Everyone appreciates it when your writing is clear, crisp and to the point. The following seven points will help you write clearly and according to the situation.
Clear Thinking Goes Before Clear Writing: (Think clearly before you write) Clear writing comes from clear thinking. Keep your ideas organized in your mind. Think clearly what you want to communicate. You can’t explain it if you don’t understand it. Write down your ideas on a piece of paper. This will help you organize your thoughts.
Short Sentences Pack More Power: (Write short sentences) Short sentences help your readers understand your ideas clearly. Ideally, sentences shorter than fifteen words convey ideas clearly and to the point. Occasionally, you will come across ideas and situations, where you will need to use longer sentences. Feel free to use more words in such occasions.
One Paragraph, One Idea: (Don’t explain more than one idea in a paragraph) Readers can easily grasp the ideas when presented in paragraph. A single idea presented in a paragraph communicates the idea clearly and forcefully. The first sentence introduces the idea and the next few sentences explain it. Readers can easily grasp the idea you are trying to convey.
More than one idea makes the paragraph complex. Readers may not understand what you are telling. Thus, it is a great idea to talk only one idea or point per paragraph.
Shorter paragraphs are more readable than a large paragraph. The big paragraph looks like a big chunk of words packed together. Short paragraphs break up that big chunk into small pieces. This increases readability. So, write short paragraphs wherever you can. Ideally, use up to five or six sentences in a single paragraph.
Remove Unnecessary Words: Using more words than necessary is not good communication. Use as many words as necessary to communicate the idea clearly. Then stop. Read your sentences. Do they communicate your idea clearly and completely? If you answer yes, it is good writing.
Remove unwanted words like ‘basically’, ‘in a sense’, ‘I think’, ‘in my opinion’, ‘as a matter of fact’, etc. They don’t communicate anything. The readers will think you are not sure what you are talking about. So, there is a big no-no for hollow and unwanted words in your writing.
Active Tone Brings Energy to Your Writing: (Make your writing living by giving it an active tone). An active tone keeps readers engaged. They also will be more receptive to your ideas.
– Instead of saying ‘this can be done’, say ‘we can do it’.
– Instead of saying ‘we can make big energy savings with this new system’, say ‘this new system will make 11.79% energy savings’.
Use these pointers and your communication skills will show through when you write an email, a proposal, a report, a case study, a product reviews, or any piece of communication. And, keep in mind, better communication is a great skill to have in any workplace.
