Active Voice Coherence Conciseness Parallel Structure Precise Words Sentence Rhythm Strong Verbs Unity       UMD Composition Department Copyright 1999   Main page

How to Write Readably Introduction Students in advanced composition classes have spent years writing to teachers. Generally, professors care more about the content of a paper than the style. (There are, of course, notable exceptions.) However, advanced composition classes are usually the last time someone is paid to read your writing, good or bad. When you get out in the "real" world, a reader can put down a poorly written paper, tear it up, throw it in the round file, or ask the personnel manager why you were hired. Most graduates know their subjects.....but they sometimes don't know how to communicate that knowledge effectively to a general audience. The advanced composition classes help you learn to do that, or if you already know how, they confirm that you're ready for the wide world of critical readers that awaits you. What is not covered here Writing involves both communicating effectively and establishing your credibility as a writer. This set of exercises deals with communicating effectively in writing. Establishing your credibility as a writer includes using sound logic, taking the pains to present a professional-looking paper, using correct grammar, and demonstrating that you are thoroughly knowledgeable about the topic. Your instructor will give you other exercises for those skills. How to write readably Writing readably means knowing how to phrase and organize language clearly and gracefully. As you will discover in these lessons, it is more than being clear. It is using sentence rhythm, repetition, focus, conciseness, precise words and coherence to present the ideas smoothly and interestingly. Basically, it is the art of capturing and keeping the reader's interest as you develop detailed ideas. All the examples used in these lessons represent professional, nonfiction writing. About Language Language is wholistic. That means that if you change any part of your writing, you must probably change other parts. A punctuation mark or spelling correction can usually stand alone, but more substantive changes may require you to rethink the whole paper. Be prepared to do that. For example, cutting out wordy phrases will not, by itself, make a sentence a "good" sentence. You may also have to add precise words and change from passive to active voice. For example, the sentence "There are a number of factors that contribute to the problem," can be made more concise by dropping out empty words and phrases: "A number of factors contribute to the problem." We could even go to "Many factors contribute to the problem." But we're still left wondering how many factors, what kind of factors, and what problem. The sentence won't be a "good" sentence until we also add precise words: "Physical abuse and absentee parents contribute to juvenile delinquency."  back