教育部高教司近年修订颁布的《高等学校英语专业教学大纲》增设了英语应用文写作课程，并将其列为英语专业低年级的选修课。这充分说明了开设该课程对培养复合应用型外语人才的必要性。然而，目前尚无用英文编写的教材，为此我们编写了这本《英语应用文写作》。
该书分门别类地阐述了英语应用文的语言特点，写作技巧，文体式样，表现手法及行文规范。全书共分为：英语应用文语言特征，书信基本知识，各类书信写法及范例，文秘工作，对外宣传，法律文书，论文写作，个人档案，英语笔记，标点符号等10部分，均配有范文。集系统性，知识性、实用性与操作性为一体，可作为英语专业本科生，专科生和自学考试学生的教材。也可作为广大涉外工作者，英语爱好者，中级英语读者以及硕士研究生考试应试者的参考书。

Preface
Part 1 General Remarks on Practical English Writing
1.1 Definition of Practical Writing
1.2 Appropriateness and Accuracy
1.3 Features of Practical English Writing
1.4 Principles of Practical Writing
1.5 Personal vs.Impersonal Constructions
1.6 Usage of the Past and Present
1.7 Pragraph Coherence
Part 2 Letter Writing
2.1 An Introduction to Letter Writing
2.2 The Look of the Letter
2.3 The Elements of A Letter
2.4 Envelopes
2.5 Folding Inserting
Part 3 Sample Letters and lllustrations
3.1 Invitation
3.2 Acceptance
3.3 Application
3.4 Cover Letter
3.5 Appointment Interview
3.6 Employment Letter
3.7 Rquest Inquiry
3.8 Refusal
3.9 Complaints
3.10 Adjustments
3.11 Apologies
3.12 Congratulations
3.13 Condolence Sympathy
3.14 Get-Well Letters
3.15 Thank-You Letters
3.16 Recommendation
3.17 Letter of Introduction
3.18 Letter of Insttruction
……
Part 4 Secretarial Work
Part 5 Information and Publicity
Part 6 Legal Documents
Part 7 Personal Information
Part 8 Research Paper
Part 9 Note Taking
Part 10 Punctuation Marks
Bibliography