This textbook is designed to be a resource book for the CHED-instituted course called Purposive Communication, which seeks to guide students in writing and speaking to different audiences in various contexts and for definite purposes.

The book orients communication education toward real-life situations that will prepare and equip students to engage actively in academia, public discourse, and the workplace. It includes chapters on the processes of communication in general, academic research and writing, public speaking, and business communication.

The book is built on the idea that the ability to communicate one’s thoughts clearly, convincingly, and constructively is an indispensable skill in achieving success in the academe or in any career or profession. As such, it discusses the principles behind various forms of communication, like cross-cultural, rhetorical, disciplinal, and professional communication. It also offers practical guidance for preparing particular forms of communication, such as academic essays, bibliographies, speeches, resumes, business letters, proposals, reports, among others.

Ultimately, the book is premised on the notion of effective communication as a dynamic, relational, ethical, and purposeful means of creating communities—within one’s own and across other cultures, as well as in academic and professional communities that address and seek to serve the public.