How to Make Your Technical and Business Writing Easy to Read   

Have you ever noticed how some technical material is easy to read while other writing leaves you confused?  The cause may not be the level of technical detail or your knowledge, but the writer’s skill in making the technical information readable.  Whether you write a letter to a customer, a report for your boss, or an article for a trade journal, you want people to read and understand your writing.  You can improve your writing by remembering the fundamental rules of English, organizing clearly, and using an accurate, concise style.

First of all, writing must be grammatically correct and have no misspellings.  In addition to proofreading, the spelling and grammar tools in word processing programs help us all with this! Guides such as The Elements of Style1 contain useful reminders of rules we learned in English class.

Clear organization is also important.  In his book, Plain Style2, Richard Lauchman notes that business readers are impatient; they will skim until they find the point.  State your main point in the first paragraph, with background and details in the following paragraphs.  Within a paragraph, put the topic sentence first, followed by supporting information. 

Good, readable writing reads like clear speech.  It is simple, straightforward, and clearly conveys an idea.  Business writers often assume that bigger words and complicated phrases are more “professional”, says Mr. Lauchman.  On the contrary, good writers are concise.  After you finish writing, you should edit your work to make to make sure it is accurate, clear, and concise. In The 10% Solution3, Ken Rand suggests using your word processor’s “Find” function to look for imprecision or wordiness indicated by words such as “of”, “by”, and “that” or word endings such as “-ly”, “-ing”, and “-ion”.  Analyze each instance. Can you write it more concisely and still be accurate?  For example, “The use of polypropylene” can be written “Polypropylene’s use”.  Avoid turning verbs into nouns.  For example, “made a visit to” becomes “visited”; “performed an analysis of” becomes “analyzed”; and “create documentation” becomes “document”.  Remembering definitions helps you eliminate redundant words.  For example, “strongly held convictions” can simply be “convictions” or “the month of March” can be “March”.  Replace imprecise words, such as “very” or “about”, with numbers if possible.  For example, “The additive is stable under very high processing temperatures” could be “The additive is stable to 320°C.”  Concise writing is more effective because it is faster and easier to read.  

No matter what your job description, you probably have to communicate in writing at least occasionally.  With some practice, you can edit your own writing and improve its accuracy, clarity, and brevity.  Your readers will appreciate this and will be better able to understand, remember, or act on what you have written. 

by Jennifer Markarian ©2005

References

Strunk, W., & White, E.B. (2000). The Elements of Style. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Lauchman, R. (1993). Plain Style. New York: American Management Association.

Rand, K. (1998). The 10% Solution. Kent, WA: Fairwood Press.