Less Words > More Words
For todays blog I wanted to talk about the benefits of writing clearly and concisely in written communication. Often times in written communication, people try really hard to write as much as the physically can but that’s not always how one should conduct their writing. The clarity and effectiveness of writing doesn’t come from quantity but from quality. Often times there are ways to say the same meaning of a sentence but in less words. By doing this it will help you communicate more clearly and concisely in numerous ways. For starters, taking the time to careful word each sentence with particular word choice can cut down run on sentences and help avoid using unnecessary words in your writing. This will help make your writing sound less redundant to your reader and will make the message you are trying to convey easier for them to comprehend. I found an article online that gave some insightful tips on how to write more concisely and I wanted to share a few that I thought were significant.
One of the first steps you’ll want to make when it comes to conducting concise written communication is to begin your sentences with subjects. By starting your sentences with subjects makes your writing clearer because you make it obvious to your reader who or what the sentence is about. For example if you originally had a sentence that said, “As I have previously argued, it was not until the last batch of votes were counted, that the senator was able to declare victory.” Now this is an okay sentence but there is a way to say the same purpose of this sentence but in less words. “The senator declared victory after the last batch of votes were counted.” The second form of this sentence lets your reader know right away that the senator is the subject and is more clear to your reader compared to the first form. The reader is able to interpret the same meaning but in less words.
The next tip is the importance of only explaining one idea at a time in your writing. It can be easy to get off topic in your writing and often times people don’t even realize it until they go back and revise their work. Although being able to multi-task is a awesome skill to have, when it comes to writing it can make things messy. In the article, “10 Tips for More Concise Writing,” by Katherine Firth she makes a valid point about this. She said, ”Academic writing in particular values logical progression, explanation of cause and effect, isolation of individual factors. If you try to discuss too many factors together, they are likely to get confused, or at least confusing. Then you’ll need unnecessary words to explain them.” In other words, its important to try not to do too much at once in your writing because if you try to elaborate too many ideas at the same time its going to make things more confusing for your reader. Also by conjoining too many ideas together it forces you to have to use more words than you should have to causing you to communicate less clearly. This is why it can be helpful to block out your ideas separately on paper prior to beginning to write whatever it is that you are trying to communicate.
These are just a couple of ways you can help condense your writing to make it more clear and concise for your reader(s). Communication is about quality not quantity so put these tips into consideration the next time you are communicating in writing.
