Legal Drafting: Process, Techniques, and Exercises (Casebook) Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm a paralegal student in Alabama, and this book was our text for a transactional drafting class. While I know I will probably never have to draft a contract or agreement from scratch, this book will be on my desk if I do.
The first chapters deal with drafting in general--proper English (grammar), good punctuation, and form. The later chapters deal with specifics--ambiguity, vague references, the dreaded and/or, and lists.
The book is an easy read--I would guess the typeface is a 12- or 14-point. Some of it is a little too simplistic, but for the most part it's right on target. There were several of us taking both this drafting class and another writing class this term, and the second professor made a comment about our writing getting more concise and to the point. This book must be getting it into our heads!

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This text provides a comprehensive and flexible teaching instrument for any course in legal drafting. It contains text, examples, and exercises that deal with both contract and statutory drafting - making the text suitable for a general drafting course, or one that focuses on either of the two more specialized forms of a drafted document. Most of the chapters have an end-of-the-chapter exercise that tests the student's knowledge of and ability to apply the materials. It also contains another fifteen drafting exercises that involve drafting or revising either specific provisions or entire contracts and statutes.

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Techniques in Teaching Writing (Teaching Techniques in English as a Second Language) Review

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(More customer reviews)Even though this book is a bit old, it still can be useful for new teachers. In it, you'll find very specific ideas on how to use materials (such as pictures, readings, etc), and how to incorporate controlled writing and teacher response into student writing.

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This book outlines practical procedures for teachers, including ways to stimulate students to write through pictures, readings, and discussions, and effective, motivating ways to respond to student writing.

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Techniques of the Selling Writer Review

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(More customer reviews)Although Swain's book was originally published in 1965, there's a very good reason why it's still in print. The information he presents is solid, useful and timeless.
The book has 10 chapters. The first, Fiction and You, tells what the writer needs to know and gives common traps writers fall into. Then he discusses things like rules and the creative act of writing. His style is terse and sentences are short. That makes it easy to find specific information when you go back later to look for it.
In the second chapter he gets down to serious business -- words. How to find them, how to use them and make them clear and concise. The third chapter is all about feelings and how to use them. In the fourth he goes into the necessity for conflict, what to do and not to do in building it. Chapter Five presents the strategies of fiction. "Fiction..." he writes, "creates an especially vivid vicarious tension...Your job as a writer is to control and manipulate this tension." He also delineates the source of story satisfaction and describes how to produce it.
Chapter 6 is all about getting a story started, lining up story elements, developing the middle of the story and winding it up. Story people and the importance of characters and character development are covered in Chapter 7. Planning the story, recognizing good story material, preparing to write, and what you need in order to succeed as a writer wind up the last few chapters. He devotes one page to marketing advice and that simply directs the reader to study the markets.
This is, without a doubt, one of the most useful and easiest to use books on the craft of writing that has ever been published. Its advice is timeless. This book should be in every writer's collection.

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This book provides solid instruction for persons who want to write and sell fiction, not just to talk and study about it. It gives the background, insights, and specific procedures needed by all beginning writers. Here one can learn how to group words into copy that moves, movement into scenes, and scenes into stories; how to develop characters, how to revise and polish, and finally, how to sell the product.
This is the book for writers who want to turn rejection slips into cashable checks.

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Clinical Nursing Skills and Techniques, 7th Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)I have the 6th edition of this book and the hospital floor I work on has the 7th edition, so this review will overlap the two books. First off, if you are going to get one, get the 6th edition. The 7th is a few hundred pages shorter with less pictures and ridiculously paper thin pages. I am talking kleenex thin. The 6th has sturdy pages, more pictures, and more skills. That being said, this book has too much information (if there is such a thing). Don't get me wrong, this is a very detailed book and excellent source of information. But, it's tedious. The only way I can explain this book is that it is akin to listening to someone tell you something in 500 words which could have been said in 100 just to prove they are smart. This book likes to "listen to the sound of it's own voice" as the saying goes. It's too much because eventually, you will find yourself groaning in disgust and stop reading it altogether. It is also inconsistent in it's detail to skills. Some are way overcooked, while some get right to the point. The one's that are overdone, I only knew what they were talking about because I have done those certain skills on the floor. Again, if you have to choose, look for the 6th edition. I only have it because it was required for school. Now that I am out, I use Taylor's. Much easier read and gets straight to the point. Doesn't provide as in-depth a discussion as Potter and Perry, but if you are reading any skills book, it should be assumed that you have a general knowledge as it is where rehashing doesn't have to be done.

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Written by the author team you trust, this market-leading text is known for its comprehensive coverage of over 200 nursing skills. It offers hundreds of full-color illustrations, a nursing process framework, and clear step-by-step instructions - with rationales for each step. Improved readability makes guidelines easier to follow, and coverage of many new skills keeps you completely current with nursing practice today.
This market-leading book is written by the most respected team of authors and contributors in the profession.
Comprehensive coverage includes over 200 basic, intermediate, and advanced nursing skills.
Over 1,200 vivid, full-color photographs and drawings aid understanding.
Five-step nursing process provides a framework for description of skills, as related to overall client care.
Rationales for each skill step explain why steps are performed in a specific way, including their clinical significance and benefit, and incorporate the latest research findings.
Unique! Critical decision points address key safety issues or possible skill modifications for specific patient needs.
Unique! Unexpected outcomes and related interventions alert you to what might go wrong and how to appropriately intervene.
Delegation principles discuss your responsibilities when assigning tasks to unlicensed assistive personnel.
Guidelines for reporting and recording list what to document and include examples of proper wording.
Cultural Considerations sections alert you to the care issues unique to people of specific cultural or ethnic backgrounds.
Special considerations discuss variations in the needs of children, older adults, and home care patients, and help you provide appropriate patient education as mandated by the Joint Commission.
Pediatric, geriatric, home care, and teaching considerations address specific patient needs.
Critical thinking exercises challenge you to integrate information on patient assessment and care.
.Over 250 new photos illustrate the most current equipment and techniques. .Improved readability includes a streamlined presentation, with material that's easier to comprehend. .Skills performance guidelines include key principles that apply to all skills covered within a chapter. .New Using Evidence in Nursing Practice chapter discusses the complete process of conducting research, collecting, critiquing, evaluating, and applying evidence to improve patient care. .A companion Evolve website includes additional review questions, an audio glossary and access to Evolve Mobile, where you can download the skills checklists and video clips for your iPod or MP3 player.

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