Chapter 6 notes PDF

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Chapter 6 Notes Improving Readability with Style and Design

Making Your Message Easy to Read  Completeness means you have provided all the information necessary to complete your purpose.  Three basic strategies – (1) provide all relevant information (2) be accurate (3) be specific Provide all relevant information – plan, write, and review your message. Make sure there is only relevant information; not anything extra. Be accurate – accuracy is the most sought after characteristic in writing style (95% of people say). Accurate information is true, correct, and exact. Just one inaccurate statement can lead readers to dismiss your entire statement and lower trust. Be specific – be precise and avoid vagueness. The more specific you are, the more likely your readers are to have their questions answered.

Improve Ease of Reading with Conciseness  Makes message easier to read by omitting needless words.  Language should be efficient – say as much as you can with as few words as possible.  Use shorter sentences/shorter paragraphs. Long paragraphs can signal disorganization and even disrespect for reader’s time. One reason paragraphs can be too long is that more than one main idea or topic is in the paragraph.  Use short sentences – helps readers to comprehend your ideas more easily. Example – when reader read sentence with 10 words or less there was 100%

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comprehension. Sentences of 20 words resulted in 80% comprehension and those with 28 words were comprehended 30%. Avoid redundancy – words and phrases repeated the same thing. Example – past history (all history is in the past!!!). Avoid empty phrases – words that fill space but add no additional meaning Avoid wordy prepositional phrases – eliminating extra words increases comprehension. Try to take phrases and make them into single –word verbs. People can process information more quickly when writers use action verbs. Example – We have made an estimate. We estimate that… Example – Sunrise is a company with excellent customer service. Sunrise provides excellent customer service.

 Find nouns that you can convert into verbs. Example – have a meeting = meet Have a discussion = discuss  Use active voice rather than passive voice – sentence immediately identifies the doer – easier for people to process the info because we naturally think this way. Writing in the active voice also uses fewer words.  Use short and familiar words and phrases. Using long phrases and “big” words to sound smart rarely pays off.  Use parallel language – use the same grammatical pattern. See Table 6.12  Avoid buzzwords and figures of speech – can sound out of place and can be over-used.

Improve Ease of Reading with Navigational Design  Use headings – be consistent with font style and formatting  Highlight key words and phrases – use bold, italics, or underline to draw attention. Don’t over use or your ideas won’t stand out.  Use bullets and numbered lists.  Use white space generously otherwise your work can look too cluttered.  Use single space rather than double space.  Keep it simple – avoid formatting that will distract from your message. See Figure 6.1 page 171 and Figure 6.3 page 187.  Conduct a FAIR test – see page 188 – Facts – Access – Impacts – Respect  Proofread  Get Feedback...