Today I’m publishing a guest post by Patrick Bailey, who gives some writing tips below:
Improve Your Copy With These Writing Tips
Writing is simply communicating with your target readers. You have an idea, and you want to share it with them.
However, writing the simplest way possible could be hard at times. You may tend to move away from the general idea of your chosen or given topic. Here are some tips to improve your copy:
Be clear.
As writers, you are expected to be concise and clear with your message.
Stanford University explained that achieving this means you choose your words carefully. In short, choose straightforward words over the “fancy” ones. For example, consider the word “begin” instead of “commence.”
This does that mean, though, that you can no longer use technical terms such as RAM. Just make sure that you describe it clearly in your article. Or, you may state that alcohol is bad for someone’s health but it has to be explained why. Avoid statements that are not supported by facts.
Explain jargons, define acronyms.
Monash University advised writers to explain whatever jargon used in an article. Therefore, if there is no way for you to use an equivalent word for a technical term, explain it. Make it simple for all the readers to understand. Also, define the acronym when using it for the first time in your story. Do not let your readers guess what it could mean. Remember, there could be the same abbreviations but may mean different things.
Keep your sentences short.
The use of complex sentences may just complicate your thoughts further. Instead of communicating your ideas, you might just end up making the entire thing even more complicated. To check if your sentences are just right, count the words in it. If a sentence is more than 20 words long, cut it into two.
Run your copy in a grammar and plagiarism software.
Before submitting your copy, make sure that you read it again for typo and grammar-related errors. You may run it, too, in a grammar and plagiarism software. You may try the online facility Grammarly. Checking it, too, for plagiarism could give you peace of mind.
dgkaye said:
Great share Stevie. I’m sure I’ve read this recently. Lol so not surprised 🙂
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OIKOS™-Publishing said:
Very good tips Stevie! Thank you very much for sharing. Have a nice weekend! MIchael
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Stevie Turner said:
Thanks Michael – you too!
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OIKOS™-Publishing said:
:-))
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Terri Webster Schrandt said:
Great tips! I recently purchased Grammarly premium and so glad I did! It even corrects these online comments, LOL!
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Stevie Turner said:
Thanks Terri.
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Phil Huston said:
Clarity is/was one of my next topics. Something Stanford University could use some help with. Consider a class offered titled “Scene; The building blocks of story. Enroll in that class, for serious $, thinking you will learn the mechanics of scene architecture. Discover that the class is actually no more than the elements of fiction (plot, setting, character, etc) spread out over 8 or 9 weeks, a week per element. Nothing you couldn’t easily obtain from an internet search or my wife the professor’s “Elements of Fiction” PowerPoint. Instead of a class on scene architecture and breaking down good ones to discover mechanisms you get writing 101. I had a discussion with Stanford about their lack of clarity and got a refund. The point of that story is perform a “look ahead” in your work to see if you can draw a line from any point to another or if you’ve taken a detour.
And the language thing is always a good idea, as is minding your set decoration. I don’t want to put a book down to get out a horticulture book to see what kind of plants the author is talking about lining a damn driveway.
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