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1. Writing for yourself rather than for the reader
· Know who your reader is
Do you know who will be reading your report?
If more than one person, who is the most important (ie who makes the decision/pays the fee/influences whether we are used again?)
What do they want to know from us?
Have you answered their question?
What do they already know about the subject?
Don’t tell them what they already know.
Most of our readers are busy, overloaded with information, knowledgeable about their organisation and their industry.
- So don’t waste their time.
· Write your report from the reader’s point of view
Most readers are interested in your key findings and conclusions – put those first.
The opening section is the most important – it should be compelling and interesting for the reader.
- Try starting with The key issues rather than Background and scope.
The main document should only contain substantive issues, conclusions and back-up for your conclusions. Working papers, interview notes, copies of scope, terms of reference etc can all go in appendices.
If the document has more than one reader, structure it into relevant sections and make sure they are clearly titled so each reader can find the bit they are most interested in; eg:
Executive summary – Key issues and findings – Conclusions – Recommendations – Detailed implementation plan - etc
2. Including too much detail
· Be quite clear about your topic and purpose
What are you writing about and why?
What do you hope the reader will do after reading your document?
If you have clear answers to these two questions, it will help keep your writing focused and to the point.
· Include only information that is directly relevant to this topic and purpose
Do not include history, background or “nice to know” facts unless you are sure they are relevant to or important for the topic/purpose.
To be able to do this, you have to have a clear idea about what you are trying to say before you start writing (see 3 below).
3. Writing as you think (doing a “brain-dump”)
Often people don’t know where to start, so they start by writing the easiest part – the reason for the assignment or what they did.
This is not usually of much interest to the reader.
· Do an outline before you start writing
The best documents present a logical “story” to the reader which is easy to follow. This can only be achieved by planning the outline of your “story” before you start writing.
· Include key messages, not just chapter or topic headings
An effective way of doing this is to write down all your chapter and section headings and then include a sentence after each one stating the main conclusion or principal message of that section.
4. Making the reader do all the work
A good report is one which conveys its message quickly and accurately to the reader. If any reader says “Yes, but what are you trying to say?”, you will know you have written a poor document.
· Make sure each section passes the “So what?” test
You can do this by always including a conclusion or the implication of your findings.
Never leave it to the reader to draw conclusions from what you have written:
a) they might draw the wrong conclusion!
b) they are paying you for advice and guidance, not just facts.
5. Using more words than you need
One of the characteristics of good writing is clarity; however, in the attempt to be clear, we often repeat ourselves or add more words than are required.
· Edit your work for superfluous words or phrases
Unnecessary adjectives and adverbs:
completely
eliminate; a brief overview; overall summary
Phrases of 4 or 5 words where one word will do:
as of this date (today); owing to the fact that (because); in connection with (about); with the result that (so that)
Saying the same thing twice:
3.00 am in the morning; mutually agreed between the two parties
“Warm-ups”:
The purpose of this letter is to inform you that ...
It is interesting to note that ...
As you may or may not know, ...
· Check that you haven’t repeated yourself
If you can, put the document aside for a time so that you can read it again with fresh eyes; or ask someone else to read it for you (they will be more detached).
6. Producing cluttered, unattractive pages
Page layout and design has an important effect on how easily we read and understand the message.
Remember the following rules:
· Type:
for maximum legibility, use 11 or 12 pt in body text (you can use 10 pt in graphics)
· Line length:
lines of text should be 8-12 words long; if they are any longer the reader has to make a physical effort to read, dragging their eyes across the page
This is particularly important for landscape documents.
· White space:
use plenty of “white space”; it makes the page appear less cluttered and allows you to highlight important information
- wide margins
- more space before headings than after
- space between headers/footers and text
- space around graphics inserted into body text
· Reading pattern:
we read from top left to bottom right, so landscape pages should be designed with this in mind
Use the new template AP landscape documents.pot, which has been designed according to best practice principles.
'외국계기업채용 > 입사 참고 자료' 카테고리의 다른 글
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5 tips for effective writing.pdf