postann@cbosgd.UUCP (10/01/84)
Original-From: Jeff Offutt <ofut@gatech.UUCP>
I would like to take a moment to share some of my feeble knowledge of
writing style. If you read the pointers below, remember; it's easy to agree
that they make sense but it's much harder to apply them.
References:
Cunningham and Pearsall, "How to Write For the World of Work"
Strunk & White, "Elements of Style"
The above references are both excellent books. Cunningham is a standard in Tech
writing classes and won an award for the best tech writing book from the
Association for Teaching of Technical Writing. I was lucky enough to take a
class from him as an undergraduate. Strunk is a standard in college
composition classes. Other ideas here come from my own experience on the net
and hints from other people.
This is a "long article". The rest of it is simply a list of pointers.
Writing style:
* Write *below* the readers reading level. The avg. person in the US reads
on a 5th grade level. The avg. professional reads on about the 12th
grade level.
* Keep paragraphs short and sweet. Keep sentences shorter and sweeter. This
means "concise", not cryptic.
* White space is not wasted space. It greatly improves clarity.
* Allow your words to have only *one* meaning. Vagueness is considered
artistic by literary critics. We are not being literary here.
* People can only grasp about 7 things at once. This means ideas in a
paragraph, major sections, etc..
* There are several variations on any one sentence. A passive, questioning
or negative sentence takes longer to read.
Net style:
* Subtlety is not comunicated well in written form - especially over a
computer.
* The above applies to humor as well. (Net.jokes, of course, not included.)
* When being especially "flame-boyant", I find it helpful to go the bathroom
before actually sending. Often I then change the tone considerably.
* Subject lines should be used very carefully. How much time have you
wasted reading articles with a misleading subject line?
* References need to be made. When you answer mail, you have the original
message fresh in your mind. When I recieve your answer, I don't.
* It's *much* easier to read a mixture of upper and lower case letters.
* Leaving out articles (such as "the, a, an", etc.) for "brevity" mangles
the meaning of your sentences and takes longer to read. It saves you time
at the expense of your reader.
* Be careful of contextual meanings of words. For instance, I used "articles"
just now. In the context of netnews it has a different meaning than I
intended.
* Remember - this is an international network.
* Remember - your future employers may be reading your articles.
'Nuff said.
These pointers are all easily supported by arguments and research.
There's a lot more to say, but....usenet@gatech.UUCP (11/01/84)
Original-from: ofut@gatech.UUCP (Jeff Offutt)
I would like to take a moment to share some of my feeble knowledge of
writing style. If you read the pointers below, remember: it's easy to
agree that they make sense but it's much harder to apply them.
References:
Cunningham and Pearsall, "How to Write For the World of Work"
Strunk & White, "Elements of Style"
The above references are both excellent books. Cunningham is a
standard in Tech writing classes and won an award for the best tech
writing book from the Association for Teaching of Technical Writing. I
was lucky enough to take a class from him as an undergraduate. Strunk
is a standard in college composition classes. Other ideas here come
from my own experience on the net and hints from other people.
This is a "long article". The rest of it is simply a list of pointers.
Writing style:
* Write *below* the readers' reading level. The avg. person in the US
reads on a 5th grade level. The avg. professional reads on about the 12th
grade level.
* Keep paragraphs short and sweet. Keep sentences shorter and sweeter.
This means "concise," not cryptic.
* White space is not wasted space -- it greatly improves clarity.
* Pick your words to have only *one* meaning. Vagueness is considered
artistic by literary critics. We are not being literary here.
* People can only grasp about seven things at once. This means ideas in a
paragraph, major sections, etc..
* There are several variations on any one sentence. A passive, questioning
or negative sentence takes longer to read.
Net style:
* Subtlety is not communicated well in written form - especially over a
computer.
* The above applies to humor as well. (Net.jokes, of course, not included.)
* When being especially "flame-boyant", I find it helpful to go the bathroom
before actually sending. Then, I often change the tone considerably.
* Subject lines should be used very carefully. How much time have you
wasted reading articles with a misleading subject line?
* References need to be made. When you answer mail, you have the original
message fresh in your mind. When I receive your answer, I don't.
* It's *much* easier to read a mixture of upper and lower case letters.
* Leaving out articles (such as "the," "a," "an," etc.) for "brevity"
mangles the meaning of your sentences and takes longer to read. It saves
you time at the expense of your reader.
* Be careful of contextual meanings of words. For instance, I used "articles"
just now. In the context of netnews, it has a different meaning than I
intended.
* Remember - this is an international network.
* Remember - your future employers may be reading your articles.
'Nuff said.
These pointers are all easily supported by arguments and research.
There's a lot more to say, but....
--
Super Userusenet@gatech.UUCP (12/01/84)
Original-from: ofut@gatech.UUCP (Jeff Offutt)
[Most recent change: 11/14/84 spaf]
I would like to take a moment to share some of my feeble knowledge of
writing style. If you read the pointers below, remember: it's easy to
agree that they make sense but it's much harder to apply them.
References:
Cunningham and Pearsall, "How to Write For the World of Work"
Strunk & White, "Elements of Style"
The above references are both excellent books. Cunningham is a
standard in Tech writing classes and won an award for the best tech
writing book from the Association for Teaching of Technical Writing. I
was lucky enough to take a class from him as an undergraduate. Strunk
is a standard in college composition classes. Other ideas here come
from my own experience on the net and hints from other people.
This is a "long article". The rest of it is simply a list of pointers.
Writing style:
* Write *below* the readers' reading level. The avg. person in the US
reads on a 5th grade level. The avg. professional reads on about the 12th
grade level.
* Keep paragraphs short and sweet. Keep sentences shorter and sweeter.
This means "concise," not cryptic.
* White space is not wasted space -- it greatly improves clarity.
* Pick your words to have only *one* meaning. Vagueness is considered
artistic by literary critics. We are not being literary here.
* People can only grasp about seven things at once. This means ideas in a
paragraph, major sections, etc..
* There are several variations on any one sentence. A passive, questioning
or negative sentence takes longer to read.
Net style:
* Subtlety is not communicated well in written form - especially over a
computer.
* The above applies to humor as well. (Net.jokes, of course, not included.)
* When being especially "flame-boyant", I find it helpful to go the bathroom
before actually sending. Then, I often change the tone considerably.
* Subject lines should be used very carefully. How much time have you
wasted reading articles with a misleading subject line?
* References need to be made. When you answer mail, you have the original
message fresh in your mind. When I receive your answer, I don't.
* It's *much* easier to read a mixture of upper and lower case letters.
* Leaving out articles (such as "the," "a," "an," etc.) for "brevity"
mangles the meaning of your sentences and takes longer to read. It saves
you time at the expense of your reader.
* Be careful of contextual meanings of words. For instance, I used "articles"
just now. In the context of netnews, it has a different meaning than I
intended.
* Remember - this is an international network.
* Remember - your future employers may be reading your articles.
'Nuff said.
These pointers are all easily supported by arguments and research.
There's a lot more to say, but....
--
Gene "8 months and counting" Spafford
The Clouds Project, School of ICS, Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332
CSNet: Spaf @ GATech ARPA: Spaf%GATech.CSNet @ CSNet-Relay.ARPA
uucp: ...!{akgua,allegra,hplabs,ihnp4,linus,seismo,ulysses}!gatech!spafusenet@gatech.UUCP (01/01/85)
Original-from: ofut@gatech.UUCP (Jeff Offutt)
[Most recent change: 2 December 1984 by spaf]
I would like to take a moment to share some of my knowledge of writing
style. If you read the pointers below, remember: it's easy to agree
that they make sense but it's much harder to apply them.
References:
Cunningham and Pearsall, "How to Write For the World of Work"
Strunk & White, "Elements of Style"
The above references are both excellent books. Cunningham is a
standard in Tech writing classes and won an award for the best tech
writing book from the Association for Teaching of Technical Writing. I
was lucky enough to take a class from him as an undergraduate. Strunk
is a standard in college composition classes. Other ideas here come
from my own experience on the net and hints from other people.
This is a "long article". The rest of it is simply a list of pointers.
Writing style:
* Write *below* the readers' reading level. The avg. person in the US
reads on a 5th grade level. The avg. professional reads on about the 12th
grade level.
* Keep paragraphs short and sweet. Keep sentences shorter and sweeter.
This means "concise," not cryptic.
* White space is not wasted space -- it greatly improves clarity.
* Pick your words to have only *one* meaning. Vagueness is considered
artistic by literary critics. We are not being literary here.
* People can only grasp about seven things at once. This means ideas in a
paragraph, major sections, etc..
* There are several variations on any one sentence. A passive, questioning
or negative sentence takes longer to read.
Net style:
* Subtlety is not communicated well in written form - especially over a
computer.
* The above applies to humor as well. (Net.jokes, of course, not included.)
* When being especially "flame-boyant", I find it helpful to go the bathroom
before actually sending. Then, I often change the tone considerably.
* Subject lines should be used very carefully. How much time have you
wasted reading articles with a misleading subject line?
* References need to be made. When you answer mail, you have the original
message fresh in your mind. When I receive your answer, I don't.
* It's *much* easier to read a mixture of upper and lower case letters.
* Leaving out articles (such as "the," "a," "an," etc.) for "brevity"
mangles the meaning of your sentences and takes longer to read. It saves
you time at the expense of your reader.
* Be careful of contextual meanings of words. For instance, I used "articles"
just now. In the context of netnews, it has a different meaning than I
intended.
* Remember - this is an international network.
* Remember - your future employers may be reading your articles.
'Nuff said.
These pointers are all easily supported by arguments and research.
There's a lot more to say, but....
--
Gene "7 months and counting" Spafford
The Clouds Project, School of ICS, Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332
CSNet: Spaf @ GATech ARPA: Spaf%GATech.CSNet @ CSNet-Relay.ARPA
uucp: ...!{akgua,allegra,hplabs,ihnp4,linus,seismo,ulysses}!gatech!spafusenet@gatech.UUCP (02/01/85)
Original-from: ofut@gatech.UUCP (Jeff Offutt)
[Most recent change: 2 December 1984 by spaf]
I would like to take a moment to share some of my knowledge of writing
style. If you read the pointers below, remember: it's easy to agree
that they make sense but it's much harder to apply them.
References:
Cunningham and Pearsall, "How to Write For the World of Work"
Strunk & White, "Elements of Style"
The above references are both excellent books. Cunningham is a
standard in Tech writing classes and won an award for the best tech
writing book from the Association for Teaching of Technical Writing. I
was lucky enough to take a class from him as an undergraduate. Strunk
is a standard in college composition classes. Other ideas here come
from my own experience on the net and hints from other people.
This is a "long article". The rest of it is simply a list of pointers.
Writing style:
* Write *below* the readers' reading level. The avg. person in the US
reads on a 5th grade level. The avg. professional reads on about the 12th
grade level.
* Keep paragraphs short and sweet. Keep sentences shorter and sweeter.
This means "concise," not cryptic.
* White space is not wasted space -- it greatly improves clarity.
* Pick your words to have only *one* meaning. Vagueness is considered
artistic by literary critics. We are not being literary here.
* People can only grasp about seven things at once. This means ideas in a
paragraph, major sections, etc..
* There are several variations on any one sentence. A passive, questioning
or negative sentence takes longer to read.
Net style:
* Subtlety is not communicated well in written form - especially over a
computer.
* The above applies to humor as well. (Net.jokes, of course, not included.)
* When being especially "flame-boyant", I find it helpful to go the bathroom
before actually sending. Then, I often change the tone considerably.
* Subject lines should be used very carefully. How much time have you
wasted reading articles with a misleading subject line?
* References need to be made. When you answer mail, you have the original
message fresh in your mind. When I receive your answer, I don't.
* It's *much* easier to read a mixture of upper and lower case letters.
* Leaving out articles (such as "the," "a," "an," etc.) for "brevity"
mangles the meaning of your sentences and takes longer to read. It saves
you time at the expense of your reader.
* Be careful of contextual meanings of words. For instance, I used "articles"
just now. In the context of netnews, it has a different meaning than I
intended.
* Remember - this is an international network.
* Remember - your future employers may be reading your articles.
'Nuff said.
These pointers are all easily supported by arguments and research.
There's a lot more to say, but....
--
Gene "6 months and counting" Spafford
The Clouds Project, School of ICS, Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332
CSNet: Spaf @ GATech ARPA: Spaf%GATech.CSNet @ CSNet-Relay.ARPA
uucp: ...!{akgua,allegra,hplabs,ihnp4,linus,seismo,ulysses}!gatech!spafusenet@gatech.UUCP (03/01/85)
Original-from: ofut@gatech.UUCP (Jeff Offutt)
[Most recent change: 2 December 1984 by spaf]
I would like to take a moment to share some of my knowledge of writing
style. If you read the pointers below, remember: it's easy to agree
that they make sense but it's much harder to apply them.
References:
Cunningham and Pearsall, "How to Write For the World of Work"
Strunk & White, "Elements of Style"
The above references are both excellent books. Cunningham is a
standard in Tech writing classes and won an award for the best tech
writing book from the Association for Teaching of Technical Writing. I
was lucky enough to take a class from him as an undergraduate. Strunk
is a standard in college composition classes. Other ideas here come
from my own experience on the net and hints from other people.
This is a "long article". The rest of it is simply a list of pointers.
Writing style:
* Write *below* the readers' reading level. The avg. person in the US
reads on a 5th grade level. The avg. professional reads on about the 12th
grade level.
* Keep paragraphs short and sweet. Keep sentences shorter and sweeter.
This means "concise," not cryptic.
* White space is not wasted space -- it greatly improves clarity.
* Pick your words to have only *one* meaning. Vagueness is considered
artistic by literary critics. We are not being literary here.
* People can only grasp about seven things at once. This means ideas in a
paragraph, major sections, etc..
* There are several variations on any one sentence. A passive, questioning
or negative sentence takes longer to read.
Net style:
* Subtlety is not communicated well in written form - especially over a
computer.
* The above applies to humor as well. (Net.jokes, of course, not included.)
* When being especially "flame-boyant", I find it helpful to go the bathroom
before actually sending. Then, I often change the tone considerably.
* Subject lines should be used very carefully. How much time have you
wasted reading articles with a misleading subject line?
* References need to be made. When you answer mail, you have the original
message fresh in your mind. When I receive your answer, I don't.
* It's *much* easier to read a mixture of upper and lower case letters.
* Leaving out articles (such as "the," "a," "an," etc.) for "brevity"
mangles the meaning of your sentences and takes longer to read. It saves
you time at the expense of your reader.
* Be careful of contextual meanings of words. For instance, I used "articles"
just now. In the context of netnews, it has a different meaning than I
intended.
* Remember - this is an international network.
* Remember - your future employers may be reading your articles.
'Nuff said.
These pointers are all easily supported by arguments and research.
There's a lot more to say, but....
--
Gene "5 months and counting" Spafford
The Clouds Project, School of ICS, Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332
CSNet: Spaf @ GATech ARPA: Spaf%GATech.CSNet @ CSNet-Relay.ARPA
uucp: ...!{akgua,allegra,hplabs,ihnp4,linus,seismo,ulysses}!gatech!spafusenet@gatech.CSNET (07/01/85)
Original-from: ofut@gatech.UUCP (A. Jeff Offutt)
[Most recent change: 2 March 1985 by offutt]
I would like to take a moment to share some of my knowledge of writing
style. If you read the pointers below, remember: it's easy to agree
that they make sense but it's much harder to apply them.
References:
Cunningham and Pearsall, "How to Write For the World of Work"
Strunk & White, "Elements of Style"
The above references are both excellent books. Cunningham is a
standard in Tech writing classes and won an award for the best tech
writing book from the Association for Teaching of Technical Writing. I
was lucky enough to take a class from him as an undergraduate. Strunk
is a standard in college composition classes. Other ideas here come
from my own experience on the net and hints from other people.
This is a "long article". The rest of it is simply a list of pointers.
Writing style:
* Write *below* the readers' reading level. The avg. person in the US
reads on a 5th grade level. The avg. professional reads on about the 12th
grade level.
* Keep paragraphs short and sweet. Keep sentences shorter and sweeter.
This means "concise," not cryptic.
* White space is not wasted space -- it greatly improves clarity.
* Pick your words to have only *one* meaning. Vagueness is considered
artistic by literary critics. We are not being literary here.
* People can only grasp about seven things at once. This means ideas in a
paragraph, major sections, etc..
* There are several variations on any one sentence. A passive, questioning
or negative sentence takes longer to read.
Net style:
* Subtlety is not communicated well in written form - especially over a
computer.
* The above applies to humor as well. (Net.jokes, of course, not included.)
* When being especially "flame-boyant", I find it helpful to go the bathroom
before actually sending. Then, I often change the tone considerably.
* Subject lines should be used very carefully. How much time have you
wasted reading articles with a misleading subject line?
* References need to be made. When you answer mail, you have the original
message fresh in your mind. When I receive your answer, I don't.
* It's *much* easier to read a mixture of upper and lower case letters.
* Leaving out articles (such as "the," "a," "an," etc.) for "brevity"
mangles the meaning of your sentences and takes longer to read. It saves
you time at the expense of your reader.
* Be careful of contextual meanings of words. For instance, I used "articles"
just now. In the context of netnews, it has a different meaning than I
intended.
* Remember - this is an international network.
* Remember - your future employers may be reading your articles.
'Nuff said.
These pointers are all easily supported by arguments and research.
There's a lot more to say, but....
--
Gene "3 months and holding" Spafford
The Clouds Project, School of ICS, Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332
CSNet: Spaf @ GATech ARPA: Spaf%GATech.CSNet @ CSNet-Relay.ARPA
uucp: ...!{akgua,allegra,hplabs,ihnp4,linus,seismo,ulysses}!gatech!spafusenet@gatech.CSNET (01/01/86)
Original-from: ofut@gatech.UUCP (A. Jeff Offutt)
[Most recent change: 2 March 1985 by offutt]
I would like to take a moment to share some of my knowledge of writing
style. If you read the pointers below, remember: it's easy to agree
that they make sense but it's much harder to apply them.
References:
Cunningham and Pearsall, "How to Write For the World of Work"
Strunk & White, "Elements of Style"
The above references are both excellent books. Cunningham is a
standard in Tech writing classes and won an award for the best tech
writing book from the Association for Teaching of Technical Writing. I
was lucky enough to take a class from him as an undergraduate. Strunk
is a standard in college composition classes. Other ideas here come
from my own experience on the net and hints from other people.
This is a "long article". The rest of it is simply a list of pointers.
Writing style:
* Write *below* the readers' reading level. The avg. person in the US
reads on a 5th grade level. The avg. professional reads on about the 12th
grade level.
* Keep paragraphs short and sweet. Keep sentences shorter and sweeter.
This means "concise," not cryptic.
* White space is not wasted space -- it greatly improves clarity.
* Pick your words to have only *one* meaning. Vagueness is considered
artistic by literary critics. We are not being literary here.
* People can only grasp about seven things at once. This means ideas in a
paragraph, major sections, etc..
* There are several variations on any one sentence. A passive, questioning
or negative sentence takes longer to read.
Net style:
* Subtlety is not communicated well in written form - especially over a
computer.
* The above applies to humor as well. (Net.jokes, of course, not included.)
* When being especially "flame-boyant", I find it helpful to go the bathroom
before actually sending. Then, I often change the tone considerably.
* Subject lines should be used very carefully. How much time have you
wasted reading articles with a misleading subject line?
* References need to be made. When you answer mail, you have the original
message fresh in your mind. When I receive your answer, I don't.
* It's *much* easier to read a mixture of upper and lower case letters.
* Leaving out articles (such as "the," "a," "an," etc.) for "brevity"
mangles the meaning of your sentences and takes longer to read. It saves
you time at the expense of your reader.
* Be careful of contextual meanings of words. For instance, I used "articles"
just now. In the context of netnews, it has a different meaning than I
intended.
* Remember - this is an international network.
* Remember - your future employers may be reading your articles.
'Nuff said.
These pointers are all easily supported by arguments and research.
There's a lot more to say, but....usenet@gatech.UUCP (02/01/86)
Original-from: ofut@gatech.UUCP (A. Jeff Offutt VI)
[Most recent change: 2 March 1985 by offutt]
I would like to take a moment to share some of my knowledge of writing
style. If you read the pointers below, remember: it's easy to agree
that they make sense but it's much harder to apply them.
References:
Cunningham and Pearsall, "How to Write For the World of Work"
Strunk & White, "Elements of Style"
The above references are both excellent books. Cunningham is a
standard in Tech writing classes and won an award for the best tech
writing book from the Association for Teaching of Technical Writing. I
was lucky enough to take a class from him as an undergraduate. Strunk
is a standard in college composition classes. Other ideas here come
from my own experience on the net and hints from other people.
This is a "long article". The rest of it is simply a list of pointers.
Writing style:
* Write *below* the readers' reading level. The avg. person in the US
reads on a 5th grade level. The avg. professional reads on about the 12th
grade level.
* Keep paragraphs short and sweet. Keep sentences shorter and sweeter.
This means "concise," not cryptic.
* White space is not wasted space -- it greatly improves clarity.
* Pick your words to have only *one* meaning. Vagueness is considered
artistic by literary critics. We are not being literary here.
* People can only grasp about seven things at once. This means ideas in a
paragraph, major sections, etc..
* There are several variations on any one sentence. A passive, questioning
or negative sentence takes longer to read.
Net style:
* Subtlety is not communicated well in written form - especially over a
computer.
* The above applies to humor as well. (Net.jokes, of course, not included.)
* When being especially "flame-boyant", I find it helpful to go the bathroom
before actually sending. Then, I often change the tone considerably.
* Subject lines should be used very carefully. How much time have you
wasted reading articles with a misleading subject line?
* References need to be made. When you answer mail, you have the original
message fresh in your mind. When I receive your answer, I don't.
* It's *much* easier to read a mixture of upper and lower case letters.
* Leaving out articles (such as "the," "a," "an," etc.) for "brevity"
mangles the meaning of your sentences and takes longer to read. It saves
you time at the expense of your reader.
* Be careful of contextual meanings of words. For instance, I used "articles"
just now. In the context of netnews, it has a different meaning than I
intended.
* Remember - this is an international network.
* Remember - your future employers may be reading your articles.
'Nuff said.
These pointers are all easily supported by arguments and research.
There's a lot more to say, but....