CONCISE WRITING WORKSHOP Easy reading is damn hard

CONCISE WRITING WORKSHOP “Easy reading is damn hard writing. ” Nathaniel Hawthorne

Agenda • Why reducing wordiness matters • What is concise/minimalist writing? • How extreme can it get? • As writers, how do we become concise? • Summing up and Q&A

TL; DR • Literally, "Too long; didn't read". Said whenever a nerd makes a post that is too long to bother reading. (Urban Dictionary, http: //www. urbandictionary. com)

Why reducing wordiness matters Wordiness: • Leads to cognitive overload • Buries and confuses the signal with noise • Increases translation costs • Is un-economical

What concise/minimalist writing is • Focused on what the reader truly needs to know • Not diluted by peripheral issues that distract the reader from the main point

Extreme forms: simplified English • Controlled vocabularies for certain industries • • Each word conveys a single meaning Each concept is communicated by a single word

Extreme forms: AECMA • RULE: 1. 2 Use approved words from the Dictionary only as the part of speech given. • Each approved word in the Dictionary has a part of speech. Do not use it as another part of speech for which it is not approved. For example, if a word is given only as a noun, do not use it as a verb. • Example: “Test” is approved as a noun but not as a verb. • WRITE: Do the leak test for the system. Or Do a test for leaks in the system. • NOT: Test the system for leaks. • AECMA Simplified English

At the large scale: The document • Know your audience, remove non-essential content, focus on user-goals and not product functions • DITA Best Practices

At the smaller scale: The paragraph and the sentence • “You get closer to clarity when you match … your subjects and verbs, and [put] … the right words under stress. ” • In my personal opinion, it is necessary that we should not ignore the opportunity to think over each and every suggestion offered. • We should consider each suggestion. • Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace

At the smaller scale: The paragraph and the sentence • “It’s not hard—just omit the surplus words. ” • A motion has been made by Erickson seeking severance of his case from the action against Orrick and the proceedings against Sims, and for a trial of his case separate from the trial of the other two cases. • Erickson has moved to sever his case and try it separately from the Orrick and Sims cases. • Plain English for Lawyers

POSSIBLE “PRINCIPLES” Williams’s Five Principles: 1. Delete words that mean little or nothing. 2. Delete words that repeat the meaning of other words. 3. Delete words implied by other words. 4. Replace a phrase with a word. 5. Change negatives to affirmatives. • Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace

Possible “principles” IBM’s guidelines to improve clarity: 1. Focus on the meaning. 2. Avoid ambiguity. 3. Keep elements short. 4. Write cohesively. 5. Present similar information in a similar way. 6. Use technical terms only if they are necessary and appropriate. 7. Define each term that is new to the intended audience. • Developing Quality Technical Information

MNEMONIC • Remove • Replace • Avoid • Affirm

Remove • • Words that mean little or nothing • Words whose meaning your reader can infer (redundancy) • • Obvious implications Words that repeat the meanings of other words in a sentence Excessive detail

Replace • A phrase with a word • Imprecise verbs with precise verbs • A long word with its shorter synonym • A long list of tasks with a shorter list

Exercises • Energy used to power industries and homes will in years to come cost more money. • Energy will eventually cost more. • In the area of education, tight financial conditions are forcing school boards to cut non-essential expenses. • Tight finances are forcing school boards to cut non-essentials. • Critics cannot avoid employing complex and abstract technical terms if they are to successfully analyze literary texts and discuss them in meaningful ways. • Critics must use complex and abstract terms to analyze literary texts meaningfully. • Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace

Avoid • Phrasal verbs • Nominalizations • Interrupting the subject-verb connection • Sprawling sentences • Indirect negatives • Meta-discourse

Exercises • The continuation of the claims agent’s “stonewall” tactic for a period of 10 months leads us to the inference that the agent’s intention was to stall until the policy holder’s capitulation or engagement of a lawyer. • The claims agent continued his “stonewall” tactic for 10 months, from which we infer that the agent intended to stall until the policy holder either capitulated or hired a lawyer. • [The defendant] maliciously took advantage of people with little money and limited intelligence. • [The defendant] preyed on the poor and ignorant. • Plain English for Lawyers

Affirm • Change negatives to positives when appropriate • Use precise verbs • Get to the main verb quickly!

SUMMING UP AND Q&A • For the writer: when in doubt, leave it out! • For the peer reviewer: when in doubt, take it out!

References • AECMA Simplified English: A Guide for the Preparation of Aircraft Maintenance Documentation in the International Aerospace Maintenance Language. Issue 2. (January 2004). • Bellamy et al. (2012). DITA Best Practices: A Roadmap for Writing, Editing, and Architecting in DITA. IBM Press. • Hargis et al. (2004). Developing Quality Technical Information. IBM Press. • Tarutz, Judith A. (1992). Technical Editing: The Practical Guide for Writers and Editors. Basic Books. • Williams, Joseph and Gregory G Colomb. (2010). Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace. Tenth edition. Pearson Education, Inc. • Wydick, Richard C. (2005). Plain English for Lawyers. Fifth edition. Carolina Academic Press