tips for effective writing

Writing Style

“A little bit [alliteration] can be good, but watch out for doing this excessively
as it then distracts the reader. Avoid stacking sounds such as the ‘r’ words
in ‘remain riveted in that revelation radically rewires.’ ” from Modern American Usage

People read what you write, not what you mean to say. Make sure your words really communicate, since your readers cannot read your mind.

Common Writing Faults

Good diction, which is good word choice, avoids these faults:

- Wordiness,
- Unnecessary "ten-dollar" words,
- Ambiguity, and
- Words that don't mean what you think they mean.

Be aware of words you might confuse with other words: See Words You Might Confuse for some examples; see also Style Guides and Dictionaries.

Don’t use excessive alliteration (for example, "Steve stumbled over the slithering snake silently slipping past him") or use a pompous ten-dollar word where a simple and direct five-cent word will do (such as "utilize" instead of "use"), or allow other writing faults to distract your readers.

Writing in passive voice may put your readers to sleep. Readers want active wording, not passive.

Overwriting

Sometimes, in a misguided attempt to introduce variety into their writing, authors use more than one word or phrase to express an exactly identical meaning.

Readers may be left wondering whether or not there is some difference in meaning that matches the differences in terms. Avoid this mistake by being consistent in the words you use to define, describe or explain an idea or thing.

Avoid writing a passage that sounds like you transcribed it from a thesaurus. And when you do use a thesaurus, make sure the words you find really carry the exact connotation you mean to use.
Avoid repeating the same word so often that it becomes monotonous and stands out like a verbal tic to the reader. Writers often have favorite words or expressions: Try to catch yours and avoid overusing these.

Writing Guidelines of George Orwell

“Politics and the English Language”, in A Collection of Essays

Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech you are used to seeing in print.
Never use a long word where a short one will do.
If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
Never use the passive where you can use the active.
Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
Break any of these rules sooner that say anything outright barbarous.

Form

Readers need a logical flow or organic order to follow in order to understand you, just as it's easier to follow a timeline that is chronological. Don't jump around.

Imagine yourself in your reader's mind---not already knowing what is meant---and consider whether your wording really explains and describes your ideas and facts clearly and thoroughly.

Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite...

Your third or fourth draft may not be your final version. Prune the deadwood (see Wordiness and Word Choice)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Circuitous Wording

Our language can be seen as an ancient city: a maze of little

streets and squares, of old and new houses, and of houses

with additions from various periods; and this surrounded by

a multitude of new boroughs with straight regular streets

and uniform houses.

~Ludwig Wittgenstein

Circumlocutions

Roundabout wordings are indirect and, while not ungrammatical and forbidden, are avoided by good writers.

Instead of taking the shortest path to express your meaning directly, you wander around, using extra words, which can make you seem pompous and pretentious.

Such word padding can look like you are trying to seem “important,” thereby irritating readers.

In Dragnet, Sgt. Friday requested, “All we want are the facts, maam.” Similarly, your readers want “the facts” as succinctly, clearly and directly as possible.

Examples of excessive wording, with concise alternatives in parentheses:

“give rise to” (“cause”)

“in advance of” (“before”)

“in this day and age” (“today”)

“ahead of schedule” (“early”)

“render assistance to” (“help”)

“placed under arrest” (“arrested”)

“made a statement” (“said”)

“in spite of the fact that” (“although”)

“take into consideration” (“consider”)

“at this point in time” (“now”)

“a large proportion of” (“many”)