by Joseph Williams & Joseph Bizup

This classic is without a doubt the best step-by-step instruction manual to writing in a way that readers most easily understand. It is especially good for students in the humanities and social sciences. For STEM fields, a better choice might be Anne Greene’s Writing Science in Plain English.

by Anne Greene

This book adapts Joseph Williams’s superb advice in Style to a STEM audience. Like Williams’s book , Greene’s is systematic, example driven, and full of exercises. This is my top recommendation of a writing manual for students in any field of science or engineering.

by Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker is a rare breed: a celebrated scientist who cares about good communication. This book is not a style guide; it has no exercises or step-by-step guidelines. It is rather “designed for people who know how to write and want to write better.” Pinker makes a forceful case for “classic style,” which is as entertaining as it is enriching.

by Randy Olson

Olson is a unique voice on narrative in scientific writing: his first career was as a tenured professor of marine biology, his second as a Hollywood filmmaker, and his third as a science communicator. His superb advice on storytelling in science is as important for writing as it is for presenting.

by Helen Sword

Sword reveals the huge gap between what style guides advise and what academics typically publish. Most writing is bad simply because most academics never learn (or ignore) the advice given by dozens of style guides across many fields—advice that Sword artfully condenses here.

by Joan Bolker
Bolker’s core advice is brilliant: keep the ball rolling a bit every day. Ever since my undergraduate thesis advisor gave me this book as mandatory reading, Bolker’s techniques of creating a “writing habit” have been integral to how I practice and teach the writing process.