Contents
Preface
Why You Should Not Stop Reading Here
1. Writing Is a Trade
2. Writing Is Thinking
3. Rules Can Help, but Bad Rules Hurt
4. Be Thou Clear, but Seek Joy, Too
5. The Rules Are Factual Rather Than Logical
6. Classical Rhetoric Guides Even the Economical Writer
7. Fluency Can Be Achieved by Grit
8. Write Early Rather Than Late
9. You Will Need Tools
10. Keep Your Spirits Up, Forge Ahead
11. Speak to an Audience of Human Beings
12. Avoid Boilerplate
13. Control Your Tone
14. A Paragraph Should Have a Point
15. Make Tables, Graphs, Displayed Equations, and Labels on Images Readable by Themselves
16. Footnotes and Other "Scholarly" Tics Are Pedantic
17. Make Your Writing Cohere
18. Use Your Ear
19. Write in Complete Sentences
20. Avoid Elegant Variation
21. Watch How Each Word Connects with Others
22. Watch Punctuation
23. The Order Around Switch Until It Good Sounds
24. Read, Out Loud
25. Use Verbs, Active Ones
26. Avoid Words That Bad Writers Love
27. Be Concrete
28. Be Plain
29. Avoid Cheap Typographical Tricks
30. Avoid This, That, These, Those
31. Above All, Look at Your Words
32. Use Standard Forms in Letters
33. Treat Speaking in Public as a Performance
34. Advice for Nonnative English Speakers
35. If You Didn't Stop Reading, Join the Flow
"Scholars Talk Writing: Deirdre McCloskey," Interview by Rachel Toor from the Chronicle of Higher Education
House Rules: Teaching Materials
Appendix: Applying Economical Writing to Become Your Own Best Editor, by Stephen T. Ziliak
References
Index
Books by Deirdre Nansen McCloskey