Essentials of Business Communication,
12th Edition

Part 1: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION IN THE INFORMATION AGE.
1. Thriving in a Digital, Social, and Mobile Workplace.
Part 2: THE WRITING PROCESS IN THE DIGITAL ERA.
2. Planning Business Messages.
3. Organizing and Drafting Business Messages.
4. Revising Business Messages.
Part 3: WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION.
5. Short Workplace Messages and Digital Media.
6. Positive and Neutral Messages.
7. Bad-News Messages.
8. Persuasive Messages.
Part 4: BUSINESS REPORTS AND PROPOSALS—BEST PRACTICES.
9. Informal Reports.
10. Proposals and Formal Reports.
Part 5: PROFESSIONALISM, TEAMWORK, MEETINGS, AND SPEAKING SKILLS.
11. Professionalism at Work: Business Etiquette, Ethics, Teamwork, and Meetings.
12. Business Presentations.
Part 6: EMPLOYMENT COMMUNICATION.
13. The Job Search, Résumés, and Cover Messages.
14. Interviewing and Following Up.
Appendix A: Message Formats.
Appendix B: Documentation Formats.
Appendix C: Correction Symbols and Proofreading Marks.
Appendix D: Grammar/Mechanics Handbook With Review Exercises (Including Confusing Words and 160 Frequently Misspelled Words).
Glossary (Available within MindTap).
Index.

• Mary Ellen Guffey

  A dedicated professional, Mary Ellen Guffey has taught business communication and business English topics for more than 40 years. She received a bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from Bowling Green State University; a master’s degree from the University of Illinois; and a doctorate in business and economic education from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She has taught at the University of Illinois, Santa Monica College and Los Angeles Pierce College. Now recognized as the world’s leading business communication textbook author, Dr. Guffey is the founding author of three award-winning textbooks: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION: PROCESS AND PRODUCT, ESSENTIALS OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, and BUSINESS ENGLISH. Each rigorously updated book continues to lead its market and, together, these books have helped hundreds of thousands of students around the world develop language skills. Dr. Guffey serves on the review boards of Business and Professional Communication Quarterly and the International Journal of Business Communication, publications of the Association for Business Communication. She participates in national meetings, sponsors business communication awards and is committed to promoting excellence in business communication pedagogy and the development of student writing as well as speaking skills.

• Dana Loewy

  Dana Loewy taught business communication at California State University, Fullerton for two decades. She enjoyed introducing undergraduates to business writing and honing the skills of graduate students in managerial communication. Concurrently, she taught various German courses and was a regular guest lecturer at Fachhochschule Nürtingen, Germany. In addition to completing numerous brand-name consulting assignments, she is a business etiquette consultant certified by The Protocol School of Washington. She also occasionally advises businesses and nonprofit organizations in the United States and several European Union countries on strategic communication. Dr. Loewy holds a master’s degree from Bonn University, Germany, and earned a her doctorate degree in English from the University of Southern California. Fluent in several languages, among them German and Czech, her two native languages, Dr. Loewy has published various poetry and prose translations, most notably THE EARLY POETRY OF JAROSLAV SEIFERT and ON THE WAVES OF TSF. Before co-authoring books with Dr. Guffey, Dr. Loewy worked as a professional translator for 25 years, during which she produced subtitles for thousands of major feature films and videos. Active in the Association for Business Communication, Dr. Loewy focuses on creating effective teaching and learning materials for undergraduate and graduate business communication students.

• UPDATED AWARD-WINNING APPROACH BALANCES TIMELINESS AND TIMELESSNESS. This edition distills relevant trends that shape business communication while continuing to provide proven pedagogy that emphasizes the development of your students’ skills. This authoritative, practical learning system, designed for busy instructors like you, is easy from which to teach with the latest instructor resources including course outlines, lecture notes, grading rubrics, sample syllabi and enhanced PowerPoint® lecture slides.

• GREATER FOCUS ON DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY FUTURE-PROOFS YOUR STUDENTS' PROFESSIONAL SKILL SETS. This edition addresses AI, automation, the sharing economy and the rise of remote and hybrid work with the COVID-19 pandemic. New coverage addresses emerging "buzzwords," such as coronacation, WFH and Zooming, treating them as teachable opportunities to activate critical-thinking skills. Students also study the dark side of technology as they examine privacy and security concerns, cyberbullying, deepfakes and disinformation.

• NEW! EXAMINES PRACTICES DRAWN FROM THE AUTHORS’ PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE AND SUPPORTED BY CURRENT RESEARCH. New content is back by research from hundreds of reputable, timely sources. For example, extended coverage addresses the growth of enterprise messaging, such as Slack and Slack etiquette. New coverage of business’ social media use now includes guidelines and advice on how students can build their personal brands and guard their reputations.

• NEW! REFLECTS TODAY'S DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE. All examples throughout this edition use nonbinary and gender-neutral pronouns to reflect current efforts to make workplaces more inclusive, respectful and welcoming to all workers.

• UPDATES INTRODUCE THEORIES OF PERSUASION BY PROMINENT THINKERS. In the age of Internet hoaxes, fake news and disinformation, thinkers such as Richard M. Perloff and Robert B. Cialdini help students not only become better persuaders, but also evolve into informed consumers. This edition discusses the controversial practice of retargeting, including varying viewpoints and business interests. Additional coverage analyzes the social media savvy of a boutique small business, Eat Naked Kitchen, to illustrate contemporary multi-channel campaigns designed to achieve brand engagement.

• REVISED EMPLOYMENT CHAPTERS (CHS. 13, 14) GUIDE STUDENTS THROUGH AI-ENABLED APPLICANT TRACKING AND MAXIMIZING THE RANK OF THEIR RÉSUMÉS. This edition focuses even more on LinkedIn as a key social media site for job hunting and networking. New content addressed the wide use of video interviewing, necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with new detailed tips on how to ace a video job interview. New coverage also examines the future likelihood of AI screening of applicants by reading body language and nonverbal cues.

• UPDATED GRAMMAR AND EDITING EXERCISES AND LEARNING FEATURES KEEP PRACTICE CURRENT AND ENGAGING. The authors have replaced all or most of this edition's Grammar/Mechanics Checkups, Editing Challenges and Review Exercises as well as Office Insider and Workplace in Focus features with fresh, enriching content.

• IN-DEPTH REVISIONS AND CURRENT COVERAGE ARE DRIVEN BY THE AUTHORS' METICULOUS, CUTTING-EDGE RESEARCH. Most of the authoritative publications consulted and cited in this edition are no more than one to three years old. The authors support their own first-hand business and consulting experiences with research drawn from reviewing thousands of trusted sources. Extensively rewritten and updated coverage extends well beyond other books' "cosmetic" changes to reflect the most relevant, emerging trends and practices in business communication today.

• PURPOSEFUL DISCUSSION OF TECHNOLOGY EMPHASIZES ITS USE AS COMMUNICATION TOOLS IN THE WORKPLACE. As today's workplace increases its reliance on technology, students must learn to use the latest tools to communicate professionally. Discussions of the Internet, social media and communication technology consistently appear within the context of workplace practices. Technology is addressed in a larger content so students can view advancements as an informed businessperson and citizen as they prepare for the fast-changing, digital-era labor market.

• STUDENT- AND INSTRUCTOR-CENTERED LEARNING SYSTEM INTRODUCES REAL WORK SITUATIONS. This book provides numerous structured activities that emulate real-world situations and guide students in developing effective workplace skills. End-of-chapter activities offer practical, realistic opportunities to apply the skills taught in the chapter. By focusing on brands student recognize, assignments appeal to and engage students.

• COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTIONS AND ENGAGING MATERIAL ENRICH DISCUSSIONS AND LECTURES. All of the instructor resources accompanying this edition are designed to lighten the burden for busy instructors, like you. This edition's expanded MindTap online learning resources provide auto-graded homework and chapter quizzes as well as numerous other teaching and learning resources.

• AUTHORS WHO ARE EXPERTS IN COMMUNICATION OFFER A PROVEN, SOUND APPROACH TO LEARNING. The authors apply their extensive professional experience to teach writing as a process. This edition offers clear, measurable outcomes and makes assessment simple with clearly defined grading rubrics available in the instructor supplements package. Strategically crafted assignments and exercises help hone communication skills. In addition, Editing Challenges and Radical Rewrites in nearly every chapter offer opportunities for meaningful feedback and important practice in revising to create better writers.

• EMPHASIS ON GRAMMAR AND MECHANICS STRENGTHENS STUDENTS' SKILLS. Today's employers value strong writing and speaking skills yet few texts even cover grammar and mechanics. This edition is different with new or updated grammar/mechanics checkups in each chapter and copious review exercises that help students review and practice important literacy skills. This edition also offers a complete Grammar/Mechanics Handbook in Appendix D with 14 additional review exercises.

• INSTRUCTOR RESOURCES ARE CREATED BY THE TEXT AUTHORS. To ensure consistency and the highest quality, this edition's instructor supplements are personally written by the text authors. Even the test bank and flashcards are reviewed and edited by the authors. To further assist in instruction, most of the helpful answers and solutions to end-of-chapter activities are accompanied by detailed discussions and supported by research citations, when appropriate.

Cengage provides a range of supplements that are updated in coordination with the main title selection. For more information about these supplements, contact your Learning Consultant.

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