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| | | | | | | | Tips for a User-Friendly Manuscript |  |
1. Organize first, then write. A well-organized manuscript can make reading a breeze. Consider your subject focus, its main points, and your intended audience for outline ideas. Here are some example outlines to give you ideas for creating your own.
2. Keep it brief. Remember, even though your topic is technical, your busy professional audience will appreciate clarity and simplicity. Try to limit sentences to no more than 30-35 words, and paragraphs to no more than 10 sentences. It is okay to break up a paragraph before the original thought is complete if it will contribute to easier comprehension. Even if you occasionally break these rules, your reader will appreciate the effort.
3. Keep it simple. Many writers seem to feel that writing in a complicated way makes one sound serious, scholarly, and authoritative. This type of writing may sound serious, but it is no more authoritative than using simple, direct phrases. Actually, it is more difficult to understand. If your purpose is to be understood in a way that is both forceful and memorable, simplify your style. For example, pretend you are explaining a concept in a conversation with a friend—how would you choose to say it in that case? Use no more words than necessary, and never use a complicated word if a simpler one will do just as well.
4. Use active voice. One of the easiest ways to reduce wordiness is to write in the active voice rather than passive. For example:
Passive: Experiments have been conducted by researchers to test the hypothesis.
Active: Researchers conducted experiments to test the hypothesis.
Passive: A decision was made to stop the project.
Active: We decided to stop the project.
Passive: The passive voice should be avoided.
Active: Avoid the passive voice.
5. Visuals are important, but can also overwhelm. In most of our topics, graphics and artwork are key to a comprehensive understanding of the subject. However, too many consecutive graphics combined with too little text can make for a difficult read. Make sure you only use as many graphics as absolutely necessary, and that your art is offset by enough text to guide the reader from one graphic to the next.
6. Don't over-emphasize. The use of repetitive exclamation points, bold-faced comments, and underlines can clutter the text, causing distraction to the reader (exactly the opposite of the writer's goal). If terms or phrases require emphasis, use italics, but use them with discretion.
7. Examples are excellent. Our most continually popular titles are those that make good use of situational examples and case histories. A good scenario can often make a great difference in a reader's ability to understand many pages of processes. For extra emphasis, flag your scenarios to be designed as boxes, so that they will stand out to the reader.
8. Use lists. Replacing long, wordy paragraphs with easy-to-read lists can simplify and clarify your technical writing. Lists are effective because they communicate information quickly, at a glance. Lists are appropriate whenever three or more related pieces of information are presented in a sentence. Introduce your list with a statement that tells readers what the list is about. Use bullets to define your list points, and save numbers for lists where priority is important, such as steps in instructions.
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