Useful tips for good writing in a professional setting. Don't give your audience a reason to ignore you.

1. HOW TO WRITE SO YOU WON'T
BE IGNORED
And, before you ask, yes. You definitely have
been and will be ignored.

2. WE ARE DROWNING IN DATA

3. SCALE
1 zettabyte is
1000,000,000,000,000,000,000
bytes
For context: that's 1 billion terabytes
(which is a lot of movies).

4. NOBODY IS IMMUNE
Earlier this year, a study found that
31% of World Bank reports had never
been downloaded by anybody. That's a
lot of work done for nothing!
So what should you do?

5. DON'T MUMBLE
Plan, plan again, then plan some more
Most people “write badly because they
cannot think clearly.” (H.L. Mencken)
Keep your language clear
Jargon is an invitation for your reader
to ignore you.
Avoid the passive voice
Don't say 'it is recommended', say 'I
recommend'.

6. WRITE HOW YOU SPEAK
A good rule of thumb
Instead of writing something down
right away, imagine that you're
discussing it with a smart friend with
no specific topical or technical
knowledge.
Now write down what you would say.

7. EDIT RUTHLESSLY
“Thewriterwhobreedsmorewordsthanhe
needs,ismakingachoreforthereaderwho
reads.”
DrSeuss
Three easy tips
Write today, edit tomorrow.
Print paper copies.
Ask others.

8. FORMATTING MATTERS
Use headings and sub-headings
People scan to the sections they're
interested in. Help them out!
For your main body text, use a serif font
Sans fonts tire the eyes out more
quickly.
Never use more than three fonts
Nobody wants to read like this

9. GOOD WRITING SOUNDS BETTER
“This sentence has five words. Here are five more words.
Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become
monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is
getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record.
The ear demands some variety.
Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music.
Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a
harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of
medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the
reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of
considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and
builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the
drums, the crash of the cymbals–sounds that say listen to
this, it is important.”

10. FURTHER READING
Writing That Works (3rd Edition)
By Kenneth Roman and Joel
Raphaelson