The Hallmarks of Effective Writing

September 13, 2012

Robley M. Hood

To view the recorded workshop, please click the link:

http://khe2.adobeconnect.com/p2ifospa3y2/

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What is effective writing?

The agenda for this workshop includes purpose, audience, and form; clarity;

development; correctness; fluidity; and writing process. References and

resources will be offered, and questions will be addressed.

In this presentation I will discuss the primary characteristics found in all good

writing—whether that writing is an internal memo, a business document, a lab

report, a college essay, or any other form of written communication. The

presentation will help you understand not only what constitutes effective writing,

but also the roles audience, purpose, and form play in effectively

communicating meaning.

As a writer, you need to know why you are writing and to whom you are

writing—the audience. In addition, you must determine what form of writing is

most appropriate for your purpose and audience. If your purpose is to

persuade, and you compose an instructional brochure, you won’t be successful

at communicating your message to your audience. If your purpose is to

complain, then you need to complain—but you need to do so in a way that

reaches your audience. Therefore, you need to complain with tact—in a

complaint letter, for example; otherwise, your writing will fall on deaf ears.

If you are writing for a group of ten-year-olds about the United States tax

system, you need to think about how best to present that information so your

meaning is understood. Perhaps a picture book or short skit would reach your

audience. That same topic but with an audience of Certified Public Accountants

would enable you to be much more specific—with more terms and specialized

language. For that audience, an instructional manual or PowerPoint

presentation might be appropriate.

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If someone gave you this grocery list and asked you to do the shopping, would

you be successful? Would you be able to purchase what the list-writer wants?

Why or why not?

What kind of bread does he or she want? Rye? Whole wheat? White? Raisin

bread? What brand of bread? Pepperidge Farm? Wonder Bread? A local

bread maker’s? What about the cereal? Even if you know the list-writer wants

orange juice, does he or she want it frozen? In a bottle, ready to drink? With or

without extra calcium? What about pulp? Does the writer want apples?

Bananas? Pineapple? Kiwis? How many? Whole? Or cut up in little plastic

containers?

You can see that this communication is not clear.

My colleague Kurtis Clements, who is Director of the Writing Center, loves to

quote his sixth-grade teacher, Mrs. Walters, who said, “To be terrific, you must

be specific.” This may be the most important piece of writing advice you will

ever hear. All effective writing is clear because it is specific.

For example, if you saw this note on the fridge, would you have all the

information you need? “Pick up kids after soccer practice.” When do they

finish? On which day? Where is the soccer field? Are the kids playing at the

same field?

Clear writing is specific and includes the concrete details required for clarity.

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Clear writing uses the best words, which are cheap rather than expensive. Use

simple but specific language that you know rather than picking words out of a

dictionary or thesaurus. For example, real estate folks might describe a place

as “cute and charming.” What does that mean to you? Attractive and airy?

Rural and in need of repair? Small and cramped? Say what you mean and

mean what you say. Mark Twain once wrote, “The difference between the

almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—it’s the difference

between the lightning bug and lightning” (Lightning, para. 4). Think about your

audience, purpose, and form, and choose the best words.

Clear writing is concise. The French writer Blaise Pascal wrote, "I have made

this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had time to make it

shorter“ (Pascal, para. 1). The effective writer uses few words for big impact.

This requires time and revision. Which is better: The medical assistant should

be very welcoming to people and know how to handle very sensitive information

really well. OR The medical assistant should be welcoming and discreet.

Clear writing orders content so it is easy for the reader to follow. The effective

writer orders information according to the form he or she writes: an instructional

manual and a legal memo, for instance, have different formats. The writer

considers logic—of time or cause and effect, for example. When I write an

essay I think of myself as a tour guide and the reader as my tourist. I plan our

journey carefully, making sure the reader has a sense of where we’re going at

the beginning; I point out the major sites in the body paragraphs; and I help the

reader understand the significance of our journey at the end.

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This is a provocative statement, tempered somewhat by the word “suggests,”

which means that what Johnson is saying may not be absolute fact though

there is certainly is a good deal of truth in the statement. A piece of writing that

is a mish-mash of ideas suggests that the writer’s thinking may also be a mish-

mash. Rightly or wrongly, this is the perception.

You might look at this in a real-world employment situation. Employers want

the highest quality employees, and frequently writing is often used as one

measure of quality. If you don’t have good writing skills, you may not get an

interview and you may not get hired.

Effective writing is clear—it is not a mish-mash of ideas; it is not imprecise; it

does not have unnecessary words; it is not disorganized; it is not formless.

Ideas are conveyed with directness, precision, specificity, and concision.

The writer must consider purpose, audience, and form when constructing a

composition. Think about each of these elements carefully, and plan your

writing based on them. This takes time and effort.

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Here is an example from a paper. Imagine that the assignment was to write

about a television show that the writer likes and explain why to an audience that

may or may not be familiar with the show. What do you think? Is it clear and

developed?

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Which of these is more fully developed? In what way is it more fully

developed?

One of these was written by a Kaplan student. Which one?

Effective writing has sufficient development.

Why do you think correctness matters?

What kinds of errors might you look for to improve the correctness of your

writing?

Three basic sentence errors can weaken writing by making it unclear and

confusing for the reader. Therefore, you will want to understand run-ons,

comma splices, and fragments in order to avoid creating them.

When subjects and verbs do not agree in number and when the tense or time of

verbs changes in a document, readers become confused.

Similarly, if pronouns do not agree with the words to which they refer, readers

may have to stop to re-read to figure out the intended meaning. When the

dominant pronoun shifts in person or number, the reader will again have to stop

and re-read to see if he or she missed something.

Finally, possessives and pronouns are confused by many writers, and readers

are confused by these errors.

Learn what you don’t know, skill by skill, and apply what you learn about

correctness to your writing.

If you must write a memo, does your document look like a memo? Does it

follow the conventions of an inter-office memorandum? If the assignment asks

for a brochure, have you learned how to design and create one? If you are

expected to submit a PowerPoint, have you thought about the reader’s journey

from slide to slide and about the visual impact of the presentation? If you are

required to use APA format, have you included title and reference pages? Do

you know how to create correct citations?

Spoken language and written language are two different forms of language.

The way you use English when you speak may not be appropriate for written

English. When writing, you should always use Standard American English.

The Writing Center has a number of tutorials designed to help you learn and

practice Standard American English.

Many folks want their writing to “flow.” Think about the current in a river or

stream. Without effort, water and things floating in it move downstream. In a

way, effective writing does this: it flows. That is, effective writing is fluid—from

word to word, sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph. Because it is

fluid, the reader stays engaged and focused from beginning to end.

Fluid writing is created by a writer who thinks the structure of each sentence

and its relationship to the one before and after it. Effective writers write

effective sentences!

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Writing process refers to the various writing actions an effective writer takes on

the way to completing a document. Every writer thinks about the composition

and about composing; explores content and form; drafts; revises; edits;

proofreads; and publishes his or her work. The great thing about writing as

process is that you can always go back and forth between stages: if while

drafting you realize that you don’t have enough content details, you can do

more exploratory writing. It’s also important to realize that while these actions

are typical of writing process, every writer has his or her own personal process,

and the process might change depending upon the kind of composition you

work on. You will want to learn what your most effective process or processes

are.

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There is no recipe to writing effectively. If there were, you would have been

taught it already. Practice, practice, practice is the key!

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These are the hallmarks of effective writing, which can be learned through

thoughtful practice over time. Good luck!

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I’d be happy to answer your questions!

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The best time to request a paper review in the Kaplan University Writing Center

is after you have written your first draft. When you come to us early, we can

help you the most by helping you with the structure of your paper. Many

students send papers at the last minute because they want us to simply

proofread their paper. However, KUWC writing tutors do not simply proofread

the paper for you; we want to help you learn to write and proofread your own

papers. Since you can come to the Writing Center 6 times a term, you can

submit a first draft, then submit a later draft if you need further help on an

assignment.

If you need help before you write the first draft, you can use live tutoring. During

live tutoring, you can ask questions and brainstorm with a tutor. Live tutors can

help you with other stages in the paper writing process as well. Come visit us.

We can be found under the My Studies tab, then under Academic Support

Center.

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On the main Academic Support Center page, you will see the Writing Center

links. These include Live Tutoring, Paper Review Service, the Writing

Reference Library, Citation Guidelines, Workshops, English Language Learner,

and Fundamental writing help. Notice, you can access the Kaplan Guide to

Successful Writing on the right hand side in both print and audio form. Come

visit us.

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