How to Write More Clearly,More Concisely
There is a saying :
Writing clearly is not easy.
Writing concisely is also not easy.
Doing both simultaneously is challenging.
How to write more clearly
Why?
• Clear writing leads to clear thinking.
• You don’t know what you know until you
try to express it.
• If your writing is nonsense, maybe your
thoughts are nonsense too!
Follow these steps which may guide you a better academic writing:
1.Think about the audience
Topic and audience are often very intertwined and work to inform each other. Start with a broad view of your topic such as skateboarding, pollution, or the novel Jane Eyre and then try to focus or refine your topic into a concise thesis statement by thinking about your audience. Here are some questions you can ask yourself about audience:
Who is the audience for your writing?
Do you think your audience is interested in the topic? Why or why not?
Why should your audience be interested in this topic?
What does your audience already know about this topic?
What does your audience need to know about this topic?
What experiences has your audience had that would influence them on this topic?
What do you hope the audience will gain from your text?
For example, imagine that your broad topic is dorm food. Who is your audience? You could be writing to current students, prospective students, parents of students, university administrators, or nutrition experts among others. Each of these groups would have different experiences with and interests in the topic of dorm food. While students might be more concerned with the taste of the food or the hours food is available parents might be more concerned with the price.
The conclusion is not just a way to indicate that the end of the essay is near; it's also your chance to indicate to the audience what you want them to do or think as a result of having read your paper. Rather than just summarizing or repeating your main point, you can look to the future, envisioning a consequence of the particular change you've advocated. This can be a subtle but effective way of implying that you believe your reader has accepted the truths of your argument.
2.Write some identifiable title
Writing a good subtitle for an article is key to attracting your intended audience. Often, readers will read the title of an article and then scan the subheadings. If subheadings are well written, readers will want to continue reading the article.
How and when should I divide the subtitles? Like in the following example:
I didn't think that The Colosseum and The Fountain of Trevi were so close.
Is this best divided like this:
I didn't think that The Colosseum and
The Trevi Fountain were so close.
or like this:
I didn't think that The Colosseum
and The Trevi Fountain were so close
Maybe these instructions may help you:#p#分頁(yè)標(biāo)題#e#
1.devide your article into major points
2.Use one or two words to summarize your ideas which will be straightforward.The subtitle usually tells the readers just what they expect in the next section.
3.Take care of the format.Remember to leave space between them.
4。Save your words
Why use a $2 word when a $0.10 will do?The secret of a successful writer :brief and brief
Keep your sentences brief and you'll enjoy success as a clear writer.
5.Accuracy and Research
If all you know about a topic is 'hey, I managed to get it going on my system', you can still write an article on how you got it going. There will be people who find that interesting and valuable information. If you want to write more, you will need to research the topic.
It is perfectly valid to read the man page, test your understanding, and rewrite the same information that is on the man page (audience: system administrators) in a more generally readable form (perhaps for novice users). But do test your understanding, that is part of the research. Try to be as accurate as you can.
6.Style
If you are writing for a specific publication, that publication will have a preferred style. Academic journals have a rigid style, most magazines like things more informally written. LinuxChix is very informal - if most people can understand you, it's good enough.
We do have readers from all over the world. For their sake, it is important that you try to use the words you mean - if you use a phrase like 'the wire had been stripped bear' instead of 'the wire had been stripped bare', a reader who is looking up words in a dictionary is going to wonder what an omnivorous mammal has to do with computing.
Good spelling, grammar and punctuation can make your writing more readable, but don't worry about them so much you can't get the article written. If you don't trust your ability to spell, write clearly and punctuate, ask someone whose writing you trust to check it for you.