Writing Well

Writing Well: Overview

How you express your thoughts in writing has always been an important part of management and leader -
ship. In today’s business world of technology-enhanced communication (e-mails,
virtual-teams, collaborative e-spaces), your writing skills play an even more important role in how others
perceive you and your organization.

You want your thoughts understood as you intended. You want your ideas to have impact. The best way to
achieve clarity and impact is to eliminate the clutter of unneeded words. The tips offered here can help you
hone your prose to be as effective as possible.

This guide will help you:

• Make your writing concise

• Enhance your writing’s impact
• Format your writing for better readability

Writing Well: Basics

How to make your writing concise
How to enhance your writing’s impact
How to format your writing for easier reading

How to make your writing concise

Be concise. Clear, impactful writing uses only as many words as needed to convey thoughts.
Unnecessary words add clutter and distract from your message’s intent. When you eliminate clutter, the text
that remains becomes that much stronger.

Rules of Concision: You can be concise if you avoid

• Wordiness
• Redundancy
• Intensifiers
• Inflated language
• Delayers

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Avoid Wordiness
Wordiness – more words than necessary -- is a problem for readers, especially in business situations where
people are pressed for time. The fewer words you can use without harming your meaning, the better.

WORDY CONCISE

• at the present time, at this point in time • now

• due to the fact that • because
• during the course of • while
• for the simple reason that • because
• in spite of the fact that • although
• in the not too distant future • soon
• in view of the fact that • since
• on the part of • by
• to the effect that • that
• give rise to • arouse
• make contact with • meet
• render inoperative • destroy, delete, defuse, deactivate
• The copy that is yellow is for you to retain. • Keep the yellow copy.

Avoid Redundancy
A redundancy is a series of words that conveys the same meaning twice -- for example, few in number. The
second expression -- in number -- merely repeats the meaning of the first word and gives no new informa
-
tion. Be ruthless in deleting redundancies.

REDUNDANT CONCISE

• adequate enough • adequate

• advance planning • planning
• both together • both
• contributing factor • factor
• deliberate lie • lie
• equally as important • as important
• exact same • same
• few in number • few
• final outcome • outcome
• free gift • gift
• join together • join
• many in number • many
• past history • history
• share in common • share
• shuttle back and forth • shuttle
• two different reasons • two reasons
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 Writing Well

Avoid intensifiers
In conversation most of us use intensifiers. These are strengthening words, such as:

• absolutely
• basically
• certainly
• definitely
• incredibly
• just
• quite
• really
• simply
• very

Written prose aims at a measured tone. The more intensifiers you can eliminate without changing your
|meaning, the more concise will be your text and less taxing to read.

Avoid inflated language

Some writers think they must use big words to impress their reader. “Avoid the elaborate, the pretentious,
the coy, and the cute. Do not be tempted by a twenty-dollar word when there is a ten-center handy, ready,
and able.” (Strunk & White, Elements of Style)

INFLATED CLEAR

• utilize • use (verb)

• utilization • use (noun)
• beauteous • beautiful
• differential • difference
• requisite • required, needed
• deleterious • harmful

If a “$20 word” is the best choice for your intent, use it. But if a synonym is simpler and says the same thing,
use it instead.

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Avoid delayers
EXAMPLES OF DELAYERS:

• There is
• There were
• There are
• It is
• It was
• It had been

Sentences that begin with the above expressions postpone your main idea. Reasons to avoid delayers:

1. Information loses impact when pushed further back into the depth of the sentence.
2. Sentences with delayers use more words than needed.
3. The verb to be (is, are, were, had been, etc.) is colorless and actionless.

DELAYER: There are helpful hints in this guide that can improve your writing.
WITHOUT DELAYER:Helpful hints in this guide can improve your writing.

How to enhance your writing’s impact

Your writing will have more impact if you:

• Put statements in positive form

• Express action through verbs instead of nouns
• Use active voice whenever possible
• Replace modifiers with strong, short verbs

Put Statements in Positive Form

Negative ideas are as legitimate as positive ones. But the negative modifiers no and not usually make for
wordiness and a slight loss of readability. If you write:

We are not together

you ask your reader to perform 2 operations:

1. To conceive of togetherness and then

2. To negate it.

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But if you write:

We are apart

You eliminate a word from the sentence and simplify the mental operations. Good writing results from a sum
of such small gains.

Don’t develop a phobia against every use of no or not. But understand that negatively worded sentences are
usually less emphatic than positive ones. Compare:

NEGATIVE POSITIVE

• Claudette did not do well on the test.
• Gerry was not convicted.
• Luis has no trust in facilitators.
• Sandy’s bonus was not significant.
• Lee did not arrive on time.
• Claudette did poorly on the test.
• Gerry was acquitted.
• Luis distrusts facilitators.
• Sandy’s bonus was insignificant.
• Lee arrived late.

Express action through verbs, not nouns

Weak sentences use nouns instead of verbs to express action. When that happens, the action becomes an
abstract state (such as, below, control of her direct reports and a source of contentment). Instead, express
action as verbs. Your sentences will manifest energy instead of abstraction.

ACTION AS NOUN:Claudette had control of her direct reports which was a source of contentment for her.

ACTION AS VERB:Claudette controlled her direct reports, which pleased her.

Use active voice whenever possible

Strengthen your sentences by preferring the active to the passive voice in verbs:

PASSIVE ACTIVE

• The presentation was given by Nancy. • Nancy gave the presentation.

• The program was facilitated by Lou. • Lou facilitated the program.
• The team is being carried by Dan. • Dan carries the team.
• The application was demonstrated by Nirmala. • Nirmala demonstrated the application.

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Passive verbs have two other problems besides lengthening a sentence:

1. they cannot take a direct object
2. the action performer is unnamed, or named in a postponed element

Replace modifiers with strong, short verbs

If possible, avoid adverbs (words that modify verbs and usually end in -ly) and verbs that use prepositions
(such as jump up, get over, lift out). Instead, use a verb that expresses -- in one word -- what you wish
to express.

VERB WITH MODIFIER STRONG VERB STRONG VERB

• went quickly • rushed, sped, raced

• came out • emerged
• sits high above • looms
• picks up • lifts
• goes back • retreats
• goes down • descends
• yelled angrily • raged, screamed
• fell down hard • stumbled, crashed

WITH MODIFIERS:Elizabeth asked lots of questions of the class during the breakout session.

BETTER: Elizabeth quizzed the class during the breakout session.

TIP: A thesaurus can be your best friend when replacing verbs with modifiers.

How to Format Your Writing for Easier Reading

These suggestions can help make your web prose more readable.

• For emphasis, use bold or italics -- sparingly. Do not underscore for emphasis. Underscoring
• is used only when a particular word or phrase is meant to be “hot,” i.e., a link to another page or site.
See below.
• Use subtitle headings for long documents. Use a slightly larger font size for headings than for body text.
• Spacing.Use single spacing throughout. For a new paragraph, add a line space by hitting
• Return twice.
• Line lengths.If you select any book or magazine from your bookshelf and open it, you’ll see that line
lengths rarely exceed 5 inches. Why? Because our eyes follow sentences in short jumps (known as
saccades), too many saccades per line become problematic for text processing. You will help your
reader if you set your margins (or hit return) so that your lines do not run completely across your
11-inch screen.
• Text blocks. Write short paragraphs, if possible not more than 5 to 6 lines per paragraph. Separate
paragraphs with a line space.
• Text colors. Use black for all text except links. Use underscore, blue for any word or phrases that will be
“hot,” i.e., a link to another URL or an “anchor” to text in another part of that screen.
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 Writing Well

• Use bulleted lists. “Structure the page to facilitate scanning and help users ignore large chunks of the
page in a single glance: for example, use grouping and subheadings to break a long list into several
smaller units.” (Jakob Neilson, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/991003.html )
• Include graphics. Screens upon screens only of text become tiresome to read. Use graphics that rein
force your message. If possible, use small GIF files (under 10Kb) to speed user downloading.
• Avoid using all UPPER-CASE LETTERS, except for commonly understood acronyms, e.g., IBM, US,
EMEA, etc. USING ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, SUCH AS THIS, IS TANTAMOUNT TO SHOUTING.
MOREOVER, TEXT TYPED ALL IN UPPER-CASE LETTERS, SUCH AS THIS SENTENCE, IS MORE
DIFFICULT FOR A READER TO PROCESS.
• Avoid using all lower-case letters. For example:

dear rajiv: our meeting last february was effective. it allowed us to refigure costs as appropriate.when
you wish to meet again, let me know. for me the best time to do so will be after april. let me know what
works best for you. best, pat

This may save the typist time and effort, but it creates more processing for the reader. It slows the reader, as
it requires added concentration to determine where sentences begin and end. Readers are accustomed to
seeing an initial capital at the start of each sentence, and this standard convention is an important signal to
us that speeds our reading and helps our text comprehension. Using a “cute” style of all lower-case is simply
inconsiderate to one’s readers.

Writing Well: Tips/Traps

TIPS

• Clarity and brevity are the hallmark of effective written communication.

- Clear writing derives from clear thinking. Think through your ideas to choose the exact words.
- Make points in an orderly manner.
- Use simple everyday words. Write the way you talk.

• Proper formatting can help

- Paragraphing makes reading easier. Rule of thumb: one idea per paragraph
- Sub-headings make reading easier. If possible, long paragraphs may be broken into sub-headings
- Leave sufficient margins and blank space throughout for aesthetic appeal

• To get immediate attention for hard copy, you can try using colored paper. Of course, the subject matter
and formality of the communication must be kept in mind if you do this. Bright colors are not
considered professional.

TRAPS
• Impressing a reader about your expertise is not done via pompous words or phrases. Generally it’s best
to write as clearly and simply as possible.

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• Avoid using all UPPER-CASE LETTERS, except for commonly understood acronyms, e.g., IBM, US,
EMEA, etc. USING ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, SUCH AS THIS, IS TANTAMOUNT TO SHOUTING.

• Avoid using all lower-case letters. For example:

dear tom: our meeting last february was effective. it allowed us to refigure costs as appropriate. when
you wish to meet again, let me know. best, pat

This may save the typist time and effort, but it also creates difficult processing for the reader.

The speed and ease with which you can send an e-mail can sometimes cause problems.
Beware the following:

• Do not put in writing what is better achieved face to face or over the telephone. For instance, sensitive
people-issues are best resolved in face-to-face communication.
• Check to correct spelling or grammar mistakes. (Note: what is sometimes overlooked or forgiven in
e-mail -- for instance, misspelling -- is usually not tolerated in hard-copy letters.)
• Re-read to check for the right “feel,” as the tone of your writing may possibly be misunderstood.
• Using humor can be problematic as it frequently may be misinterpreted as sarcasm or criticism.
• It’s almost too easy to click the “send” button. Remember that well-crafted sentences are usually not
“written,” but rather “rewritten.”

This guide was previously posted online as a Quickview and was researched and written by Peter Orton/Armonk/IBM@IBMUS and Nirmala Menon/India.IBM@IBMIN.
Editorial assistance: Chuck Thurston
©Copyright IBM Corp., 2000. All Rights Reserved.

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