Art of Clear Writing

Sreedhar R

Tricks to Clear Writing

1. Clear thoughts

2. Clear words

3. Short, clear sentences

4. Clearly organized structure

5. Concise introduction or thesis and conclusion

Clear thoughts

¨ Review your learning contract or instructions from your mentor or instructor. Ask questions if you are unclear.

¨ Refine and focus your topic to a reasonable scope of your available research and understanding.

      What do you think about your topic?

        What will your thesis be?

         What conclusions can you come to?

¨ Line up your notes and sources so that you can cite your quotations, facts and information. Write down what you know.

¨ Sketch out and free write your ideas on paper or on computer.

¨ Organize related ideas and focus on structure (more on that later).

¨ Think of a clear, concise opening statement or thesis.

¨ Give yourself plenty of time to write and revise.

Clear words

¨ Use clear, understandable language.

¨ Don’t try to impress your faculty with words you think are “scholarly,” especially if you don’t really understand them.

¨ Don’t use five words when one or two will do.

¨ Don’t use colloquial speech in writing.

¨ Don’t use clichés. (Avoid clichés like the plague!)

¨ If you don’t understand what a word means, or you’re not sure, look it up.

¨ Don’t hurry this process. Use words mindfully.

¨ Use strong verbs and nouns.

¨ Use fewer adjectives and adverbs.

Example

Incorrect

“Poe’s verbiage in ‘The Raven’ is a deliberately obfuscated hallucination that reflects the subordinated libido of his narrator’s psycho-induced melancholia induced by the abandonment of him by his paramour, Lenore.”

Correct

“Poe uses the images of the raven to show what it must be like to experience severe depression and emotional loss. He shows by images that his narrator is losing his mind.”

Short, clear sentences

¨ Keep important points at the beginning of a sentence.

¨ Keep related words together.

                Incorrect

                            “The ghost of Hamlet’s murdered father telling him to is the reason that Hamlet seeks revenge on his uncle.”

                Correct

                            “Hamlet seeks revenge when his father’s ghost tells him he was murdered.”

¨ Always use active voice, never passive voice.

                Passive voice - incorrect:

                             “The Christmas shopping was always done by my mother and sister months in advance.”

                Active voice – correct:

                              “My mother and sister always did the Christmas shopping months in advance”

¨ Pick a tense, past or present, and stick with it.

                Verbs do not agree:

              “ The artist depicted how the American 18^th century landscape is altered by slash and burn logging.”

                Verbs agree:

               “The artist depicted how the American 18^th century landscape was altered by slash and burn logging.”

¨ Make sure your pronouns agree within a sentence.

                Wrong: “One is never at fault if they admit defeat.”

                Right: “One is never at fault if she admits defeat.”

¨ Avoid colloquialisms – common in speech but not appropriate in college papers.

               Colloquial and inappropriate for a college level paper: 

              “He was, like, you know, pretty much tanked when he drove off the road, and that sucked.”

               College level: 

               “He had been drinking when the accident occurred.”

Clearly organized structure

Your introduction or thesis statement is a clear, concise statement of your purpose in writing this paper. It can be one sentence to start.

For instance:

The topic (or title) is: “Hermits Walk Among Us: Solitaries in Modern Day American Life.”

The thesis is: “Hermits are not just an historical human oddity of old world Europe, England or Africa. Hermits, both religious and secular, exist in rural and urban areas in our time, in our country.”

The body of your paper or essay will provide the information regarding hermits that you have found in your research and reading. This information, whether quoted or rephrased in your own words is always cited and documented.

  

                                        Introduction      Body        Conclusion

Concise introduction or thesis and conclusion

Your conclusion, your final paragraph or statement of the paper, is simply your thesis restated and including a concise summary of your evidence and research supporting what you stated at the beginning.

Reference

¨ Purdue On-Line Writing Lab

¨ https://www.slideshare.net/the-magical-art-of-clear-writing