Welcome to Ubiquity’s Communication Corner
The Communication Corner is dedicated to helping you better write and speak about your professional specialty. It is a monthly feature, programmed to help you progressively acquire the skills of professional writers and speakers.
Each monthly installment will have three parts: An essay on a fundamental aspect of effective writing or speaking, a do-it-yourself exercise to help you practice the topic being discussed, and an invitation to submit your exercise for a possible (but not guaranteed) commentary on your draft.
Philip Yaffe, a retired journalist for the Wall Street Journal and a member of the Ubiquity editorial board, is the moderator of the Communication Corner.
We invite you to subscribe via the signup box at the left. We will send you announcements of new installments of the Communication Corner, approximately once a month.
Readers who subscribe will be able to download a free PDF copy of Philip Yaffe's book The Gettysburg Approach to Writing & Speaking like a Professional.
Articles
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How to Write a Company Image Brochure People Will Truly Want to Read
by Philip Yaffe
June 2024Each "Communication Corner" essay is self-contained; however, they build on each other. For best results, before reading this essay and doing the exercise, go to the first essay "How an Ugly Duckling Became a Swan," then read each succeeding essay.
Well-run companies, associations, and organizations pride themselves on spending their money wisely. However, when it comes to producing a so-called "image brochure," i.e. a (usually) glossy document to present the company's philosophy, history, structure, and achievements to the public, too often they end up throwing their money away. Why does this happen? And what can be done about it?
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Common Fallacies in Speaking and Writing … and What to Do about Them
by Philip Yaffe
May 2024Each "Communication Corner" essay is self-contained; however, they build on each other. For best results, before reading this essay and doing the exercise, go to the first essay "How an Ugly Duckling Became a Swan," then read each succeeding essay.
Expository (non-fiction) speaking and writing are almost always about trying to affect the audience's opinion or perception of something. The best communicators do so by presenting logical explanations supported by verifiable facts. Less diligent communicators do so by presenting logically fallible explanations supported by questionable facts. Sadly, they often do so not because they are dishonest, but rather it is because they themselves are unaware that this is what they are doing.
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Misused Words and Phrases
by Philip Yaffe
April 2024Each "Communication Corner" essay is self-contained; however, they build on each other. For best results, before reading this essay and doing the exercise, go to the first essay "How an Ugly Duckling Became a Swan," then read each succeeding essay.
Using commonly recognized colorful words, phrases, and quotations can enhance the interest and impact of an expository (non-fiction) text. However, pay close attention when doing so, because those words, phrases, and quotations don't always mean what you might think they mean.
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Funny Headlines: Laugh at Your Peril
by Philip Yaffe
February 2024Each "Communication Corner" essay is self-contained; however, they build on each other. For best results, before reading this essay and doing the exercise, go to the first essay "How an Ugly Duckling Became a Swan," then read each succeeding essay.
Have you ever been reading a newspaper or magazine and come across a headline that seemed unclear, or puzzling, or that made you laugh out loud because of its apparent stupidity? Almost certainly you have. But how do these bizarre lapses happen---and what can they teach us about our own writing?
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Speaking and Writing: Essentially the Same and Importantly Different
by Philip Yaffe
February 2024Each "Communication Corner" essay is self-contained; however, they build on each other. For best results, before reading this essay and doing the exercise, go to the first essay "How an Ugly Duckling Became a Swan," then read each succeeding essay.
If you have been following these Communication Corner essays, you have read the above paragraph many, many times. However, this essay will be radically different because is not self-contained; rather it is the summation of everything that has gone before. Every effort has been made to make each section self-contained. Where this was not possible, links to previous Communication Corner essays have been included.