Tag Archive | research
November 7, 2012  

FREE business textbooks

Last week I came across a compelling online business library  consisting of (almost) everything I need for the business writing, economics and related studies, including loads of wonderfully written textbooks.

And when I say “wonderfully written”, I mean that an earth, mortal human without previous phd degree could easily understand the essentials, then roll sleeves and get to work.

Over 800 textbooks written by professors

We currently offer over 800 textbooks. The books are in average around 200 pages long, and are being used as both primary and secondary literature.

All our books are written by highly respected professors from some of the best universities in the world and exclusively for bookboon.com.

There we have it, welcome:

Why is it free?

There is an excerpt of BookBoon.com mission and concept:

Bookboon.com publishes free and openly available eBooks for students and business professionals. The Books can be downloaded in PDF without registration. Our mission is that students should be able to go through university without having to pay for textbooks.

If you had a look, please share your experience in the comments below. Do you find it useful the way I did (I already finished two of the books on communication).

Have a magnificent Wednesday,

August 5, 2012  

How to write for the European Institutions

Are you an aspiring non-fiction author, or translator, maybe? Dreaming for a career in the European Parliament and/or Commission?

There you have two useful tools that will help you achieve the EU- English (house) style:

Writing in clear language can be difficult at the Commission, since much of the subject matter is complex and more and more is written in English by (and for) non-native speakers, or by native speakers who are beginning to lose touch with their language after years of working in a multilingual environment. We must nevertheless try to set an example by using language that is as clear, simple, and accessible as possible, out of courtesy to our readers and consideration for the image of the Commission.

  • How to write clearly

    (16 pages, PDF)

    1. Think before you write
    2. Focus on the reader — be direct and interesting
    3. Get your document into shape
    4. KISS: Keep It Short and Simple
    5. Make sense — structure your sentences
    6. Cut out excess nouns – verb forms are livelier
    7. Be concrete, not abstract
    8. Prefer active verbs to passive — and name the agent
    9. Beware of false friends, jargon and abbreviations
    10. Revise and check
    11. Online EU drafting aids

Yours europeanly,

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