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QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITING:Be concise, Be creative, Be correct

<< QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITING:Achieve appropriate readability:
THE PROCESS OF WRITING:INVENTION, WHEN YOU START TO WRITE >>
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Journalistic Writing ­ MCM310
VU
LECTURE 5
QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITING
2. Be complete: include all the necessary facts and background information to support the message you
are communicating. Partial instructions would not work if we were to survive. Our captain had to
make sure we saw the complete picture. Check:
1. Have you given all the facts?
2. Have you covered the essentials?
3. Have you answered all his/her questions?
4. Did you PLAN what you said?
3. Be concise: keep in mind the reader's knowledge of the subject and their time constraints. Convey the
information as quickly and easily as possible. Keeping it concise (or short) was a life saver, more so
when you needed to react immediately to a changing sea or wind pattern. Check:
1. Have you plunged right into the subject of the message?
2. Have you avoided rehashing the reader's letter?
3. Have you said enough, but just enough?
4. Have you avoided needless "filler" words and phrase?
4. Be creative: use different formats (vs. straight narrative) to communicate your message. Q & A
format, graphics, Idea lists, etc. Sometimes hand signals were needed when the wind and the sea
drowned out our ability to hear.
5. Be considerate: keep your reader's needs in mind as you write. Ask yourself, 'Why should my reader
spend time reading this?' Make it worthwhile for them to do so! We were motivated to survive, to
listen and to act. Keep in mind your audience or reader might not be as receptive. Check:
1. Have you put the client first?
2. Have you floodlighted his/her interests?
3. Have you walked in his/her moccasins?
4. Have you talked his/her language?
6. Be correct: by checking all your information is accurate and timely. Double- check your spelling,
punctuation and grammar. Proof read it before you send it! We couldn't afford to make mistakes, our
lives depended on it! Check:
1. Have you checked all facts for correctness?
2. Have you spelled the reader's name correctly?
3. Have you verified all numbers and amounts?
4. Is the appearance of the letter effective? Is it clean, well-spaced?
5. Have you checked your spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc.?
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Journalistic Writing ­ MCM310
VU
7. Be credible: strive to present yourself from a position of reliability and competence. Write to
reinforce your message and make it more believable. We needed to trust that our captain, with
his experience in the US Coast Guard knew what he was doing and was telling us for our own
good.
8. Be courteous: check
1. Will it win good will?
2. Have you used positive, "pleasant-toned" words?
3. Have you used "I appreciate," "please", and "thank you" somewhere in your message?
4. Would you enjoy reading what you have said?
9. Be concrete: check
1. Have you given the crisp details the reader needs?
2. Have you made the details razor and needle-sharp?
3. Have you flashed word pictures, made facts vivid?
Before: These brakes stop a car within a short distance.
After: These brakes stop a 2-ton car traveling 60 miles an hour, within 240 feet.
Source:
http://www.canadaone.com/ezine/nov02/effective_writing.html
http://abcopayroll.com/news/200610sevencs.php
http://www.writingcenter.emory.edu/goodwrite.html
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Table of Contents:
  1. INTRODUCTION TO JOURNALISTIC WRITING:Practical, THINGS TO KNOW
  2. QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITERS
  3. QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITERS
  4. QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITING:Achieve appropriate readability:
  5. QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITING:Be concise, Be creative, Be correct
  6. THE PROCESS OF WRITING:INVENTION, WHEN YOU START TO WRITE
  7. THE PROCESS OF WRITING II:ORGANIZING, DRAFTING, REVISING
  8. ALL ABOUT WORDS:HOW WORDS ARE FORMED?:SUFFIXES
  9. DICTIONARY-A WRITER’S LANGUAGE TOOL:KINDS OF INFORMATION
  10. PARTS OF SPEECH:Noun Gender, Noun Plurals, Countable Nouns
  11. BASIC CLAUSE PATTERNS
  12. ACTIVE AND PASSSIVE VOICE
  13. MODIFIERS AND SENTENCE TYPES:COMPOUND SENTENCES
  14. REPORTED SPEECH:Indirect Questions, Direct commands
  15. GRAMMATICAL SENTENCE – ISSUES:SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
  16. GRAMMATICAL SENTENCE – ISSUES II:SENTENCE FRAGMENTS
  17. EFFECTIVE SENTENCE:PARALLELISM, NEEDED WORDS, SHIFTS
  18. STYLE: GUIDELINE AND PITFALLS I:COLLOQUIAL VS FORMAL, CIRCUMLOCUTION
  19. STYLE: GUIDELINE AND PITFALLS II:AMBIGUITY, REDUNDANCY, EUPHEMISM:
  20. PARAGRAPH WRITING: TYPES AND TECHNIQUES:STRUCTURE
  21. PARAGRAPH WRITING: TYPES AND TECHNIQUES:Putting on Our Play
  22. ESSAY WRITING:VARIOUS STRATEGIES FOR ESSAYS, PROMPTS
  23. SIGNAL WORDS:Non word Emphasis Signals
  24. EXPOSITORY WRITING:LOGICAL FALLACIES, APPEAL TO EMOTION
  25. THE WRITING STYLES: REPORT and NARRATIVE WRITING, SHORT REPORTS
  26. THE WRITING STYLES: DESCRIPTIVE AND PERSUASIVE WRITINGS, Observation
  27. RESEARCH WRITING AND DOCUMNETING SOURCES:Handling Long Quotations
  28. Summary and Précis Writing:CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD SUMMARY
  29. Punctuation:THE PERIOD, THE COMMA, THE SEMICOLON, THE COLON
  30. MECHANICS:ABBREVIATIONS, NUMBERS, SPELLING, THE HYPHEN
  31. READING SKILLS FOR WRITERS:EDUCATED READING, STEPS
  32. PARTS OF A NEWSPAPER:Box-out, By-line, Caption, Exclusive, Feature
  33. THE LANGUAGE OF THE NEWSPAPERS II:BROADSHEET NEWSPAPER
  34. News Writing and Style I:WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A NEWSPAPER
  35. NEWS WRITING II:Accuracy, Clarity, Style, Qualities of Effective Leads
  36. EDITORIAL WRITING:WRITING AN EDITORIAL:STRUCTURING AN EDITORIAL
  37. WRITING FEATURES:GENERATING FEATURE STORY IDEAS
  38. WRITING COLUMNS:Column and a news report, Purpose, Audience
  39. WRITING ARTICLES FOR NEWSPAPERS:The Heading, The Lead
  40. WRITING ANALYSIS:purpose, scope, method, results, recommendations
  41. LETTERS TO EDITORS:Four important aspects about letters, Organizing letters
  42. BROADCAST AND WEB NEWS WRITING:WRITE CONCISELY, BROADCAST STYLE
  43. WRITING PRESS RELEASE, REVIEWS AND OBITUARIES:Summary of Content:
  44. THE ART OF INTERVIEWINGS
  45. FINAL THOUGHTS:Practical, Job-Related, Social, Stimulating, Therapeutic