Improving what you write

[arcadius]

Improving what you write-Falk S. Johnson-This book seeks to help you improve your writing quickly and thoroughly. As aids to quickness, it offers two special features: It provides a series of pre-tests to reveal which parts of the book you may skip and which you should study. Thus you spend time only on the parts that you need to learn, not on those dealing with what you already know. It provides, near the back of the book, the answers to all the tests contained in the book. You may check your own work quickly, without waiting for somebody else to grade and return your papers. Thus you may move through this book as rapidly as you wish.

As aids to thoroughness, the book offers three other features: It presents, in four different ways, each point to be learned. First, in a pre-test, it asks questions about the point, thus arousing your interest. Second, it explains the point, giving you a general knowledge. Third, it illustrates the point, making your knowledge more precise. And finally, in a post-test, it again asks questions about the point, so that you may check your mastery of that point before moving on to the next section.

As a rule, the points to be learned are arranged so that your understanding of the earlier ones will help you to understand the later ones. Thus you are not expected to learn something until you have been prepared to learn it. If you study the book from beginning to end (skipping the portions that you already know), you should not become "lost" or "get beyond your depth."

Because you may immediately check your answers on most tests, your new knowledge will be quickly "reinforced"-an important aid, psychologists say, in learning.

With all these aids for quick and thorough learning, the book should enable you to bring about a real improvement in your writing.


How This Book Is Organized

The book is divided into three parts. The first deals with words, one of the smallest components of writing.

The second deals with sentences, a larger component. The third deals with the largest components: paragraphs and the whole composition. An appendix contains check lists which you should consult before turning compositions in.

Each of the parts is subdivided into units. The first part, dealing with diction, has a unit on the dictionary as a source of information about words, another unit on the spelling of words, and a third unit on how to choose the most effective words. Likewise, the second part (sentences) has a series of units on how to build the most effective sentences, and the third part (paragraphs, etc.) has a series of units on how to construct the most effective paragraphs, etc. In all, there are nine units, each dealing with a major problem of writing or each providing information which may be needed in solving a major problem.

The units are further subdivided into sections. Each unit contains a dozen or two sections, and each section deals with a smaller phase of the big problem covered by the unit. For instance, in the unit on punctuation there is a section on the use of the comma in a series, and in the unit on paragraphs is a section on topic sentences. The units are designated by Roman numerals, and the sections by Arabic numerals. Both units and sections have a system of pre-tests and post-tests, explained below. Moreover, the units have previews and reviews as aids to quick and thorough learning.

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