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10 Helpful Writing Tips
- Get to the point: Take out any extra words that aren鈥檛 necessary for the sentence, and make sure to start your writing with the Five W鈥檚 (Who, What, When, Where, Why). Save space for the good stuff by eliminating extraneous words such as 鈥渢hat,鈥� 鈥渋n order to,鈥� 鈥渞eally,鈥� and 鈥渧ery,鈥� as well as that second space after a period. The best writing communicates the message in the fewest number of words possible; don鈥檛 sacrifice details for the sake of being short, but don鈥檛 use more words than you need.
- Order is important: If you鈥檙e unsure of the correct way to use a word that has different forms, chances are you can use context clues. For example, our everyday style is to use commas the right way every day. Because 鈥渆veryday鈥� is used before 鈥渟tyle鈥� as an adjective, it鈥檚 one word. When it鈥檚 used as a noun, i.e. where you could use 鈥渆ach day鈥� instead, it鈥檚 two. Other examples include 鈥測ear-end giving鈥� vs. 鈥済iving at year end.鈥� This rule also applies to capitalizing titles, i.e. President Kenneth Evans vs. Kenneth Evans, president.
- Keep your audience in mind: We wouldn鈥檛 write in this style to publish in an academic paper, so don鈥檛 write in a formal academic 鈥渧oice鈥� when your message requires relatability. Ask yourself, 鈥淲hat does my audience need to hear/read? How could I best reach them?鈥� If your meaning isn鈥檛 clear, you might lose them. Don鈥檛 be afraid to let your humanity show in your communications.
- The following words are NOT words: irregardless, supposably, conversate, orientated, acknowledgement or judgement (with 鈥渆鈥�), amidst, amongst, besides, connotate, ____. Change to regardless, supposedly, converse, oriented, acknowledgment, judgment, amid, among, beside, connote, ____.
- When writing numbers, spell out one through nine, and write 10 through 999,999 in numerals. Then, 1 million, billion, trillion, etc.
- 鈥淗e/she and I鈥� is not always correct: If you are the subject of a sentence, you should reference yourself as 鈥淚.鈥� For example, 鈥淚 am reading this style guide to improve my writing.鈥� This doesn鈥檛 change when adding another person, i.e. 鈥淒avid and I are reading this style guide to improve our writing.鈥� If you are the object of the sentence, change you to 鈥渕e.鈥� The correct usage here: 鈥淢y boss told me to read this style guide.鈥� This also doesn鈥檛 change when adding another person, i.e. 鈥淢y boss told David and me to read this style guide,鈥� 鈥淢y boss gave this style guide to me,鈥� or 鈥淢y boss gave this style guide to David and me.鈥�
- TDP: When writing about an upcoming event, it sounds most correct and natural to readers to order the details in time, date, place format, i.e. 鈥淭he lecture will be held at 3 p.m. Oct. 26 at the Meinders School of Business.鈥� This is the most concise and agreed upon way to communicate information.
- Place the subject and verb close together in sentences for optimal understanding, rather than splitting them apart with many prepositional phrases. Place prepositional phrases after the verb when possible. Try to use no more than three to four prepositional phrases per sentence.
- Not: At the kickoff to the fall semester in classrooms across campus as autumn leaves fell and temperatures dropped, OCU announced a revolutionary approach to education. Change to: OCU announced a revolutionary approach to education as the fall semester began.
- Use active verbs. Avoid passive voice, which uses forms of the verb 鈥渂e,鈥� as in 鈥淭he Starsky costume is worn by students.鈥� Instead write, 鈥淪tudents audition to serve as OCU鈥檚 mascot and wear the Starsky costume during university events.鈥� Rewrite sentences that use 鈥渢here is鈥� or 鈥渢here are.鈥� For example, change 鈥淭here is a wide range of majors offered by OCU鈥� to 鈥淥CU offers a wide range of majors.鈥�
- Vary sentence and paragraph length and structure for interest, rhythm, and flow.
