We will start this tutorial by looking at how we communicate and the challenge of written communication. We will then look at some principles behind effective writing and some procedural tips to help you write more effectively. The primary reference for this tutorial is the book On Writing Well by William Zins. This is a really valuable resource for anyone who is keen to improve their writing ability. There are also many internet resources that distill and discuss the key points of Zins'work, such as the book discussion led by Betty Miles Holman, and a book review by Trent Hamm.
So let's talk about communication. There are many models that have been developed since the 1960s to illustrate how we communicate. The basic premise in most of the models is that there are four elements to communication. The sender of the message, the receiver of the message, the message itself, and a feedback loop.
In face-to-face communication, the verbal and nonverbal feedback from the receiver allows the sender to adjust and tailor their message to ensure that it gets across. So how does this model compare to written communication? In written communication, there is no opportunity for the sender to receive feedback. Written communication removes the opportunity for the sender to adjust the message in response to the receiver's feedback. So what does this mean?
Our writing needs to be clear and simple in order to reliably get our message across. This tutorial is all about the principles that make writing simple and clear, so that we can reliably get our message across to our audience. In a geographically dislocated world, writing is a critical skill for most of us, and one that you will need to practice to get good at.
Before we look at the principles of writing, we need to review some of the basic types of words. You will all recognise these types of words from school, so let's quickly recap what each of them are. I've listed the definitions for each of the word types to the right.
You can pause the video to match the word types up to their definition. So what is a noun? A noun identifies a class of people, places or things.
What is a verb? A verb describes an action, state or occurrence. What is an adverb?
An adverb modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb or phrase. What is an adjective? An adjective names an attribute added to a noun to modify or describe it.
What is a pronoun? A pronoun substitutes for nouns and has a general reference. An example sentence using each of these types of words is The busy children worked diligently until they went to the canteen for lunch. You can pause the video and take a moment to identify each of these word types.
Zinsa's book on writing well identifies five broad principles that we need to consider in order to write effectively. They are simplicity, clutter, style, words, and unity. We will look at each of these in turn.
The first principle is to keep your writing simple. Zinzer recommends stripping every sentence down to its cleanest components. Every word that you include in your writing should contribute to the message that you want to get across.
If a word is not pulling its weight in contributing to the message, get rid of it. There is a tendency, particularly in academic styles of writing, to use a complex word or phrase when a simple word would be just as effective. Examples could include a large number of instead of many, or due to the fact that instead of because. Continually ask yourself, what am I trying to say?
And focus your efforts on choosing the best, most economical words to get your point across. There are lots of good examples highlighting the need for simplicity. Take this quote from a World War II blackout order in the US. Even the President at the time, Theodore Roosevelt, couldn't understand his own government's memo, and so simplified the passage.
Which one is simpler and gets the message across more effectively? Let's move on to the second principle for effective writing, which is to avoid clutter. Most adverbs and adjectives, and some verbs, are unnecessary. An example of an unnecessary adverb is, he clenched his fist tightly.
The verb clenched already implies tightly. Many people also allow small but unnecessary words to creep into their writing that qualifies how they feel and think about a subject. Removing this clutter does not change the meaning of the text, but allows the reader to more effectively read and assimilate the point that you are trying to make. To be an effective writer, you need to continually look for clutter in your writing style, and prune it ruthlessly. The space savings of such a pruning can be significant.
Here are some examples of cluttered sentences. Take a moment to think about how we could reduce the clutter. At the present time we are experiencing precipitation, could be more simply stated as, it is raining.
The old man smiled happily as he looked up at the tall skyscraper could be more simply stated as the old man smiled as he looked at the skyscraper. Smile already implies that he is happy and skyscraper by definition is tall and would require you to look up. Finally, the missile impacted the ground prematurely could be decluttered to the missile crashed.
It is also important to develop your own style, as your writing will be most effective when you are relaxed and writing in a manner that you are comfortable with. Start by reducing your style to its bare essentials. You can always add words back in later. Be careful with your use of punctuation as it is important.
A misplaced punctuation mark can change the whole meaning of your sentence, as the graphic illustrates. Take care not to overstate a situation. This is particularly important for writing that will inform a decision maker. Overstating a situation may prompt them to act prematurely or avoid acting at all, both of which could adversely affect what they are seeking to achieve and at best will undermine your credibility. We need to constantly be on the lookout to eliminate connotations of male ownership and should seek to reflect a gender-neutral ownership where possible.
One of the biggest stylistic changes a person can implement is keeping sentences and paragraphs short and to the point, and paragraphs should be used to capture a single train of thought. The fourth principle that I would like to talk about is your use of words. Be deliberate in your use of words.
Actively seek to improve your vocabulary and choice of words by reading, by a dictionary and a thesaurus. Think about how you arrange your sentences. Use active verbs wherever possible over passive verbs.
An active verb or the active voice has the subject acting upon the verb. In contrast, the passive verb or passive voice has the subject being acted upon by the verb. This is best illustrated with some examples.
The man must have eaten five hamburgers. Here it is the man who is doing the eating, a good example of the active voice. Five hamburgers must have been eaten by the man.
Here the hamburgers are being acted upon by the verb, a good example of the passive voice. Try to put the subject performing the verb up front. It's much clearer and a much more powerful way of writing.
Let's look at another example. Marilyn mailed the letter. Marilyn is the one who is doing the action, mailing, an example of the active voice. The letter was mailed by Marilyn. Here, the letter is being acted upon by the verb, mailed, and is an example of the passive voice.
Keep sentences short, strong and to the point, and use as much detail as possible, rather than generalities. If you aren't sure whether a sentence works, read it aloud. If it sounds right, it will read right. The final principle that we will look at is unity. Unity is the oneness in a paragraph or essay that results when all words and sentences contribute to a single main idea.
You can plan for Unity in your writing by asking yourself a number of questions. Similarly, after you have written a paragraph, you can test it for unity. So what are the tests? Does the paragraph have the appropriate tone, level and style for your intended audience, and their familiarity with the subject that you are presenting?
Are you consistent in the perspective that you have taken? Are you consistent with the tense that you have used in the paragraph? Have you used and maintained an appropriately formal style? Does your attitude come across in your writing as you intend?
What is the single point that you are trying to get across in the paragraph? Remember, the paragraph should represent just one central idea, with all of the sentences contributing to that idea. Let's now turn to the process for effective writing by looking at the structure of our writing. Readers can only process one idea at a time and they do it in a linear sequence.
When planning your writing think about the central theme of your paper. What is the key idea that you're trying to get across? What are the supporting ideas that you need to step the reader through in order to logically arrive at the central theme?
Each of these supporting themes should be allocated a paragraph. Keep your paragraphs short. Writing is visual. It catches the eye. Use a paragraph to capture a train of thought.
Good writers think in terms of paragraph units, not sentence units. The lead paragraph is your opportunity to introduce the topic, get the reader's attention, and convince them to read on to the next paragraph. The ending occurs when you have presented all of your supporting facts and you have made your point.
The ending is your opportunity to leave the reader with a final thought which should align to the central theme of the paper. Within each paragraph are sentences. Each of the sentences should do good work in contributing to supporting the main idea of the paragraph. If they don't, then delete them.
The topic sentence is common at the start of the paragraph to provide an overview of the supporting idea. Subsequent sentences should highlight evidence supporting the idea of the paragraph. The concluding sentence should tie the evidence in the paragraph together to leave the reader convinced in the validity of the supporting idea for the paragraph. The final sentence in the paragraph should provide a bridge between the supporting idea of the current paragraph and the supporting idea of the following paragraph.
So planning the structure of your writing should occur before you sit down and write. What happens after you finish writing? You need to review. You need to simplify, prune and strive for order.
All of your writing should be reviewed by you, the writer, in the first instance. Read the entire piece aloud to see if it flows. Does it make sense?
Does it sound right? Is every word in every sentence doing new work that leads the reader to the conclusion? Can you express your thoughts more succinctly?
Are any of your sentences pompous, pretentious, or will they date? Do you have any particularly troublesome sentences? Would your paper lose anything if they were deleted altogether?
And finally, be prepared to rewrite your paper. Rewriting is the essence of writing well. An external review by a peer or supervisor is just as important as the self-review. The focus of the peer or supervisor review is to look for clarity and simplicity. The peer or supervisor should be highlighting areas that the writer can re-attack to make clearer or simpler.
Read the paper aloud. If working with a hard copy, use brackets with a colour pen to highlight clutter that can be cut. If using a soft copy, use a comment to suggest better ways of wording sentences, and the highlighter to highlight clutter.
Be sensitive in offering feedback. All writers are vulnerable in their writing. Writing is an important but challenging form of communication that is critical to many analytic professionals. You need to practice writing to get good at it.
When you practice, keep the principles of writing in mind. Keep it simple. Avoid clutter. Develop your own style.
be deliberate in your word choice, and be consistent in your writing. In structuring your writing, use paragraphs to represent single, supporting ideas, and think in terms of paragraphs. In reviewing your writing, simplify, prune, and strive for order, and ask your peer or supervisor to do the same.
Thank you.