Clear and Concise

"Clear, Concise, and Direct Sentences" The Writer's Handbook. The Writing Center. The University of Wisconsin-Madison. 2013. Web. 1 Nov. 2013.

Addresses a list of areas to address to write clear, concise sentences.

Link: http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/ClearConciseSentences.html

Handout: http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/Clear,_Concise,_and_Direct_Sentences.pdf

Johnson-Sheehand, Richard, and Charles Paine. "Choosing a Style." Writing Today. 2nd ed. Boston: Pearson, 2012. 364-368. Print.

In the chapter, "Choosing a Style," Johnson-Sheehan and Paine suggest a "plain" style that includes the following: Clarifying who or what the sentence is about, letting that who or what be the subject of the sentence, placing the subject early in the sentence (Wilhaber's "front-loading), using strong, action verbs and not using nominalizations (noun forms of verbs and adjectives), reducing words by making prepositional phrases adjectives (when possible), and making sentences "breathing length" (364-368).

Additionally, the authors address the idea of a persona when writing and the use of tropes, figurative language such as onomatopoeia, similes, metaphors and analogies to make ideas more concrete.

Wildhaber, Judy. "How to Writer Clear Sentences." quickanddirtytips.com. Grammar Girl. 15 Jul. 2010. Web. 2 Nov. 2013.

Discusses "front-loading" sentences, words that waste space, when to qualify, and vigorous (read: "action") verbs.

Link: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/how-to-write-clear-sentences