Because technical writers generate, work on, or simply have access to proprietary and other confidential information, they need to be aware of the extent of corporate and national espionage and their role in preventing it. The author discusses five responsibilities technical writers have: to protect documents, to guard their tongues, to report security problems, to avoid conflicts of interest, and to remember legal obligations to former employers. Vignettes illustrate actual espionage cases.

This book tells you virtually everything you care to know about letter writing; resumes; interviews; sales and customer relations letters; libraries and their resources; note-taking; the differences between a summary and an abstract; preparing and using questionnaires; designing visuals; writing instructions; sales, progress, trip, and incident reports; and various types of oral reports, from telephone conversations to formal speeches. It is written for undergraduate students preparing for such careers as (I quote from the first chapter) “executive secretary, computer operator, forestry, law enforcement, dental hygienist, and nurse.” This comprehensiveness is either a strength or a drawback, depending on the use you wish to make of the book. A teacher's guide is available.

This is a lucid, easily readable, and beguiling book that will succeed both in its stated purpose, which is to help people teach themselves to write business and technical material, and in classroom use.