Use The Rule of Thirds To Help Your PowerPoint
More useful PowerPoint design tips from Gavin.
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The genre of research articles: The sections after methods
It took a loooong time. But this post concludes my series on writing a research article (RA) based on John Swale’s Create-A-Research-Space (CARS) model. See my first post for an overview of publishing in peer-reviewed journals. This time the focus is on the sections that appear in an RA after the methods are explained. Commonly called the…
A good example of bad customer service writing
I recently discovered Leslie O’Flahavan’s Writing Matters blog and thought I’d share her analysis of some bad writing. Follow the link to see how she re-wrote the email. I look forward to reading more of Leslie’s work. Text of Customer Service Email Leslie Explains Why This is Bad Customer Service Writing Click on the Links for…
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…
Another lesson on the bottom line
A quick story…I was working from home on slides for a presentation this afternoon. As I got ready to head to campus, my phone alerted me to a text message from a co-worker: This state needs to invest in trucks. And salt. Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow! It took a minute, but I finally figured out the campus was…
Create logical flow between sentences to promote accurate and efficient reading
I have argued that sentence variety is the enemy of efficiency. People read more accurately and efficiently when all the elements of a document are tightly connected. This includes the connection between consecutive sentences. I refer to this as cohesion (sometimes referred to as Functional Sentence Perspective by linguists). My experience is that most adults are able to create cohesive prose…
You want to explain first. But should you keep readers waiting for your point?
If you’re writing to readers from Western cultures, don’t make them wait! Western attention spans are short. We value efficiency–most of the time. But I need to explain when efficiency is (and isn’t) paramount to offer helpful guidance. Here’s my point in this post: Delay only if your point meets all the following criteria for…
