A Journalistic Approach to Good Writing: The Craft of Clarity [Paperback]

Robert Knight (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1998 | ISBN-10: 0813826144 | ISBN-13: 978-0813826141 | Edition: 1st

The author of this text, a professional journalist, introduces readers to the principles of solid journalistic practice. He addresses wordiness and redundancy, complex and compound sentences, the glory of precision and the embarrassment of misplaced modifiers. Examples are provided throughout.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert M. Knight has written for nearly 40 publications and news services, chief among them the Chicago Tribune and its Sunday magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, Reuters and the Washington Post. He is a former senior editor and broadcast editor of the City News Bureau of Chicago, and is a past president of the Chicago Headline Club chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. A veteran journalist, he began his career with United Press International in Denver and Albuquerque and spent several years as a print and broadcast reporter in New Mexico. A graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder, Knight earned his master’s degree at DePaul University in Chicago.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Iowa State Press; 1st edition (February 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813826144
• ISBN-13: 978-0813826141
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,715,009 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert M. Knight, the veteran journalist who wrote "Writing Public Prose: How to Write Clearly, Crisply, and Concisely" (Marion Street Press March, 2012) has taught writing and journalism classes as an adjunct professor at Northwestern University and Gettysburg College. He is also the author of the highly regarded "Journalistic Writing: Building the Skills and Honing the Craft" (Marion Street Press 2010).
Knight began writing and editing at the Denver and Albuquerque bureaus of United Press International and went on to write for print and broadcast outlets in New Mexico and in Chicago. As a freelancer for more than 40 publications, he became a frequent contributor to The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Christian Science Monitor, Reuters news service and The Washington Post. Knight went on to become an editor at the late, greatly lamented City News Bureau of Chicago.
He is a regular contributor to WashingtonIndependentReviewofBooks.com and author "The Craft of Clarity" (Iowa State Press; now out of print.) For nine summers, he played the role of Samuel Wilkeson Jr., chief correspondent of The New York Times, who revisited the Gettysburg battlefield and talked about what he witnessed there 14 years earlier.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Writing Made Easy, July 14, 2001

By 

"owitte" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Journalistic Approach to Good Writing: The Craft of Clarity (Paperback)

Knight can write. He also can teach his readers how to write clearly, effectively and convincingly. The first two chapters are the most interesting. In the first, he explains the difference between good and bad writing. The second chapter shows how to get started, which often is the hardest part. His main advice is to make it interesting and to get to the point early. He shows how with explanations and examples. The third chapter might be the most useful. It shows how to avoid all those traps that make writing dull. Knight specifically takes aim at misplaced modifiers, dangling participles, redundancies, wordiness and weasel words. They make readers feel as if they were walking through mashed potatoes. Read this chapter and you'll never make those mistakes again. His antidote is to write with precision -- to say what you mean. He shows how to right the wrongs of bad writing. My favorite chapter is the one on originality and how to achieve it without falling into traps like cliches and jargon. I would position this book somewhere between a textbook and a self-help book. It's more fun to read than a textbook and more professional than a self-help book. It's really an updated version of Strunk and White's classic "The Elements of Style" and in some ways better because of all its examples and exercises. Don't be put off by the reference to "journalistic" in the Knight book's title. It's about good writing -- by which he means clear, supple and precise writing. If you'd like the sharpen your prose, this book is for you.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clarity is the key to good writing, December 8, 2003

By 

Eduard B. Avis (Oak Park, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Journalistic Approach to Good Writing: Craft CL-03-2 (Paperback)

As an editor/publisher of books for journalists, I read a lot of books about writing. Bob Knight's excellent book focuses directly on the key issue most writers need to work on - clarity. Knight emphasizes that journalistic writing means writing clearly and concisely, and he shows the reader how to do that. If more writers -- journalists, business writers and even amateurs -- read this book, life would be a lot easier for readers everywhere!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Craft of Clarity, February 21, 2004

By 

Marcia Wood (Angel Fire, NM USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Journalistic Approach to Good Writing: Craft CL-03-2 (Paperback)

More than anything else, Robert Knight's "The Craft of
Clarity" jogs the writer's memory: "Oh, yes. That's
what I set out to do - communicate, tell a story, get
another human being to read, understand and be
affected by something I've written."
It's an easy goal to lose sight of, especially when pitted
against the goal of getting the facts out there. Author Bob Knight argues that the two need not be in competition
and reminds writers that getting the facts "out there"
is futile if the "out there" fails to tempt the
reader. With humor, examples and exercises, Knight gives writers ways to avoid those murky writing swamps that are so easy to get bogged down in and so effective in keeping readers away.
Written for all writers, "The Craft of Clarity" shows how using the tools of good journalism can help in all communication. It covers everything - from how to shape a story and write
a lede, to how to avoid the passive voice,
jargon and cliché. It also addresses some often overlooked but essential aspects of writing powerfully, including how to not only write honestly but appear to be writing honestly.
Knight's enthusiasm for clear writing and love of the English language come through each page of the book, and cannot help but infect and inspire.
A University of Colorado, Boulder, J-School graduate, Knight currently teaches journalism and English composition at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. He is a veteran reporter who worked in Denver and Albuquerque, and served as senior editor and broadcast editor of the City News Bureau of Chicago.
- Review by Yasmin Hahn, reporter, Sangre de Cristo Chronicle, Angel Fire, NM USA
- NOTE: Marcia and Guy Wood are co-publishers of the Sangre de Cristo Chronicle in Angel Fire, NM and are so impressed with Knight's book that we've purchased 3 copies to give to our reporters, including Hahn. A great tool for working journlaists, whether greenhorns or grouchy with green eyesahdes.