The Confidential Resource

Anybody who writes reports should have some books at hand to learn from, and for reference.

My first and best recommendation is William Zinsser’s On Writing Well. Then a serious study of The Modern Researcher by Jacques Barzun is a must. Barzun may not be pleasant reading, but he has guided untold graduate students successfully through the theses writing process. If you haven’t noticed, good investigation reporting has a lot in common with academic writing.

The Oxford English Dictionary, in some form, and Fowler’s Modern English Usage are absolutely necessary reference works. Fowler’s sorts out questions of usage. For example, when does one use licence instead of license (the first is a noun, while the second is a verb) or when to use iterate, reiterate, and reiterant.

Three more books make my list of required reading in this area:

• The Craft of Research by Booth, et al.
• A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Turabian, et al. (an easier read than Barzun)
• How to Write a Lot by Paul J. Silvia. An excellent section of how to avoid pompous writing is worth the price of the book alone.

An article titled THE BOSS CAN’T WRITE by Philip Quinn, appearing in the Financial Post on Wednesday, November 14, 2007, illustrates the difficulties faced by employees and businesses due to poor literacy skills.