considerations and communicating with international audiences that appear throughout the text are important topics that are not often covered in other books. The broad range of document types and industries presented in the examples offer a good sense of the range of technical writing career opportunities. This book won't give you everything you need to know as a technical writer, but it will give you a good foundation.

Professional and Technical Writing Strategies: Communicating in Technology and Science (6th Edition)

Average customer rating:

The best and simplest
Excellent book for learning technical writing

Professional and Technical Writing Strategies: Communicating in Technology and Science (6th Edition)
Judith S. VanAlstyne
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0131915207

Customer Reviews:

The best and simplest.......2001-11-30

This is the best book on the subject I have read thus far. Easy to read and simple to follow, this is text for the those serious about tech writing.

Excellent book for learning technical writing.......2000-09-09

This book concentrates on the technical writing and communicating for people who would like to make professional progress on one's career. It teaches a lot of techniques for improving orgainzation and clarity of writing. It also clarifies many common misunderstanding in the technical writing. It is a must for people who have to take care of technical writing.

The World's Great Speeches (Fourth Enlarged Edition)

Average customer rating:

The choice of the speeches included is part of the value of this collection and much can be learned from who and what is chosen
A core academic and community library reference work.

The World's Great Speeches (Fourth Enlarged Edition)

Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Words That Shook the World: 100 Years of Unforgettable Speeches and Events

ASIN: 0486409031

Book Description

Nearly 300 speeches from nearly every historical era: Socrates, Julius Caesar, St. Francis, Martin Luther, Napoleon, Victor Hugo, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Winston Churchill, Fulton J. Sheen, Barbara Jordan, Malcolm X, Ronald Reagan, Nelson Mandela, Earl of Spencer, and many others offer provocative themes, historic parallels, and memorable quotations.

Customer Reviews:

The choice of the speeches included is part of the value of this collection and much can be learned from who and what is chosen.......2007-10-07

230 speakers, 278 speeches, over 800 pages taken from throughout history. Each speech has a short biographical note that precedes each speaker and offers some insight into why the speech is presented.

The introduction to the book offers a number of reasons to read this suggesting that it is a treasure house for public speakers and so on. I found it interesting to see what was picked for the specific authors.

When you list all of these mostly well-known and influential individuals in this book the very speeches chosen for the representation make a statement worth thinking about. For example was Socrates really the most eloquent in his speech when condemned to death or what overall outlook on life something that may have been overlooked in this book? Likewise Caesar for all that he did is captured only in his comments about "the treatment of Conspirators". The speeches put a label on those that made them through their inclusion and offer a unique view of history.

The book has a lot of surprises. Red Jacket's speech to the chiefs concerning the actions of the white missionaries is a pleasant surprise to find in this list. As expected you find several from Lincoln and Kennedy. Probably not expected by many would be speeches from Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini.

The book brings focus to many that we know well and to some that maybe we ought to know better.

A core academic and community library reference work........2000-02-03

This enlarged, revised edition gathers almost three hundred great speeches from nearly every historical era and nation from ancient to modern times, and makes for an outstanding volume. This edition adds fourteen important speeches delivered between 1974-97 and makes for an exciting display of messages.

Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)

Average customer rating:

took too long to ship!
An Excellent Resource
Little in size, Great the message
A "how-to" manual for turning observation into publication
Useful for students of ethnography

Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)
Robert M. Emerson , Rachel I. Fretz , and Linda L. Shaw
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0226206815

Book Description

In this companion volume John van Maanen's Tales of the Field, three scholars reveal how the ethnographer turns direct experience and observation into written fieldnotes upon which an ethnography is based.

Drawing on years of teaching and field research experience, the authors develop a series of guidelines, suggestions, and practical advice about how to write useful fieldnotes in a variety of settings, both cultural and institutional. Using actual unfinished, "working" notes as examples, they illustrate options for composing, reviewing, and working fieldnotes into finished texts. They discuss different organizational and descriptive strategies, including evocation of sensory detail, synthesis of complete scenes, the value of partial versus omniscient perspectives, and of first person versus third person accounts. Of particular interest is the author's discussion of notetaking as a mindset. They show how transforming direct observations into vivid descriptions results not simply from good memory but more crucially from learning to envision scenes as written. A good ethnographer, they demonstrate, must learn to remember dialogue and movement like an actor, to see colors and shapes like a painter, and to sense moods and rhythms like a poet.

The authors also emphasize the ethnographer's core interest in presenting the perceptions and meanings which the people studied attach to their own actions. They demonstrate the subtle ways that writers can make the voices of people heard in the texts they produce. Finally, they analyze the "processing" of fieldnotes—the practice of coding notes to identify themes and methods for selecting and weaving together fieldnote excerpts to write a polished ethnography.

This book, however, is more than a "how-to" manual. The authors examine writing fieldnotes as an interactive and interpretive process in which the researcher's own commitments and relationships with those in the field inevitably shape the character and content of those fieldnotes. They explore the conscious and unconscious writing choices that produce fieldnote accounts. And they show how the character and content of these fieldnotes inevitably influence the arguments and analyses the ethnographer can make in the final ethnographic tale.

This book shows that note-taking is a craft that can be taught. Along with Tales of the Field and George Marcus and Michael Fisher's Anthropology as Cultural Criticism, Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes is an essential tool for students and social scientists alike.

Customer Reviews:

took too long to ship!.......2007-03-09

the shipping for this item took forever! book is in nice condition though.

An Excellent Resource.......2006-07-22

Emerson, Fretz, and Shaw have put together not only an excellent handbook for writing ethnographic fieldnotes, but an insightful study of the practical issues confronting anyone doing interpretative writing about culture.

The book's primary focus is on how to effectively take and maintain fieldnotes. They appropriately begin at the ground by discussing how to take jottings and other quick notes, providing memory cues for the later write up of complete fieldnotes. Always keeping the focus on the task of writing, while balancing that with the task of honest and rigorous reporting, they give excellent advice for how to create a clear record of your field experience. While their focus is primarily on an ethnographic style of careful observation of interactions, their ideas remain useful to those with other theoretical concerns. Because they are always keeping an eye toward the end product of a finished, written document, this book also provides and excellent resource for how to use your fieldnotes in order to write a finished ethnography.

But this is not just an excellent book for ethnographic fieldworkers. Reading the book not only gave me solid ideas for my fieldwork, but also for the task of reading and note-taking around text-based and image-based culture. Additionally, I see this as an invaluable tool for someone engaged in more journalistic research, and for those of us who teach and tutor writing.

Little in size, Great the message.......2005-09-16

I had checked out several research methodology books to find out 'how' to keep fieldnotes. I had been looking for very 'practical' and 'down to earth' reference which can offer me the real examples and approaches of fieldsnotes. Although there were good research methodology books, I could hardly find the reference for 'fieldnotes'.

The content of this practical and theoretical guide to fieldnotes is quite satisfactory and now I think I know how to keep my own fieldnotes. The text size, however, is so small that I got tired of reading it. On the whole, I am satisfied with this little booklet (small in size but big in quality) and I would love to recommend this book to those who are interested in writing qualitative research articles.

Jimmy Lee, PhD Student, mmed, Florida State University

A "how-to" manual for turning observation into publication.......2001-08-07

Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes was written to fill a gap in ethnographic methods training - students are seldom guided through the process of turning notes jotted down as they do observation into publishable ethnographic documents. Not laden with academic jargon, the easy flowing text makes this book readily accessible to the undergraduate student - but the content is such that even an experienced ethnographer can benefit.

True teachers, Emerson, Shaw and Fretz (UCLA faculty) show just as much of the process as they tell. Step by step, readers are walked through the process of turning initial chicken scratches jotted down on scrap paper to publishable ethnographic documents. Rarely will you find more than a page between excerpts from real fieldnotes.

The authors recognize that every field situation is different and ethnographers rarely, if ever, find themselves in ideal situations for writing. Thus, they explain the tensions that constantly pull at ethnographers and also what things will become much easier as ethnographers gain experience. They discuss how to balance observing with writing, and demonstrate that how you write fieldnotes (what you emphasize, point-of-view used, quality of description, representing community members' voices) is just as important as what you write.

Redundancy might be a weak point, but overall the re-explaining of things in two or three different ways serves only to make the reader experience and assimilate the process of writing fieldnotes. Readers can then naturally employ the procedures rather than constantly referring to the book as a "checklist" when doing fieldwork.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone seeking to understand the worldview and customs of another culture, or doing social research within their own culture. Even if your goal is not to do anthropology or to publish ethnographic documents, turning your experiences and observations into written text helps you to process things. Writing also helps you gain insights about the community you are working with by increasing your observational skills. You will not regret taking time to read Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes.

Useful for students of ethnography.......2000-12-27

"Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes" is the only title I have seen specifically looking at the process of how one goes about collecting and writing ethnograhpic data. The book begins with theoretical issues, then moves into jotting, full fieldnotes, and finally discusses how to analyze fieldnotes and write a full ethnography. In general it is an excellent treatment of the subject and provides very practical advice which is well-illustrated by samples collected by the authors and their students. The authros show a marked preferrence for interpretive and processual anthropology (there are frequent referrences to Clifford Geertz among others) so researchers and students with strong comittments to other approaches might not find it as useful as I did. If the book suffers from any shortcoming it is that at points the explanations become too wordy bogging the reader down somewhat. While this book would not be of much interest to the non-professional reader, I highly recommend it to anyone who is studying, practicing, or teaching ethnographic method. I found it very useful and practical.

From Politics to Reason of State: The Acquisition and Transformation of the Language of Politics 12501600 (Ideas in Context)

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From Politics to Reason of State: The Acquisition and Transformation of the Language of Politics 12501600 (Ideas in Context)
Maurizio Viroli
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History & Theory | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History of Ideas | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0521414938

Book Description

Between the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth centuries, the language of politics underwent a radical transformation. The author argues that this transformation amounted to a "revolution of politics," global in scope, and wide-ranging in its intellectual and moral implications. Not only did the meaning and the range of application of the concept of politics change, but also the status of political science, the role of political education, and the value of political liberty. For three centuries politics had enjoyed the status of the noblest human science, but emerged from the revolution as an ignoble, sordid, and depraved activity. It was no longer the means of fighting corruption, but the means of perpetuating it. This "revolution of politics" has received little attention, despite its importance. This study fills a gap in the history of political thought, and attempts to return to a conception of politics as an activity worth committing ourselves to.

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