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Writing Clear, Informative Titles

Writing Clear, Informative Headings

TECH TIP: How To Modify and Create Styles

GUIDELINES: Revising Headings

Writing Clear, Informative Lists

WRITE EFFECTIVE PARAGRAPH LISTS

WRITE EFFECTIVE SENTENCE LISTS

GUIDELINES: Creating Effective Lists

TECH TIP: How To Create Numbered and Bulleted Lists

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

DOCUMENT ANALYSIS ACTIVITY: Identifying the Elements of a Coherent Paragraph

WRITER’S CHECKLIST

EXERCISES

LEARNINGCURVE: Organizing and Emphasizing Information and

CASE 9: Emphasizing Important Information in a Technical Description and

Most of us would agree that there is too much information for us to learn— and not nearly enough time for us to learn it. That is why instant messages and microblogs such as Twitter are so popular: we can read them quickly and then get on to the next thing.

But much of what needs to be communicated in the workplace cannot be reduced to 140 characters or an 8-second video. For instance, a plan to create a new interactive corporate website that will enable vendors and customers to do business with the company conveniently and securely will require many hallway conversations, emails, and meetings— and a number of lengthy documents.

When you write information longer than a few hundred words, you want to help your readers understand what you are writing about and what your main point is. You want to help them see how you have organized the information. You want to emphasize the most-important information. Doing so helps them find that information, understand it, and remember it. Your audience will be able to read your document faster and understand it better. And they will be more likely to agree with your ideas and view your recommendations positively.

This chapter discusses a number of techniques to help you emphasize the most-important information in your technical documents: writing clear and informative titles and headings, using lists, and structuring paragraphs effectively.