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Writing for Professional Practice Marks of Good Writing

Simplicity is the mark of good writing. Complex sentence structure and organization is a sure sign of confusion or hidden agendas. A well-written text will be so simple and straightforward in language and structure that it will leap off the page. Do not, however, make the mistake of equating simplicity with ease of production. The harder you work, the simpler the prose becomes: the more you shirk, the muddier it will be. Consider the following example:

Whether it is true or not, and there are strong indications that it is not, the allegation by the County of substandard performance against the contractor is premature and certainly serves no useful purpose.

This author tried to write in a “conversational” tone. Conversational language tends to be more complicated, elliptical, and indeterminate than good written prose. Written prose has to be edited to be good. Novice writers often respond to tough editing by complaining, “You've taken all the creative words out of my writing. Now it looks like something anybody could have written.” In fact, tough editing does exactly the opposite. It makes your writing very distinctive. Remember, the message carries the mark of your individual creativity. Below are some important points that the reflect marks of good writing. I. CREATE COMPLETE AND ACCURATE SENTENCES Straightforward sentence structure is essential to clear communication. First, get the basic elements of the sentence straight: subject, verb, and object.

a . Who is the actor? What action is the actor performing? b . On what or whom is the actor acting? c. What is the writer's purpose in describing the relationship between actor and

action?

The county has accused the contractor of poor performance. This accusation is premature and possibly untrue.

County, accuse, contractor – these are the elements. By stressing them, we cut the number of words roughly in half, from 37 to 16. We specified the nature of the action (accuse); we exchanged bureaucratic fuzz-words (allegation, substandard) for simple ones (accuse, poor); and we allowed the writer to express some uncertainty about the conclusions (possibly). The reader now captures the spirit of the writer’s message much more readily. In essence, you should strip sentences to their elements, and make those elements drive your sentences. Subject first, then verb, then object. Apply the techniques to this example:

With respect to problems of interim financing, and in consideration of the fact that short-term interest rates are prohibitive, the decision was made by the Finance Committee that the project should not be pursued beyond stage three of the design process until appropriate long-term financing can be secured through established capital market sources

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II. MAKE YOUR WRITING CLEAR Clarity in word choice marks good writing. Clarity means three things:

a. choosing the right word; b. preferring simple words or combinations over complex ones; c. avoiding unnecessary technical jargon.

Choosing the right word is more difficult than it appears. When you begin writing something, certain stock phrases and terms roll out of your head onto the paper. These phrases and terms are cues to what you want to say, but often they do not convey what you actually mean. To communicate clearly, sort through alternative ways of saying what you mean. Get something on paper. Then, use your vocabulary, the dictionary, or a thesaurus, and deliberately substitute simpler words for complicated and ambiguous ones. Give special attention to verbs, and use the active voice. Complex phrases that have mushy meanings often litter memos, because writers get caught in a cycle of “bureaucratese.” Take the following example:

Current fiscal management techniques and control practices are keyed to the fiscal-year budgeting processes of the government cycle. They result in inefficient resource utilization because administrators increase expenditures toward the end of annual budget cycles in order to assure zero-balance results and reporting, rather than maximum efficiency in resource utilization.

This example features many quasi-technical terms: “fiscal management techniques,” “resource utilization,” and “budget cycles.” These are common in bureaucracy but don't communicate much. How could you make this sentence more active and more direct? Certain complex and mushy words creep into the language of public servants and become standard usage. Because bureaucrats use these words routinely, the public begins to think that bureaucrats are evasive. They are probably not – just insufficiently critical of their own language. Here is a list of some common bureaucratic words and their standard English equivalents.

Bureaucratic English facilitate help/assist prioritize rank indicate say/show impact affect/effect concept idea

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III. STICK WITH THE “TRIED AND TRUE” – NO NEED TO BE OVERLY CREATIVE

Another recent trend has been turning nouns into verbs. The trend started in computer circles where people “interface” with each other and “multiport” data. Today public officials “outsource” functions and “task” people to perform jobs. Such jargon separates public officials from citizens and creates a mystifying and unnecessary code to hide bureaucrats from accountability. A similar common practice is turning nouns and verbs into adjectives and running them together as strange compound words. These words often sound very important, but mean almost nothing. The following words come directly from the papers of students trying to sound like bureaucrats:

Nouns into Adjectives Verbs into Adjectives program initiation diagnostic review programmatic decision making circumvention practice definitional terms allocation routine problem areas elimination criteria personnel involvement decisional alternative

For each of these compounds, someone took a noun (program, definition, problem, etc.) or a verb (diagnose, circumvent, decide) and stuck it in front of a noun, giving it the function of an adjective. You can make adverbs the same way: programmatically initiated, diagnostically reviewed, etc. This clumping however, creates unwieldy, often unintelligible, prose and leaves little regard for a word’s root meaning or function. The skill required to avoid this kind of clumping is simple. First, learn the difference between nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Second, don't use compounds when a simple construction will suffice. Look at a number of alternative ways of saying something, and choose the simplest way, rather than jamming words together because they sound authoritative and bureaucratic. Principals need lucidity, not jargon. IV. LESS IS USUALLY MORE – NO NEED TOP BE OVERLY TECHNICAL Technical jargon becomes a barrier to clear communication. When someone writes, “The purpose of our new thrust is to facilitate a more credible interface between clients and service deliverers and to indicate to top management how they ought to prioritize agency functions according to standard management concepts,” you know he is not writing for real human beings. Fellow citizens will have a difficult time trying to decipher the jargon. Automatically translate the words into English. If it does not make sense in English, then you have an important piece of information – the person does not know what he or she is saying. If it does make sense, then there is a better way to say it. As trustees of the common good, public officials have a special obligation to write in language that acknowledges and includes all members of the community.

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A civic language should include the entire population. This requires that we avoid language that limits the citizenry to certain groups and implicitly excludes the rest of the population. In a more positive way, it obligates us to search for language that respects and acknowledges all individuals. Inclusive language, however, does not mean we must resort to awful English. Only muddled good intentions create these bureaucratic monstrosities: s/he, or his/her. In this case, inclusive language involves using plural pronouns, using both pronouns connected by "or" (he or she) or alternating the pronouns by section or example. The English language is evolving in the attempt to develop a more inclusive public vocabulary. Public officials should take the lead in this effort without reducing the language to trendy or bureaucratic neologisms. (Also see handout “Gender-Neutral Language”) V. USE PASSIVE VOICE SPARINGLY – IF EVER AND CLEARLY INDICATE

AGENCY Clearly assigning action and responsibility will characterize skilled writing. Bureaucrats notoriously use language to obscure responsibility. They often think they are being clever by saying things in a way that hides who is supposed to be doing what. The typical means of obscuring responsibility are the passive voice and the editorial “we.” The classic device to hide responsibility is the passive voice, where the subject is driven (by the agent). Passive construction diffuses your analysis and backs into major points. Remember that the strength of the English language resides in verbs. Use strong, active verbs. A good editor tries to eliminate as many copulatives (there... is, are, was, were) and weak verbs as possible. Verbs carry action and significance. Good verbs in the active voice eliminate the need for mindless space fillers such as “in order to,” “with respect to,” or “in consideration of.” The distinction between active and passive is something every public servant should understand. In active construction, the subject clearly acts on a specific person or thing. For example: boy takes apple. In passive construction, action is taken on the subject (by an agent who may be left unidentified) – apple is taken (by the boy). Consider the following examples from student memos:

We recommend that specific operational details of the tools ad- dressed in this report and any others to be used in implementation of amended policies be clearly stated. (Very cagey. The “we re- commend” makes it sound quite active, but the construction obscures the responsibility for specifying details. Who specifies?) If it is decided that some therapeutic programs within existing institutions are required, the personnel needed to run those programs must be fully informed as to the nature of the programs and their roles in them. (This is a triumph in passive construction. Not only does it fail to say who decides; it also fails to say who informs.)

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Once you understand the difference between active and passive voice, you understand exactly what questions to ask about ambiguities in responsibility and action. Do not use passive construction to conceal action or responsibility, even when you suspect that other people don't understand the difference. Someone usually knows. Another bureaucratic device for concealing responsibility is the editorial “we”:

We have always argued that rapid transit is the best long-run solution to urban transportation problems, given finite energy resources. In the short run, though, we are faced with the immediate problem of how to accommodate the city to the automobile.

Notice how the writer uses the first (editorial) “we” to communicate what he or she thinks and then uses the second (generic, or perhaps civic) “we” to implicate you in a point of view. You are supposed to miss the distinction and find yourself seduced into agreement. If you understand the editorial “we,” however, you will ask yourself immediately who “we” is. Once you ask that question, the entire charade collapses. The credibility of the memo and its author collapses as well. To clearly assign action and responsibility, specify who is supposed to be doing what; then structure the sentence to reflect that. Who or what (subject) does what (verb) to whom or what (object)? VI. PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD, AND PROOFREAD AGAIN Correctness in grammar, spelling, and punctuation requires that you proofread your work carefully. Remember not to rely solely on spell check, either. Many words can be spelled in more than one way, preventing the spellcheck software from finding the error. Examples are “principle” and “principal”, or “complement” and “compliment.” Each of these is spelled correctly, and therefore spell check will not alert you if you have used the incorrect one. For example, if you write the following sentence, spell check would consider it to be correct:

“The principle of the school gave Julie a complement about her new dress.” This sentence utilizes the incorrect form of the words, but spell check did not alert us as we wrote them. Therefore it is necessary to proof your work thoroughly and not rely solely on the spelling and grammar check of your software. VII. ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT Any good piece of writing has a clear structure. It progresses as a set of well-defined, logically connected statements that lead to a clear conclusion. This is the “argument.” If you don't have an argument, you don't have a memo. In addition, a good memo has a clear format that calls the reader's attention to important steps in the argument. After the first reading, the reader should be able to return to key points without re-reading the whole document. In other words, tell readers

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what you are going to say (topic sentence or paragraph); say it (body of memo); then tell readers what you said (conclusion). The three principal skills of organization and argument are:

1. Placing the important things up front Placing the important things up front is a common technique in journalism. It's called the “inverted pyramid” style of writing. Write the first paragraph, or “lead,” as though your story could be chopped off at any point after it. This puts a premium on specifying the problem, setting up the decision that follows from it, and presenting the important evidence quickly and succinctly. It also means that a reader can look at your memo and immediately know what you are doing.

2. Making the transition from one step of the argument to another clearly Making the transition from one step of the argument to the next clearly means that you never pass from one subject to another without clearly identifying the new subject. “Blocking” is a term commonly applied to this practice. Tightly worded conclusions and clear headings alert the reader that you are changing subjects and moving to the next phase of your argument. Each major subdivision should have a new topic heading to help the principal know where you are going and find the points fast, if needed.

3. Using a clear format in your presentation. Using a clear format is essential to writing a solid text. Again, this requires skills in simplification. Your useful guides are: define, order, connect, and conclude.

• Definition of your word choice need not be cumbersome. If there is any doubt about the meaning of the words you are using, just say “x means y.” This practice will save you a lot of grief and misunderstanding. Don't try to fuzz over the weaknesses in your argument by using vague terms. Someone will figure it out.

• Ordering is simply finding the logical relationship of the topics you want to discuss and devising a clear set of headings. The skill resembles writing headlines for the newspaper, only with fewer words.

• Connecting and concluding give your reader clear messages about what you've said. The major message of this article, for example, is clarity – about the process of writing, the use of language, the assignment of responsibility, and the structure of the argument and format. How's that for a summary?  Concluding – Remember your obligations to yourself, your principal, and the

information you are presenting. The written word communicates. Good communication strives for accuracy, clarity, and honesty. It means taking your audience seriously and letting their needs discipline your presentation. The quality of presentation reflects the quality of your own mind and preparation. Poorly conceived, badly written, imperfectly edited, even misspelled memos do an injustice to all concerned. They also destroy your credibility as an advisor.

Good writing takes time and practice. Very few do it right in the first draft. That is why you must know your audience, what they need to know, and present it to them in a clear fashion. In your

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writing, strive for five important qualities: simplicity, straight- forward sentence structure, clarity, clearly assigned action and responsibility, and correct- ness. Finally, organize your writing well, by placing the important arguments up front, using clear transitions, and allowing your format to help the information flow smoothly. By including these features, your writing will communicate what you want it to.