News from the Center for Plain Language
Read today’s press release from the Center for Plain language about report cards for federal agencies one year after the Plain Writing Act regulations went into effect.
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Amateurs suffer from too much AND too little knowledge
It’s a conundrum. Do amateurs struggle to write successfully in the workplace because they have too much or too little knowledge? The answer is “yes.” Here’s what I mean. Amateurs suffer from too much knowledge about their message. In the workplace, it’s commonplace for writers to have more information than their readers. I mean . . . That’s…
Friday fun with word frequencies
Calling all word nerds! For some Friday fun, try the Macmillan Red Words Game, which tests your awareness of English word frequency. It’s not as easy as you might think. After a couple of tries, my highest score was 195. Can you beat it? Along the same lines, Roberto Trotta has written an interesting book. From the…
The genre of research articles: Methods sections
After something of a hiatus from Pros Write, I’m (finally) continuing the series on writing the different sections that make up a research article (RA). I’m tackling the Methods section here. (See this post for a discussion of the overall structure of the RA.) The Methods section is usually the easiest section for researchers to write. So I recommend they start…
Use parallel structure in lists to increase reading efficiency
Those offering advice to professionals who write have long suggested that similar ideas should appear in similar (or parallel) form. In fact, the advice appears in one of the earliest business writing textbooks, first published in the U.S. in 1916. But I’m committed to offering you guidance for writing successfully at work based on quality evidence about the…
Warren Buffett, pro writer
I was reading my digitial issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education (CHE) this morning and found Ben Yagoda’s Warren Buffett Is a Better Writer Than I Am. Damn It. (Yagoda is one of a handful of contributors to CHE’s Lingua Franca blog.) The piece is a terrific analysis of Buffet’s writing ability based on his recent Letter…
An old favorite from The Onion
To celebrate Friday the 13th (and keep in touch while I work to meet a deadline), I’m sharing a link to a 2010 article that appeared in The Onion. Nation Shudders At Large Block Of Uninterrupted Text is one of my favorites. And it reinforces the importance of one of my video tutorials. Enjoy! Related articles…
