Newsletter
of the Washington College Department of Business Management |
Spring
2000
Business
Management prof launches online writing guide
Based
on reporting by Simon Best, The Elm
Thanks to the Department of Business Management, Washington College
boasts a new online writing guide—the “Nuts
and Bolts Guide to College Writing.” The guide, created
by business professor Michael Harvey and attracting 1500 visitors
a week, offers tips on how to improve one’s style and clarity
as well as how to avoid common writing mistakes.
Professor Harvey sees teaching writing as “a fundamental
part of education,” regardless of subject matter. His guide
is not meant only for business students, but for all college
students, and for anybody who wishes to get better at writing
essays, memos, and reports.
The guide presents a set of guidelines that are relatively simple
and easy to follow. “Everybody wants to be a better writer,
but few know how to improve. For most students, good writing
is something inexplicable and mysterious. But it doesn’t
have to be like that—in large measure, the principles of
good writing are straightforward and teachable.”
The guide is divided into sections on style, structure, mechanics,
and quotations. It has received positive reactions from students
at Washington College. Junior Seth Gabriel calls it “excellent,”
and encourages other students to use it. “I find the Nuts
and Bolts online handbook to be one of the most user-friendly
I have ever seen. The information is educational and really applies
to true college and life writings.” The guide is highly
rated by Yahoo!, the well-known search engine and internet portal.
The guide covers many common writing problems. The most common
problem of all, according to Harvey, is overusing the passive
voice. Students “think the passive voice is more academic.”
The passive voice also allows the speaker or writer to avoid
the question of responsibility: generations of politicians have
preferred “mistakes were made” to “I made a mistake.”
But ducking or blurring the question of “who did what”
tends to makes writing harder to follow.
Despite his criticism of the passive voice, Harvey advises students
not to be “rule- obsessed” but instead to let their
words match their ideas and arguments. “Good writing is
about good thinking.”
Harvey emphasizes the need for students to know how to write
well, regardless of what career they plan to follow after college.
Writing may be difficult to master, he grants, but it is essential
for managing in the modern economy.
This is the right time for an online guide, Professor Harvey
maintains. The growth in the use of computers and e-mail has
brought about “a revival for writing.” Looking at business,
Harvey says, “Managers have to know how to write well. If
your written communication is clear and sharp then it is more
likely that people will understand you—and getting others
to do what you want starts with being understood.”
“The Nuts and Bolts Guide to College Writing” can
be reached online at www.nutsandboltsguide.com.
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