Literate people are literate because they have been taught how to read and write. Right? Wrong. They have been taught how to read, but many (if not most) have never really been taught how to write.“I know, because I used to be one of them,” says Philip Yaffe, a former reporter/feature writer with The Wall Street Journal and long-time international marketing communication consultant. ”When I was in high school, I thought I knew how to write, but when I went to college, I was shocked to discover that I didn’t.“Much secondary school writing is aimed at helping students perfect their mechanical skills such as grammar, vocabulary, rhythm, syntax, etc. In college, it is assumed that students already do these things well. The task now is to use these skills to clearly, concisely, and persuasively present or defend an argument or point of view. This is where I and many of my freshman colleagues fell down,” he explains.College-level Writing: The Essential Ten Percent attempts to rectify the problem by focusing on the truly key ideas and techniques needed to achieve these objectives.College-level Writing: The Essential Ten Percent displays, explains, and provides exercises for general writing principles and practices that can be adapted to all kinds of college-level writing formats, e.g. book reviews, term papers, research papers, theses, essay exams, etc. “If you truly understand and master the principles and practices explained in this book, it really won’t matter what format may be imposed on your writing. The format is like the cover of a book. The essential thing is what is inside,” the author says. As any good teacher knows, saying something once is tantamount to not saying it at all. People may understand something the first time they hear it, but that doesn’t mean that they will necessarily remember it or understand it later. Key ideas must be repeated to ensure comprehension.College-level Writing: The Essential 10 Percent is therefore purposely redundant. You will see certain pieces of information repeated in many different places. This is done to ensure that vital information is always available when and where you need it. You won’t have to go looking for it on an earlier page in order to understand the page you are currently reading.Because they are fundamental, the principles and practices taught in this book are also adaptable to business and professional worlds beyond graduation.Philip Yaffe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1942 and grew up in Los Angeles, where he graduated from the University of California with a degree in mathematics and physics. In his senior year, he was also editor-in-chief of the Daily Bruin, UCLA’s daily student newspaper.He has more than 40 years of experience in journalism and international marketing communication. At various points in his career, he has been a teacher of journalism, a reporter/feature writer with The Wall Street Journal, an account executive with a major international press relations agency, European marketing communication director with two major international companies, and a founding partner of a specialized marketing communication agency in Brussels, Belgium, where he has lived since 1974. Other Books by this AuthorWord for Windows: The Essential Ten PercentThe Human Body: The Essential Ten Percent (to be published in February 2012)The Gettysburg Approach to Writing & Speaking like a ProfessionalThe Gettysburg Collection: A comprehensive companion to The Gettysburg Approach to Writing & Speaking like a ProfessionalActual English: English grammar as native speakers really use itGentle French: French grammar as native speakers really use itWhat’d You Say? / Que Dites-Vous?Fun with homophones, proverbs, expressions, false friends, and other linguistic oddities in English and FrenchThe Little Book of BIG MistakesScience for the Concerned Citizen: What you don’t know CAN hurt you

The March 2010 edition of the Toastmaster, the monthly magazine of Toastmasters International, published an article titled “The Better You Write It, the Better You Say It.” Toastmasters International is a worldwide club dedicated to helping people improve their speaking and presentation skills. It has over 270,000 members in more than 100 countries. The article makes a couple of crucial points. Excluding pure entertainment, the objective of most speeches is to convey information, or to promote or defend a point of view. Certain tools, such as vocal variety and body language, can aid this process. But by their very nature they can communicate only emphasis or emotion.If your words are incapable of getting your message across, then no amount of gestures or vocal variety will do it for you. Thus, when preparing a speech, your first objective must always be to carefully structure your information and look for the best words or phrases to express what you want to say . . . But if writing your speech is the key to success, how should you go about it?” In line with this analysis, the first purpose of this book is to lay down a few simple ground rules for writing a good speech. Once you have produced a credible, coherent speech, the second objective is to lay down a few equally simple ground rules for delivering it in the most congenial, forceful, persuasive manner possible.The “theoretical” part of the book takes up only about one-third the total text. It is so short because the fundamental principles of effective public speaking are few and, when explained, are almost self-evident. It is divided into three interrelated sections.•The Essentials of Good Writing (how to compose a good speech)•The Essentials of Good Public Speaking (how to effectively deliver a good speech)•The Essentials of Effective Visual Aids (how to effectively support a good speech) The “practical” part of the book (two-thirds of the total text) consists of 10 carefully crafted appendices that explore certain key principles and techniques in greater detail, as well as providing some exercises to help you practice them. For example:•Steve Jobs: Lessons from a Presentation Icon •The Day I Lost My Fear of Public Speaking•How to Untie Your Tongue•Laugh Your Way to Persuasive CommunicationPublic Speaking: The Essential Ten Percent is part of the expanding “The Essential Ten Percent” series. The series was launched in 2011 on the premise that many self-instructional books fail to distinguish between:•Casual Users — those who need to understand and apply only the very basics of a subject.•Intensive Users — those who need to understand and apply virtually everything. As a result, most such books tend to make fundamentally simple ideas appear to be unnecessarily complex. And more complex ideas hopelessly impenetrable.Books in “The Essential Ten Percent Series” rigorously focus on the casual user to ensure that simple ideas remain simple and more complex ideas can be decomposed into simpler ones."Don’t write merely to be understood. Write so that you cannot possibly be misunderstood." — Robert Louis Stevenson

Kirsty's father has no interest in her whatsoever, and her horses are her sole source of affection. Until she meets Dally, a teenager living rough after running from his demanding parents.

A paper found. A secret revealed. A girl's life changed forever. Myra Gibson's life is a lie. For sixteen years her parents have kept their secret, but the adoption paper she discovers while cleaning the summerhouse tells the truth. As the past and present collide, Myra finally stands up for herself and begins a journey she may regret.