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10 Tips for Clear Writing

10 Tips for Clear Writing

Be direct and capture the interest of your readers

1. Think before you write.

1. Think before you write.

Who will read it? What do you want to achieve? What points do you need to cover? Use the seven questions technique: what? who? when? where? how? why? how much?

2. Think about the reader

2. Think about the reader

Be direct and capture the reader's interest. Make them feel involved, anticipate their questions and get them interested.

3. Give structure to your document.

3. Give structure to your document.

Keep to the main subject, follow a logical line of reasoning, use informative headings and subheadings, use images, graphs or tables instead of text, write a good conclusion, etc.

4. Be clear and go to the point

4. Be clear and go to the point

Do not state the obvious, avoid ambiguity, opt for a straightforward and simple style, do not repeat yourself, and do not overload the text with redundant expressions.

5. Make sense of your sentences by ordering them correctly.

5. Make sense of your sentences by ordering them correctly.

6. Reduce the number of nouns: verb forms make the text flow better

6. Reduce the number of nouns: verb forms make the text flow better

7. Use active rather than passive voice and do not state the subject unless necessary

7. Use active rather than passive voice and do not state the subject unless necessary

8. Be specific, not abstract

8. Be specific, not abstract

9. Beware of false friends, slang, acronyms and abbreviations

9. Beware of false friends, slang, acronyms and abbreviations

10. Look over and check what you wrote

10. Look over and check what you wrote