Become a Better Writer: How to Write With Clarity and Simplicity

✍ Scribed by Donald Powers

• Publisher: Cover2Cover Books
• Year: 2022
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 170
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Improving the quality of your writing starts with rethinking your assumptions and developing healthier writing habits. This book will help you do both.

Become a Better Writer: How to Write with Clarity and Simplicity is a practical guide for those who wish to write more clearly and concisely. Drawing on their extensive experience as writers and editors, the authors discuss tools and tips for making your writing accessible and meaningful to your target audience.

The book is readable and engaging, covering different kinds of writing (including reports, essays, emails, novels and speeches) across a wide range of subjects. The examples discussed are derived from real-world material and are particularly relevant to the African context. The book will be especially useful to writers of non-fiction.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Title page
Copyright page
Contents
Foreword
Introduction
About you
About us
About this book
Chapter 1 - Breaking bad habits
The global standard: Plain language
Transparency and protecting the interests of citizens
The dead giveaways of bad writing
Wordiness
Long sentences
Ambiguity
The ingredients of good writing
Good writing considers the reader
Good writing is concise
What does it take to become a better writer?
Read widely
Imitate and rewrite
Be patient and persist
Chapter 2 - Principles of clear writing
1. Be concise
2. Remove needless repetition
3. Write in the active voice
4. Use strong verbs
5. Accentuate the positive
6. Steer clear of jargon
7. Be specific and avoid clichés
8. Craft effective sentences
9. Get your word order right
10. Put the main idea up front
To wrap up
Chapter 3 - Making your writing persuasive and easy to read
Getting started
Consider your audience
Get your tone right
Write to the point
Build a convincing argument
What is an argument and why do you need one?
Drafting an argument
Provide good reasons
Reinforce your points with evidence
Reference appropriately
Avoid stating the obvious
Use “I” when appropriate
Avoid overwriting and overstatement
Ensure logical flow
Start strongly
Paragraph effectively
Use logical connectors
Make key points accessible
Headings
Bullet points
Present your work neatly
Font and spacing
Spelling
Acronyms
Capitalisation
Graphs, tables and figures
To wrap up
Chapter 4 - Editing
What is editing and why do it?
The bird’s-eye view
Punctuation and grammar essentials
Apostrophes
Commas
Hyphens and dashes
Colons and semicolons
Errors of concord
To wrap up
Chapter 5 - The advanced toolkit
Narrative and analogy
Prefer the concrete to the abstract
The direct or indirect approach?
Varying your style
Sentence length
One sentence or two?
Improving rhythm and focus with the active and passive voice
The evolution of language and conscious word choice
Dealing with sensitive issues
How to confront the facts
Mind your euphemisms
Be open and honest
Find the right tone
To wrap up
Chapter 6 - Words in action
Speeches
What makes a good speech?
Opinion pieces
Communicating climate change: A hot topic?
Summaries
Presentations
To wrap up
Acknowledgements
Index
Bibliography
About the authors
Back cover