Presenting Yourself Effectively

GUIDELINES: Creating a Professional Persona

Using Basic Organizational Patterns

CHOICES AND STRATEGIES: Choosing Effective Organizational Patterns

Writing Clear, Informative Titles and Headings

GUIDELINES: Revising Headings

Writing Clear, Informative Paragraphs

STRUCTURE PARAGRAPHS CLEARLY

ETHICS NOTE: Avoiding Burying Bad News in Paragraphs

GUIDELINES: Dividing Long Paragraphs

USE COHERENCE DEVICES WITHIN AND BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS

Writing Grammatically Correct Sentences

AVOID SENTENCE FRAGMENTS

AVOID COMMA SPLICES

AVOID RUN-ON SENTENCES

AVOID AMBIGUOUS PRONOUN REFERENCES

COMPARE ITEMS CLEARLY

USE ADJECTIVES CLEARLY

MAINTAIN SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

MAINTAIN PRONOUN-ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT

USE TENSES CORRECTLY

Structuring Effective Sentences

USE LISTS

GUIDELINES: Creating Effective Lists

EMPHASIZE NEW AND IMPORTANT INFORMATION

CHOOSE AN APPROPRIATE SENTENCE LENGTH

FOCUS ON THE “REAL” SUBJECT

FOCUS ON THE “REAL” VERB

USE PARALLEL STRUCTURE

USE MODIFIERS EFFECTIVELY

Choosing the Right Words and Phrases

SELECT AN APPROPRIATE LEVEL OF FORMALITY

BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC

ETHICS NOTE: Euphemisms and Truth Telling

BE CONCISE

DOCUMENT ANALYSIS ACTIVITY: Revising for Conciseness and Simplicity

USE INOFFENSIVE LANGUAGE

GUIDELINES: Avoiding Sexist Language

GUIDELINES: Using the People-First Approach

WRITER’S CHECKLIST

EXERCISES

LEARNINGCURVE: Organizing and Emphasizing Information and

LEARNINGCURVE: Writing Correct and Effective Sentences and

CASE 6: Emphasizing Important Information in a Technical Description and

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WRITING FOR YOUR READERS means writing documents that are easy for readers to use and understand. It starts with making sure you present yourself effectively, as a professional whose writing is worth reading. In addition, writing for your readers involves creating an accessible document—one in which readers can easily find the information they need—that presents ideas and data clearly and emphasizes the most important information. Finally, writing for your readers means choosing words carefully and crafting accurate, clear, concise, and forceful sentences. If a sentence doesn’t say what you intended, misunderstandings can occur, and misunderstandings cost money. More important, the ability to write for your readers—word by word and sentence by sentence—reflects positively on you and your organization.