From the course: Business Writing Principles

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Making your writing clear

Making your writing clear

From the course: Business Writing Principles

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Making your writing clear

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- [Instructor] An unclear message has as many interpretations as there are readers. Your message is obviously clear to you; you wrote it. But is it clear to the reader? A clear, easily understood message doesn't have to be interpreted. The writer should know exactly what you mean. Look at what you wrote, what language you use, and what you meant. Time spent analyzing these will result in clearer messages. How can you determine the clarity of your message? Ask yourself questions such as, have I used words or jargon known only to those who work in my department? Accountants may talk about LIFO and FIFO accounting methods. Computer text may talk about ports and networks. Are those words common knowledge to folks outside the accounting or computer fields? Also ask, have I organized the information in a logical, easy-to-follow pattern? Is my main idea at the top of the paragraph? Have I used transitional words, such as…

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