Writing simply and effectively

Sarah Whitmarsh May 24, 2016

Outline

•  Whywriteshort•  Bestwri-ngprac-ces

1.  Organizeyourtext2.  Pruneideasandshortensentences3.  Paya=en-ontoverbs4.  Revise,polish,andproofread5.  Visualizeyourfinalproduct

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Why do we write the way we do?

•  Youneedto“warmup”•  Yousaythesamethingseveraldifferentwayssinceyou’renotsurewhichisbest.

•  Ittakesyouawhiletofigureoutwhatyou’resaying.

•  Thingshappenchronologically,soyoutendtothinkandwritethatway.

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Why write simply and effectively?

•  Poorwri-ng– Wastes-me– Failstogetamessageacross– Makesusapoorsourceofinforma-on

The%ghteryouwrite,themorepersuasiveyouwillbe.

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“People who think well, write well.”

1. Organize your text

-DavidOgilvy

Common pitfalls

•  Thebeginningistoobroad

•  Thewritertakesadetour

•  Thewriterlacksasenseofaudience

•  Clu=erhidesaclearfocus

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Techniques for Organizing Your Text

•  Makeanoutline,withbulletheadlinesforeachmessageyouwanttogetacross

•  Organizepointsbymostimportanttoleastimportant

•  Beginboldly•  Makesureideasflowlogically

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As you write, ask yourself

•  What’smypoint?•  Inasentence,whatamItryingtosay?

•  HaveItakenadetour?

•  HaveIsqueezedinextrastuff?

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Example–QuickWinNewsINTRODUCTIONOFREPRODUCTIVEHEALTHMODULESINSTUDENTS’CURRICULA:SOONAREALITYINTELMARTelmar,likeothercountriesinNarnia,isfacingissuesrelatedtounwantedteenagepregnanciesinschools,resul-ngindropoutsandacademicfailures,abor-onsandsuicideofthousandsofgirls.Targe-ngtheauthori-esinchargeofEduca-on,PartnerXhasmadetheproblemapriorityin2015aspartofitsadvocacyprojectAdvanceFamilyPlanning(AFP),fundedbyAFPBal-more,withthetechnicalsupportofPartnerY.However,thoseauthori-esdidnotrespecttheircommitmentduetothesocio-poli-calunrestofthecountry.Themul-pleadvocacymee-ngsconductedwerenotverysuccessful.

“Brevity comes from selection and not compression.”

-DonaldMurray

2. Prune ideas. Shorten sentences.

Prune ideas

•  Selectthemostimportantpieceofinforma-ontoshare

•  Askyourself,whatinforma-oncanIaffordtoleaveout?

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Quick Exercise

•  Findtheheadline…

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Example–QuickWinNews

Thatcommitmentwasmaterializedbytheinclusionofoneofourrecommenda-ons:theintegra-onofSRHmodulesinthetrainingcurriculaofstudentsbytheGovernmentPrimeMinisterinhispolicystatementtotheparliamentariansonFriday,February5,2016.

Whyisthissignificant?

Shorten sentences

•  Useshort,familiarwords•  Onesentenceperidea•  Usetransi-onalwordsorphrasestoshowhowideasarelinked

•  Avoidjargon•  Saywhatyoumean•  Varysentencelength

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Deconstructing Jargon

AvoidorDefine•  Contracep-veprevalence

rate•  Fer-lityrate

•  Unmetneedforfamilyplanning

Use•  Percentageofpeopleusing

contracep-ves•  Averagefamilysizeor

numberofchildrenperwoman

•  Es-mateofwomenwhowouldliketopreventordelaypregnancybutarenotusingcontracep-on

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TELMARPARLIAMENTPRIORITIZESINTEGRATINGSEXUALAND

REPRODUCTIVEHEALTHEDUCATIONINTOSTUDENTCURRICULA

Inanagenda-sehngpolicystatementtoParliamentonFebruary5,2016,Telmar’sPrimeMinisterrecommendedintegra-ngsexualandreproduc-vehealthmodulesintocurriculaforstudentsaged10-24.Amajorityofthecountry’sparliamentariansthenvotedtopriori-zeitonthePrimeMinister’sagenda.Morethanfourmonthsinthemaking,thisadvocacywinrepresentsaremarkablestepforwardinexpandingaccesstofamilyplanninginforma-onforyoungpeopleinTelmar.

INTRODUCTIONOFREPRODUCTIVEHEALTHMODULESINSTUDENTS’CURRICULA:SOONAREALITYINTELMARTelmar,likeothercountriesinNarnia,isfacingissuesrelatedtounwantedteenagepregnanciesinschools,resul-ngindropoutsandacademicfailures,abor-onsandsuicideofthousandsofgirls.Targe-ngtheauthori-esinchargeofEduca-on,PartnerXhasmadetheproblemapriorityin2015aspartofitsadvocacyprojectAdvanceFamilyPlanning(AFP),fundedbyAFPBal-more,withthetechnicalsupportofPartnerY.However,thoseauthori-esdidnotrespecttheircommitmentduetothesocio-poli-calunrestofthecountry.Themul-pleadvocacymee-ngsconductedwerenotverysuccessful.

“No verb means no action. No action means nothing for the reader to see. Nothing to see means no fire in the brain and no reason to dive deeper…” -RoyPeterClark,HowtoWriteShort

3. Pay attention to verbs

Headlines

•  Locally-drivenFamilyPlanningProgressinTanzania:2012-2014(version1)

•  FollowingthroughonTanzania’sLocallyDrivenFamilyPlanningProgress(2012-2014)(v2)

•  TanzaniaLeadstheWayonFamilyPlanning,HealthandDevelopment:FollowingthroughonProgress(v3)

•  Inves-nginFamilyPlanningforTanzania’sHealthandDevelopment(final)

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Passive vs. Active Voice

PassiveVoice•  Vague•  Slowsdownunderstanding•  Evasive

AcSvevoice•  Clearanddirectsenseof

whodidwhat

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Subject-Verb-Object

Targe-ngtheauthori-esinchargeofEduca-on,PartnerXhasmadetheproblemapriorityin2015aspartofitsadvocacyprojectAdvanceFamilyPlanning(AFP),fundedbyAFPBal-more,withthetechnicalsupportofPartnerY.However,thoseauthori-esdidnotrespecttheircommitmentduetothesocio-poli-calunrestofthecountry.

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“To be a good self-editor, you have to read your writing like you’ve never seen it before.”

4. Revise, polish, and proofread

-SW

TheKiss.©

MuséeRod

in

•  Putyourselfintheplaceofsomeonewhoknowsnothingaboutyourwork

•  Trytoan-cipatethekindsofwrongassump-onssuchapersonmightmake

•  Simplify,butnotattheriskofclarity

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Self-editing

Best practices

•  Scru-nizeeachwordthroughdraningandrevision

•  Iden-fyandpreservestrongerelements•  Findandtrimweakerelements•  Trynottoeditsomethingonthesamedayyouwriteit

•  Getsomeoneelsetoreadit

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Editing tips

•  Deletewordsthatmeanli=leornothing[very,quite,kindof]

•  Deletewordsthatrepeatthemeaningofotherwords[variousandsundry]

•  Deletewordsimpliedbyotherwords[terribletragedy]

•  Replaceaphrasewithaword[intheeventthatbecomesif]

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Aim for a word count

Typeofcontent WordcountEmail <200BreakingNews 200-350AdvocacyBrief 300-400Blogpost 400-750CaseStudy 1,000-1,500

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Example–QuickWinNewsTarge-ngtheauthori-esinchargeofEduca-on,PartnerXhasmadetheproblemapriorityin2015aspartofitsadvocacyprojectAdvanceFamilyPlanning(AFP),fundedbyAFPBal-more,withthetechnicalsupportofPartnerY.However,thoseauthori-esdidnotrespecttheircommitmentduetothesocio-poli-calunrestofthecountry.Themul-pleadvocacymee-ngsconductedwerenotverysuccessful.OnDecember15,2015,withthereturntonormalpoli-calsitua-on,PartnerXsetupamul-sectoralcommi=eetothinkthroughtheissueofunwantedteenagepregnanciesinschools.

Example–QuickWinNews

BeginninginOctober2015,AdvanceFamilyPlanninglocalpartnerXpriori-zedaddressingtheissuewiththetechnicalsupportofPartnerY.PartnerXbeganadvocacyac-vi-esduringa-meofsocio-poli-calunrestinthecountry.Ini-aladvocacymee-ngswerenotveryunsuccessful.Butbymid-December,withareturntonormalcy,PartnerXmovedquickly,organizingamul--sectoradvocacycommi=eetothinkthroughtheissueofaddressingunwantedteenagepregnanciesinschools.

“Writing tight involves more than leaving out words…it also

involves laying out words – laying them out on the page, the physical presentation of

your writing.” -WilliamBrohaugh

5. Visualize your final product

Best practices

•  Makearelaxedvisualenvironmentwhereinforma-oncanbeeasilyscannedandunderstood

•  Usewhitespace•  Usesidebars,subheads,footnotes,paragraphing,checklists,graphs,images,quotes

•  Useboldingtocalloutkeywordsorphrases

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Example

NameofPresenta-on

Final Thoughts

•  Youneedmore-me,notless,towritesomethinggoodandshort

•  Focus,focus,focus•  Revise,polishandproofreadeverything•  Read,studyandcollectgreatexamples

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“It’s not what you say, it’s what people hear.”

-FrankLuntz,WordsThatWork

Citations

•  “HowtoWriteShort:WordCranforFastTimes”byRoyPeterClark

•  “10TipsonHowtoWriteShorter”byJoshBurnoff

•  “HowtoWriteClearlyandEffec-vely”bySkillSon,JohnsHopkinsUniversity

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Contact

SarahWhitmarshCommunica-onManagerAdvanceFamilyPlanningswhitmarsh@jhu.edu

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