Writing simply and effectively
Sarah Whitmarsh May 24, 2016
Outline
• Whywriteshort• Bestwri-ngprac-ces
1. Organizeyourtext2. Pruneideasandshortensentences3. Paya=en-ontoverbs4. Revise,polish,andproofread5. Visualizeyourfinalproduct
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Why do we write the way we do?
• Youneedto“warmup”• Yousaythesamethingseveraldifferentwayssinceyou’renotsurewhichisbest.
• Ittakesyouawhiletofigureoutwhatyou’resaying.
• Thingshappenchronologically,soyoutendtothinkandwritethatway.
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Why write simply and effectively?
• Poorwri-ng– Wastes-me– Failstogetamessageacross– Makesusapoorsourceofinforma-on
The%ghteryouwrite,themorepersuasiveyouwillbe.
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“People who think well, write well.”
1. Organize your text
-DavidOgilvy
Common pitfalls
• Thebeginningistoobroad
• Thewritertakesadetour
• Thewriterlacksasenseofaudience
• Clu=erhidesaclearfocus
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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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Example–QuickWinNewsINTRODUCTIONOFREPRODUCTIVEHEALTHMODULESINSTUDENTS’CURRICULA:SOONAREALITYINTELMARTelmar,likeothercountriesinNarnia,isfacingissuesrelatedtounwantedteenagepregnanciesinschools,resul-ngindropoutsandacademicfailures,abor-onsandsuicideofthousandsofgirls.Targe-ngtheauthori-esinchargeofEduca-on,PartnerXhasmadetheproblemapriorityin2015aspartofitsadvocacyprojectAdvanceFamilyPlanning(AFP),fundedbyAFPBal-more,withthetechnicalsupportofPartnerY.However,thoseauthori-esdidnotrespecttheircommitmentduetothesocio-poli-calunrestofthecountry.Themul-pleadvocacymee-ngsconductedwerenotverysuccessful.
“Brevity comes from selection and not compression.”
-DonaldMurray
2. Prune ideas. Shorten sentences.
Prune ideas
• Selectthemostimportantpieceofinforma-ontoshare
• Askyourself,whatinforma-oncanIaffordtoleaveout?
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Quick Exercise
• Findtheheadline…
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Example–QuickWinNews
Thatcommitmentwasmaterializedbytheinclusionofoneofourrecommenda-ons:theintegra-onofSRHmodulesinthetrainingcurriculaofstudentsbytheGovernmentPrimeMinisterinhispolicystatementtotheparliamentariansonFriday,February5,2016.
Whyisthissignificant?
Shorten sentences
• Useshort,familiarwords• Onesentenceperidea• Usetransi-onalwordsorphrasestoshowhowideasarelinked
• Avoidjargon• Saywhatyoumean• Varysentencelength
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Deconstructing Jargon
AvoidorDefine• Contracep-veprevalence
rate• Fer-lityrate
• Unmetneedforfamilyplanning
Use• Percentageofpeopleusing
contracep-ves• Averagefamilysizeor
numberofchildrenperwoman
• Es-mateofwomenwhowouldliketopreventordelaypregnancybutarenotusingcontracep-on
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TELMARPARLIAMENTPRIORITIZESINTEGRATINGSEXUALAND
REPRODUCTIVEHEALTHEDUCATIONINTOSTUDENTCURRICULA
Inanagenda-sehngpolicystatementtoParliamentonFebruary5,2016,Telmar’sPrimeMinisterrecommendedintegra-ngsexualandreproduc-vehealthmodulesintocurriculaforstudentsaged10-24.Amajorityofthecountry’sparliamentariansthenvotedtopriori-zeitonthePrimeMinister’sagenda.Morethanfourmonthsinthemaking,thisadvocacywinrepresentsaremarkablestepforwardinexpandingaccesstofamilyplanninginforma-onforyoungpeopleinTelmar.
INTRODUCTIONOFREPRODUCTIVEHEALTHMODULESINSTUDENTS’CURRICULA:SOONAREALITYINTELMARTelmar,likeothercountriesinNarnia,isfacingissuesrelatedtounwantedteenagepregnanciesinschools,resul-ngindropoutsandacademicfailures,abor-onsandsuicideofthousandsofgirls.Targe-ngtheauthori-esinchargeofEduca-on,PartnerXhasmadetheproblemapriorityin2015aspartofitsadvocacyprojectAdvanceFamilyPlanning(AFP),fundedbyAFPBal-more,withthetechnicalsupportofPartnerY.However,thoseauthori-esdidnotrespecttheircommitmentduetothesocio-poli-calunrestofthecountry.Themul-pleadvocacymee-ngsconductedwerenotverysuccessful.
“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
Headlines
• Locally-drivenFamilyPlanningProgressinTanzania:2012-2014(version1)
• FollowingthroughonTanzania’sLocallyDrivenFamilyPlanningProgress(2012-2014)(v2)
• TanzaniaLeadstheWayonFamilyPlanning,HealthandDevelopment:FollowingthroughonProgress(v3)
• Inves-nginFamilyPlanningforTanzania’sHealthandDevelopment(final)
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Passive vs. Active Voice
PassiveVoice• Vague• Slowsdownunderstanding• Evasive
AcSvevoice• Clearanddirectsenseof
whodidwhat
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Subject-Verb-Object
Targe-ngtheauthori-esinchargeofEduca-on,PartnerXhasmadetheproblemapriorityin2015aspartofitsadvocacyprojectAdvanceFamilyPlanning(AFP),fundedbyAFPBal-more,withthetechnicalsupportofPartnerY.However,thoseauthori-esdidnotrespecttheircommitmentduetothesocio-poli-calunrestofthecountry.
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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.©
MuséeRod
in
• Putyourselfintheplaceofsomeonewhoknowsnothingaboutyourwork
• Trytoan-cipatethekindsofwrongassump-onssuchapersonmightmake
• Simplify,butnotattheriskofclarity
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Self-editing
Best practices
• Scru-nizeeachwordthroughdraningandrevision
• Iden-fyandpreservestrongerelements• Findandtrimweakerelements• Trynottoeditsomethingonthesamedayyouwriteit
• Getsomeoneelsetoreadit
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Editing tips
• Deletewordsthatmeanli=leornothing[very,quite,kindof]
• Deletewordsthatrepeatthemeaningofotherwords[variousandsundry]
• Deletewordsimpliedbyotherwords[terribletragedy]
• Replaceaphrasewithaword[intheeventthatbecomesif]
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Aim for a word count
Typeofcontent WordcountEmail <200BreakingNews 200-350AdvocacyBrief 300-400Blogpost 400-750CaseStudy 1,000-1,500
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Example–QuickWinNewsTarge-ngtheauthori-esinchargeofEduca-on,PartnerXhasmadetheproblemapriorityin2015aspartofitsadvocacyprojectAdvanceFamilyPlanning(AFP),fundedbyAFPBal-more,withthetechnicalsupportofPartnerY.However,thoseauthori-esdidnotrespecttheircommitmentduetothesocio-poli-calunrestofthecountry.Themul-pleadvocacymee-ngsconductedwerenotverysuccessful.OnDecember15,2015,withthereturntonormalpoli-calsitua-on,PartnerXsetupamul-sectoralcommi=eetothinkthroughtheissueofunwantedteenagepregnanciesinschools.
Example–QuickWinNews
BeginninginOctober2015,AdvanceFamilyPlanninglocalpartnerXpriori-zedaddressingtheissuewiththetechnicalsupportofPartnerY.PartnerXbeganadvocacyac-vi-esduringa-meofsocio-poli-calunrestinthecountry.Ini-aladvocacymee-ngswerenotveryunsuccessful.Butbymid-December,withareturntonormalcy,PartnerXmovedquickly,organizingamul--sectoradvocacycommi=eetothinkthroughtheissueofaddressingunwantedteenagepregnanciesinschools.
“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
• Makearelaxedvisualenvironmentwhereinforma-oncanbeeasilyscannedandunderstood
• Usewhitespace• Usesidebars,subheads,footnotes,paragraphing,checklists,graphs,images,quotes
• Useboldingtocalloutkeywordsorphrases
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Example
NameofPresenta-on
Final Thoughts
• Youneedmore-me,notless,towritesomethinggoodandshort
• Focus,focus,focus• Revise,polishandproofreadeverything• Read,studyandcollectgreatexamples
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“It’s not what you say, it’s what people hear.”
-FrankLuntz,WordsThatWork
Citations
• “HowtoWriteShort:WordCranforFastTimes”byRoyPeterClark
• “10TipsonHowtoWriteShorter”byJoshBurnoff
• “HowtoWriteClearlyandEffec-vely”bySkillSon,JohnsHopkinsUniversity
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Contact
SarahWhitmarshCommunica-onManagerAdvanceFamilyPlanningswhitmarsh@jhu.edu
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