How Writing Works

This is an engaging and practical introduction to the elements of grammar, sentence structure, and style that you need to write well across a range of academic, creative, and professional contexts, deftly combining reliable strategies with scholarly principles. The third edition includes updated material based on a longstanding commitment to writing and to best international practice. It takes into account the huge upsurge in interest and adoption of generative AI in the writing workplace and the writing classroom. Chapters include advice on reading; language; grammar and style; structuring; designing; paragraphing; punctuation; workplace and academic documents; digital writing for social media; and revising, editing, and proofreading. How Writing Works should be on the desk of everyone who needs to write: students, professionals in all fields, and creative writers. It is an essential handbook for working writers and writing workers in the contemporary writing-reliant workplace. The accompanying support material includes video interviews and presentations from leading grammarians including Professor David Crystal, Professor Mignon Fogarty (Grammar Girl), and Professor Geoff Pullum, in addition to online quizzes and activities to support readers' learning.

Roslyn Petelin is an honorary associate professor at the University of Queensland, where she designed and initiated the award-winning postgraduate program in Writing, Editing, and Publishing and developed the hugely successful international online course WRITE101X English Grammar and Style. She is an honorary fellow in the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and consults to government and international organisations on writing, editing, and information design. She is co-author of The Professional Writing Guide and Professional Communication.

1. How writing works 2. How reading works 3. How words work 4. How sentences and content words work 5. How structure words and paragraphs work 6. How punctuation works 7. How structure and design work 8. How genres and workplace documents work 9. How academic research and writing work 10. How digital writing works 11. How revising, editing, and proofreading work