Technical Writing Solutions LLC

How to Make Your Writing Interesting and Clear

How can you write about a complex, technical subject so that your reader will both take interest and understand? To start, focus on your objective – what you want your readers to learn or understand – and organize your thoughts into a clear structure. Next, choose just the right words. You should write, evaluate what you have written, and rewrite. Good, readable writing is straightforward, simple, and clearly conveys an idea.

Concise writing takes effort, but is more effective because it is faster and easier to read. To be clear and concise, a sentence should contain only one idea. Tables and bulleted or numbered lists condense information and make it easier to read. Consider using active voice, in which the subject of the sentence acts, rather than passive voice, in which the subject is acted upon. Compare these examples:

Passive voice	Active voice
The purpose of this study is to show	The study shows
In this article the effect is examined	The article examines the effect
The oxidation process is slowed by the stabilizer	The stabilizer slows the oxidation process or The stabilizer slows oxidation

In the last example, passive voice may be preferred if you want to emphasize “the oxidation process” instead of “the stabilizer”. A whole paragraph or page of passive voice sentences can be laborious to read; active voice is often more concise, clear, and engaging.

As you edit your work, make each word or phrase purposeful. Can you eliminate words and still be accurate? Consider these ideas:

Replace phrases with single words:

-Due to the fact that” can be “because”;
-At the present time” can be “now”.

Remember word definitions and eliminate redundant words:

-Fewer in number” can simply be “fewer”;
-The month of March” can be “March”.

Replace imprecise words, such as “very” or “about”, with numbers if possible:

-The additive is stable under very high processing temperatures” could be
-The additive is stable to 320°C”.

Eliminate the word “of” if appropriate:

-The use of polypropylene” becomes “Polypropylene’s use”.

Avoid turning verbs into nouns:

-made a visit to” becomes “visited”;
-performed an analysis of” becomes “analyzed”;
-create documentation” becomes “document”.

With some practice, you can edit your own writing to be accurate, brief, and clear. Your readers will appreciate this and will be better able to understand, remember, or act on what you have written.