Thursday, April 30, 2009

The Importance of Good Writing


During the course of our work, we will be required to write. Therefore, it is important that we are able to write in a clear and concise manner so that our readers would be able to understand the messages that we are conveying. In this article, I will share with the readers some tips on better writing.



Before we start to write an article, we ought to think through the points that we are going to pen down. This is in fact the most important step in the writing process. For example, if we want to write about some problems with the present policy, we must make sure that the problem statement must be analysed. We should never stop at describing the problem. This is one common mistakes that local writers tend to make. I have read a newspaper article with the headline "Analysing the Financial Crisis", but after reading through the paragraphs twice, I realised that the writer only described the problems arising from the crisis. He made no attempt to analyse the consequences that might have resulted from the crisis.



Remember when were in Primary/ Secondary schools, our teacher would restrict our essays to a certain number of words. While it might help us to manage our time during exams, it serves another purpose. We should always aim to get our points across using the minimum number of words, or in another words, we must be concise. For example the sentence " In the end, Alan Shearer managed to save the Magpies from relegation on the last day of the season." Nothing wrong with the sentence, but since the writer had already used "in the end" at the start, it would be redundant to mention "on the last day of the season".



The usage of bombastic words should also be minimised or eliminated altogether. Writers should aim to convey their with simple English. If you do not understand the difference between "obvious" and "prominent", use the former.



I hope that you do pick up something useful from reading this article. Thank you.

3 comments:

ah le said...

certainly, i do agree when it comes to writing reports.

but good writing is not merely about analysing well nor writing concisely. If not, there wouldnt be fiction anymore.

it all depends on who your target audience is to qualify what is good writing, isn't it?

(fake i guru)

Lin Bang said...

yes, i am writing from the perspective of writing policies (fake I elite)

ah qiang said...

Honesty is the best policy