1. Facts are more effective
than opinions. Avoid such vague
“opinion” words such as good or big, or even dangerous
and generous. Give the reader the facts he needs to form
his own opinions.
2. Know
your reader. For whom are you
writing? How you write involves
understanding your readers’ motives for reading and the readers' knowledge of the
subject matter and vocabulary. Your
writing style for the reader of a feature article will be quite different than
your style for the reader of the Op-Ed page.
Similarly, numbered points put the reader in a serious frame of
mind. Is it really a serious article?
3. Get personal. To whatever degree is practical, make the article relevant to the reader, both in content and writing style. The word you is often effective in accomplishing this end. Remembering the readers’ concerns—that is, remembering what the reader hopes to gain by reading your article— is always a good idea.
4. Know your purpose for writing the article. Your vocabulary and style should also be determined by your purpose in writing (e.g. to inform, entertain, persuade, etc.)
5. Writing is a two-way conversation between the writer and his readers. One difference is, the writer must anticipate the readers’ questions and answer them in the article.
6. Tell the readers three times. In the beginning of your article, give the readers just enough information to hook them on reading your article; in the body of the article, give them the details; then, in the last few paragraphs, summarize the article or give your conclusions.
7. Begin and end forcefully. That includes articles, sentences, and often paragraphs. For example, try to avoid beginning or ending a sentence with “time” words, such as sometimes, unless the time or frequency is the point of the sentence (e.g. “Every now and then, he does his homework.”)
8. Draw "word pictures." For most writing, you’re not conveying just facts and opinions. You’re taking images from your mind or feelings from your heart and helping the reader see and feel them in his own mind and heart.
9. Use descriptive nouns and verbs instead of forcing adjectives and adverbs to do all the description for you.
10. Show action, even when the thing you're describing is not moving. Active verbs are usually more forceful and descriptive than passive verbs. For example, instead of writing, "The mountain was 800 meters tall," you may write, "The rugged peaks, standing majestically in the distance, rose 800 meters above the foothills."
11. Unless you’re using irony or understatement, don’t say what isn't; say what is. For example, change, “I don’t like spinach,” to, “I hate spinach,” “I dislike spinach,” or, “I’m indifferent to spinach.”
13. The current of your article must flow to its conclusion. That is, each sentence in a paragraph must support the main idea of the paragraph and naturally lead to the next paragraph and so on to the conclusion of the article.
14. When writing a persuasive article, allow the reader to persuade himself. Write your article in such a way that the reader comes to the desired conclusion at least a few lines before you do. That way, the reader will see it as his own conclusion and not just yours. Then he’ll be more convinced of the belief.
15. Unless you’re writing something to be studied and reviewed (such as a legal document), avoid words that interrupt the natural flow of the readers’ reading styles. Phrases such as, “as stated above,” or, “as I said on the preceding page,” cause the readers’ eyes to turn to the “aforementioned” spot. Each time a reader’s reading pattern changes direction, he becomes less interested in finishing the article.
3. Get personal. To whatever degree is practical, make the article relevant to the reader, both in content and writing style. The word you is often effective in accomplishing this end. Remembering the readers’ concerns—that is, remembering what the reader hopes to gain by reading your article— is always a good idea.
4. Know your purpose for writing the article. Your vocabulary and style should also be determined by your purpose in writing (e.g. to inform, entertain, persuade, etc.)
5. Writing is a two-way conversation between the writer and his readers. One difference is, the writer must anticipate the readers’ questions and answer them in the article.
6. Tell the readers three times. In the beginning of your article, give the readers just enough information to hook them on reading your article; in the body of the article, give them the details; then, in the last few paragraphs, summarize the article or give your conclusions.
7. Begin and end forcefully. That includes articles, sentences, and often paragraphs. For example, try to avoid beginning or ending a sentence with “time” words, such as sometimes, unless the time or frequency is the point of the sentence (e.g. “Every now and then, he does his homework.”)
8. Draw "word pictures." For most writing, you’re not conveying just facts and opinions. You’re taking images from your mind or feelings from your heart and helping the reader see and feel them in his own mind and heart.
9. Use descriptive nouns and verbs instead of forcing adjectives and adverbs to do all the description for you.
10. Show action, even when the thing you're describing is not moving. Active verbs are usually more forceful and descriptive than passive verbs. For example, instead of writing, "The mountain was 800 meters tall," you may write, "The rugged peaks, standing majestically in the distance, rose 800 meters above the foothills."
11. Unless you’re using irony or understatement, don’t say what isn't; say what is. For example, change, “I don’t like spinach,” to, “I hate spinach,” “I dislike spinach,” or, “I’m indifferent to spinach.”
13. The current of your article must flow to its conclusion. That is, each sentence in a paragraph must support the main idea of the paragraph and naturally lead to the next paragraph and so on to the conclusion of the article.
14. When writing a persuasive article, allow the reader to persuade himself. Write your article in such a way that the reader comes to the desired conclusion at least a few lines before you do. That way, the reader will see it as his own conclusion and not just yours. Then he’ll be more convinced of the belief.
15. Unless you’re writing something to be studied and reviewed (such as a legal document), avoid words that interrupt the natural flow of the readers’ reading styles. Phrases such as, “as stated above,” or, “as I said on the preceding page,” cause the readers’ eyes to turn to the “aforementioned” spot. Each time a reader’s reading pattern changes direction, he becomes less interested in finishing the article.
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