Hints for good writing

When writing, how do you help make your thoughts clearer? The primary rule is to think of your reader who has so much to read already that he or she can survive just fine without reading what you are writing right now--that is, unless he is your poor, dedicated teacher.

So, part of your job is to make your writing clear and unambiguous and, if you are sufficiently skilled, compelling and interesting. Clear and unambiguous writing is largely mechanical, while compelling writing takes greater skill. Strive for clear writing, first.

What follows are a few observations on mostly mechanical things that I have found students doing. Everyone has his or her own predilections on writing hints so regard this list as a beginning.

• Don't messpill words. I mean, never in a formal setting. Yes, I take off for spelling. If you get mad at that and never misspell a word again because of it, I will have done you a favor. True, no matter what you do, if you write enough you will misspell words but if perfection is your goal, you might actually achieve it.
• Usually it is a good idea to have an abstract. If your boss is important or thinks he or she is, you might call this an "executive summary." It sets the tone and the subject and also allows busy people to cut to the chase without having to read the detailed study. They may thank you.

• Have headers to indicate the subject of a group of paragraphs. This principle helps you make the organization of the paper explicit to the reader. It is always a good idea to make the task of the reader easier. After all, you know what you are writing about but he or she doesn't.
• White space. Don't have the paper be a massive block of text. Who is going to pay any attention to your great content if your paper is unappealing to look at? Not enough, I fear. Think about extra spaces around paragraphs or those paragraphs with headers.
• Don't let your word processor decide your page breaks or page presentation. The fact is that current word processors are a step backwards from earlier ones in page presentation. This kind of thing does not make your reader comfortable. Seriously, there is much about a printed page that is not obvious and the best thing to do is to format the pages yourself. The last thing to do after you complete writing the paper is to format the pages.
• Don't forget page numbers! Also, it is not a bad idea to use two or three lines with those page numbers:

Other gory details for the aficionado:

• Don't underline or put two spaces after a period unless you are using a typewriter. Both of these devices are typing--not typesetting--conventions. If you are using a computer word processor, you will be typesetting.
• Indent or set off paragraphs with spaces.
• Use serif fonts in body text and sans serif fonts for headers if you wish.
• In formal writing, do not use the word "I" unless you someone is holding a gun to your head and then be real sure it is the right thing to do.
• Use present tense unless there is no alternative.
• Avoid using the word some because it is rarely clear.
• Avoid this when the antecedent is not clear. If you can't answer the question: "This what?" you should rewrite the sentence.
• Please, please, please, reread. Don't make a lot of short sentences. They are hard to read. It is hard to understand writing like that.

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September 29, 1997