Writing simply and effectively

Sarah Whitmarsh October 30, 2017

Outline

• Whywriteshort• Bestwritingpractices

1. Organizeyourtext2. Pruneideasandshortensentences3. Payattentiontoverbs4. Revise,polish,andproofread5. Visualizeyourfinalproduct

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Why do we write the way we do?

• Youneedto“warmup”• You saythesamethingseveraldifferentwayssinceyou’renotsurewhichisbest.

• Ittakesyou awhiletofigureoutwhatyou’resaying.

• Thingshappenchronologically,soyoutendtothinkandwritethatway.

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Why write simply and effectively?

• Poorwriting– Wastestime– Failstogetamessageacross– Makesusapoorsourceofinformation

Thetighteryouwrite,themorepersuasiveyouwillbe.

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“People who think well, write well.”

1. Organize your text

- DavidOgilvy

Common pitfalls

• Thebeginningistoobroad

• Thewritertakesadetour

• Thewriterlacksasenseofaudience

• Clutterhidesaclearfocus

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Techniques for Organizing Your Text

• Makeanoutline,withbulletheadlinesforeachmessageyouwanttogetacross

• Organizepointsbymostimportanttoleastimportant

• Beginboldly• Makesureideasflowlogically

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As you write, ask yourself

• What’smypoint?• Inasentence,whatamItryingtosay?

• HaveItakenadetour?

• HaveIsqueezedinextrastuff?

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“Brevity comes from selection and not compression.”

- DonaldMurray

2. Prune ideas. Shorten sentences.

Prune ideas

• Selectthemostimportantpieceofinformationtoshare

• Askyourself,whatinformationcanIaffordtoleaveout?

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Quick Exercise

• Findtheheadline…

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Example– QuickWinNews

Thatcommitmentwasmaterializedbytheinclusionofoneofourrecommendations:theintegrationofSRHmodulesinthetrainingcurriculaofstudentsbytheGovernmentPrimeMinisterinhispolicystatementtotheparliamentariansonFriday,February5,2016.

Whyisthissignificant?

AFTER

TELMARPARLIAMENTPRIORITIZESINTEGRATINGSEXUALAND

REPRODUCTIVEHEALTHEDUCATIONINTOSTUDENTCURRICULA

Inanagenda-settingpolicystatementtoParliamentonFebruary5,2016,Telmar’s PrimeMinisterrecommendedintegratingsexualandreproductivehealthmodulesintocurriculaforstudentsaged10-24.Amajorityofthecountry’sparliamentariansthenvotedtoprioritizeitonthePrimeMinister’sagenda.Morethanfourmonthsinthemaking,thisadvocacywinrepresentsaremarkablestepforwardinexpandingaccesstofamilyplanninginformationforyoungpeopleinTelmar.

BEFORE

INTRODUCTIONOFREPRODUCTIVEHEALTHMODULESINSTUDENTS’CURRICULA:SOONAREALITY

Telmar,likeothercountriesinNarnia,isfacingissuesrelatedtounwantedteenagepregnanciesinschools,resultingindropoutsandacademicfailures,abortionsandsuicideofthousandsofgirls.TargetingtheauthoritiesinchargeofEducation,PartnerXhasmadetheproblemapriorityin2015aspartofitsadvocacyprojectAdvanceFamilyPlanning(AFP),fundedbyAFPBaltimore,withthetechnicalsupportofPartnerY.However,thoseauthoritiesdidnotrespecttheircommitmentduetothesocio-politicalunrestofthecountry.Themultipleadvocacymeetingsconductedwerenotverysuccessful.

Shorten sentences

• Useshort,familiarwords• Onesentenceperidea• Usetransitionalwordsorphrasestoshowhowideasarelinked

• Avoidjargon• Saywhatyoumean• Varysentencelength

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Watch out for jargon

AvoidorDefine• Contraceptiveprevalence

rate• Fertilityrate

• Unmetneedforfamilyplanning

Use• Percentageofpeopleusing

contraceptives• Averagefamilysizeor

numberofchildrenperwoman

• Estimateofwomenwhowouldliketopreventordelaypregnancybutarenotusingcontraception

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“No verb means no action. No action means nothing for the reader to see. Nothing to see means no fire in the brain and no reason to dive deeper…”- RoyPeterClark,HowtoWriteShort

3. Pay attention to verbs

Passive vs. Active Voice

PassiveVoice• Vague• Slowsdownunderstanding• Evasive

Activevoice• Clearanddirectsenseof

whodidwhat

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Example– QuickWinNews

BeginninginOctober2015,AdvanceFamilyPlanninglocalpartnerXprioritized addressingtheissuewiththetechnicalsupportofPartnerY.PartnerXbegan advocacyactivitiesduringatimeofsocio-politicalunrestinthecountry.Initialadvocacymeetingswerenotveryunsuccessful.Butbymid-December,withareturntonormalcy,PartnerXmovedquickly,organizingamulti-sectoradvocacycommitteetothinkthroughtheissueofaddressingunwantedteenagepregnanciesinschools.

Headlines• Locally-drivenFamilyPlanningProgressinTanzania:2012-2014(version1)

• FollowingthroughonTanzania’sLocallyDrivenFamilyPlanningProgress(2012-2014)(v2)

• TanzaniaLeadstheWayonFamilyPlanning,HealthandDevelopment:FollowingthroughonProgress(v3)

• InvestinginFamilyPlanningforTanzania’sHealthandDevelopment(final)

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“To be a good self-editor, you have to read your writing like you’ve never seen it before.”

4. Revise, polish, and proofread

- SW

TheKiss.©

Musée

Rodin

• Putyourselfintheplaceofsomeonewhoknowsnothingaboutyourwork

• Trytoanticipatethekindsofwrongassumptionssuchapersonmightmake

• Simplify,butnotattheriskofclarity

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Self-editing

Best practices

• Scrutinizeeachwordthroughdraftingandrevision

• Identifyandpreservestrongerelements• Findandtrimweakerelements• Trynottoeditsomethingonthesamedayyouwriteit

• Getsomeoneelsetoreadit

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Editing tips

• Deletewordsthatmeanlittleornothing[very,quite,kindof]

• Deletewordsthatrepeatthemeaningofotherwords[variousandsundry]

• Deletewordsimpliedbyotherwords[terribletragedy]

• Replaceaphrasewithaword[intheeventthat= if,duetothefactthat=because]

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“7SimpleEditsthatMakeYourWriting100%MorePowerful”byShaneArthur

There are some bloggers who seem to have a natural gift when it comes to writing. Some bloggers seem to be naturally gifted writers.They manage to get their ideas across clearly and economically, which means that readers can easily follow what they write. Readers devour their clear, economical prose.Not only is there a lot of respect for what they have to say, but also the way that they say it. People respect what they say – and love how they say it.Whenever they publish a new post on their blog, it always gets dozens of comments and hundreds of shares. Every new blog post attracts dozens of comments and hundreds of shares.It would be great to be as successful as they are, but you don’t know what you need to do to make your writing better. You’d love to emulate their success, but you don’t know how.The good news is that there’s a secret you can easily learn which will improve everything you write from now on. Fortunately for you, a simple secret can transform your writing forever.

Trim the Fat

Harshi’s mostrecurringtrackchanges

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1. Familyplanningworkinggroupswereestablishedbythreemunicipalities.• Avoidpassivevoice.

2. Threemunicipalitiesestablishedfamilyplanningworkinggroups.• PuttheTinSMART.

3. AFPisaninitiativeofGIatJHBSPHinMDfocusedonFPadvocacytomeettheFP2020goal.• Spellitout.

4. Trapsfortranslation.• Bebrief.

5. TheMinistryofHealthworkedwithOSVJordan.• Providecontext.

6. Theyaimtoreducedeathsandwillincreasesupplies.• Matchtenseandstructure.

7. BurkinaFaso,Zambia,Colombia.• Putinorder.

“Writing tight involves more than leaving out words…it also

involves laying out words –laying them out on the page, the physical presentation of

your writing.”- WilliamBrohaugh

5. Visualize your final product

Best practices

• Makearelaxedvisualenvironmentwhereinformationcanbeeasilyscannedandunderstood

• Usewhitespace• Usesidebars,subheads,footnotes,paragraphing,checklists,graphs,images,quotes

• Usebolding tocalloutkeywordsorphrases

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Example

NameofPresentation

Final Thoughts

• Youneedmoretime,notless,towritesomethinggoodandshort

• Focus,focus,focus• Revise,polishandproofreadeverything• Read,studyandcollectgreatexamples

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Citations• “HowtoWriteShort:WordCraftforFastTimes”byRoyPeterClark

• “10TipsonHowtoWriteShorter”byJoshBurnoff

• “HowtoWriteClearlyandEffectively”bySkillSoft,JohnsHopkinsUniversity

• “7SimpleEditsThatMakeYourWriting100%MorePowerful”byShaneArthur

• 25EditingTipsforTighteningYourCopy

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