See the handout on Transitional Devices (Connecting Words). Shorter sentences and paragraphs are useful for maintaining good clarity and pace, while varying length adds interesting rhythm. A position paper is a type of academic writing that supports an authors or organizations position on a topic through statistics, facts, and other pieces of well-researched, relevant evidence. Do not overstate through the use of absolutes and intensifiers. These qualities can help ensure effective communication with the audience. Including credible sources, both in support of and against your position, demonstrates that you did your research and can back up any statement you make or refute others claims. clarity takes precedence over all other rules. The purpose of a position paper is to clearly and concisely communicate the authors position on a topic. Are you providing unnecessary detail? The stock market index surged yesterday to its peak for the year. Although I followed the guidelines, my Human Resources department told me to address my concern to my superior for a decision. This report explains our projects to stimulate growth in investments. When possible, avoid using forms of be as the main verbs in your sentences and clauses. Reduce imprecise, weak, or generic verbs, such as the following: For example, consider how strengthening the weak verb in the following A quote by the great Anton Chekhov we discussed in our monthly webinar suggests why specificity lends clarity: Dont tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. Parallel Structure in Professional Writing, Activity and Postmortem Reports Introduction, HATS: A Design Procedure for Routine Business Documents, Business Letters: Accentuating the Positives, Specificity in Writing: Say Exactly What You Mean, Clarity in Writing: Avoiding the Department of Redundancy Department, Grant Writing in the Sciences: Introduction, Language: Revising for Concision and Clarity, Tone: Tailoring Language to Your Audience, Business Writing for Administrative and Clerical Staff. This category includes redundancies, repetitions, and there is/are and it is constructions. While it can help, the length of a sentence is not always a problem. Working loose and light has its own avantages.Give yourself freedom to make mistakes. A good technical writer is an educator; and good technical writing is useful. The following example sentence is clear and understandable because it uses old information to lead to new information: Here is a sentence that is not as clear. Common sources of clarity-reducing ambiguity in fiction include: A modifying clause tells us more about another word in a sentence. You can say as gentle as a lamb or sleeps like a baby. Clarity in Technical Writing | IEEE Journals & Magazine | IEEE Xplore Remember the librarians garbled memo from the Case Studies in Chapter 1.4? The goal is to communicate directly and plainly so use short, direct words whenever possible. Concision is a constant and watchful process. Here, characterization might override the benefits of clarity and concision. The committee decided to postpone the vote. - Christine, on Clarity in writing: 7 musts for lucid prose, Your goals in writing: 10 ideas to keep them, Writing comics: Q&A with the creator of Boundless, Revision in writing: How to improve between drafts, What should I write about? does not identify the receiving entity: There is no guarantee that the updates will be received in sequential order. Technical Writing for Beginners - An A-Z Guide to Tech Blogging Basics You need to consider the design of those sentences, from the words to the phrases to the clauses, to ensure that you are communicating your message effectively. Professional areas that use position papers include legal, research, healthcare, government, and organizational policy. For example, consider the following passage from a technical The owner of this site is using Wordfence to manage access to their site. (and possibly another word or two later in the sentence). Take for example, the following sentence: Who had the telescope? In the sentence above, its unclear whether the father insisted on lessons for himself or the young person. Technical writing tends to use simple sentence structures more often than the other types. Don't confuse educating your readers (technical writing) with Whether its an email, a blog post, or message, keeping these three qualities in mind can help ensure effective communication with the audience. The author clearly states and supports their position with credible sources, and readers come away understanding the authors exact position on the topic. results. As William Zinsser asserts, the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components.[1]. Sign up for the Google for Developers newsletter, an imprecise or missing actor in a sentence. If so, it could be because the old information comes late in the sentence after the new information. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. You want to eliminate possible ambiguities or confusion to get your ideas across more clearly to your readers. 1.1 KEY CONCEPT: Problem-Solving Approach to Communications Tasks, 1.3 Understanding the Rhetorical Situation, 1.4 Case Study: The Cost of Poor Communication, 3.5 Style Tips: Revising to Enhance Readability, 4.1 Team Project Management Tools and Strategies, 4.2 Five Models for Understanding Team Dynamics, 5.2 Finding and Evaluating Research Sources, 5.5 Stakeholder Engagement and Consultation, 6.2 Setting Up A Reference List - Sample Entries, 7.1 Correspondence: Text Messages, Emails, Memos, and Letters, 7.4 Technical Descriptions and Definitions, 7.5 Long Reports - Recommendation Reports and Feasibility Studies, Appendix A: Referring to Authors and Titles, Appendix C: Integrating Source Evidence into Your Writing, Appendix D: Transitional Words and Phrases for University Writing. Simon ran very quickly to help the poor lady who had collapsed. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. COMPLETE writing includes all requested information and answers all relevant questions. Consult sources that support multiple positions on your topic. Granted, screamingly fast gets readers' attention but not necessarily in a Remember, though, that a position paper isnt based on opinionsalthough youre taking the position that best reflects your understanding of the topic, you need to support that position with credible facts. Remember that in grammatical terms, simple just means that it has one main clause (one subject and one predicate). This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Me, the man, or the hill? Fix these and other errors by hiring a good editor. Try not to string nouns together one after the other because a series of nouns is difficult to understand. (Confusing). Thank you for including it in your blog. Imprecise language creates ambiguity and leaves the writing open to interpretation, creating the risk of misunderstandings. Writing Letters of Recommendation for Students, Rhetorical Awareness and User-Centered Design, Prioritizing Your Concerns for Effective Business Writing. adjectives and adverbs can make technical documentation sound dangerously like How to Become a Technical Writer: Fundamentals & Certifications - WordRake Use measurable descriptors whenever possible; avoid vague terms like big or good. Try to get your readers to see your ideas by using specific terms and descriptions. Someday, it (old) will collapse under the weight of information I might never need. Conciseness involves utilizing the fewest words possible to convey your meaning. said, a form of be is sometimes the best choice of verb, so don't feel that Sprinkle in different verbs and watch your prose become more appetizing. For example, a teaching assistant may write a position paper about students use of AI writing tools in academic assignments. If you are a WordPress user with administrative privileges on this site please enter your email in the box below and click "Send". Want to create or adapt OER like this? While this anecdote may be true, its not a researched or tested fact from an expert. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Thats because it is one of the easiest ways to strengthen a piece of writing and give more useful information. But it doesnt mean simplifying so far that your writinglacks depth and substance. K. G. Blank, Wordiness list, Department of English, University of Victoria [Online]. Clarity in writing comes via editing. Coherent: Organize your thoughts in a logical, structured progression. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use. Jorge Luis Borges said all writing is autobiography. Figure 2.2.1 illustrates one method of putting all the 7Cs together. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. At the level of the whole document, you can promote structural clarity, making it easy for the reader to get the large picture. Read it through carefully, then try to rewrite it with the same overarching meaning. A missing semicolon at the end of a statement. Refactor amorphous adverbs and adjectives into objective numerical information. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Clarity in Writing. This, that, these, those, he, she, it, they, and we are useful pronouns for referring back to something previously mentioned. Clarity in Writing: 7 Musts for Lucid Prose | Now Novel Writing Letters of Recommendation for Students, Higher Order Concerns (HOCs) and Lower Order Concerns (LOCs), Dangling Modifiers and How To Correct Them, Overview of Two-Part (Phrasal) Verbs (Idioms), Comparing Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives. Examples of tone in writing. The answer is found in the four pillars of writing clarity. Theseare the reasons why we chose it for our summer vacation. An example of a relevant quote would be an excerpt from a pediatricians research on adolescent circadian rhythms in a position paper supporting later starting times for high schools. The materials collected here do not express the views of, or positions held by, Purdue University. What is your purpose? The 4 Pillars of Clarity in Technical Writing - Hurley Write They can also communicate groups and organizations positions on topics. There were many reasons why I turned down the job offer. Clarity in writing helps make what you write easy to read and understand. You need a variety of short, medium, and long sentences in any writing. The 5 Cs: Simple strategies for effective technical editing This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Other common problems can occur when modifying weak verbs with adverbs. You may be assigned a topic, or you may need to develop a topic yourself. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Better still, ask someone to read the text for you and ask, is it clear for you? Choice of the layout of text on the page. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Thats around 64%, which is far too high. Thank you for reading our blog. That said, simple does not necessarily mean "simplistic," short, or lacking in density. If you're having sentence clarity problems in your papers, this handout might be just what you need. The clearer your understanding of the rules, the more leeway you have to break them creatively. 1. The stock market index increased very rapidly yesterday to the new highest peak for the year. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns.

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