Susan B. Weiner's Blog, page 41

No more conclusions, please

Every inch of your article, white paper, or other publication is valuable real estate. Don’t waste it by using a heading like “Conclusion.”

Why skip saying “conclusion”

Your readers scan your publications to see if they’re worth reading. This is especially true of your blog posts and other online publications.

Readers look at headings to see if you’re saying something interesting. The heading “Conclusion” tells them nothing about your thoughts.

It’s much more effective to share your high-level conclusion in the final heading of your piece. You can tie your heading to the next step your reader should take.

If you must put “conclusion” in your heading, I suggest you follow it with a subheading. For example, “Conclusion: Quit using ‘conclusion’ as a heading.”

Disagreement about conclusion

Neil Patel, a guest blogger on HubSpot, disagrees with me, at least when it comes to blog posts. He says, “In my opinion, the best conclusions are outright labeled ‘Conclusion,’ either with a header (as in my example below) or with the phrase ‘In conclusion.'” He didn’t persuade me.

However, I like most of Patel’s other recommendations in “8 Tips for Writing More Powerful Conclusions,” except for his suggestion that you end every blog post with some sort of summary. That’s overkill, in my view.

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MISTAKE MONDAY for April 2: Can YOU spot what’s wrong?

Can you spot what’s wrong in the image below? Please post your answer as a comment.

Here’s a key piece of information: I viewed this item when I was buying something from a website in February 2018. Without this information, you might not realize that anything is wrong with this week’s Mistake Monday item.

I post these challenges to raise awareness of the importance of proofreading.

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Let’s visit apostrophe hell

I’m not the only person who dislikes misplaced apostrophes (or should I say apostrophe’s?). There’s a Flickr page called Apostrophe Hell with photos of apostrophe abuse. Misused apostrophes turn up frequently on Mistake Monday on this blog. Below you’ll see some examples. I share them to remind all of us—including me—to pay attention to apostrophes when writing and proofreading.

Its vs. it’s

It’s vs. its is a classic example of where apostrophes are often abused, as you’ll see in the Mistake Monday examples below. Most often there’s an apostrophe where it’s not needed.

 

Sometimes the mistake goes the other way. A sentence lacks the apostrophe needed to create the contraction for “it is.”

 

Other possessives

You need an apostrophe to form the possessive for most words other than “its” and “yours.” The proofreaders for the images below didn’t remember that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contractions

Apostrophes are also important to forming contractions.

For example, “let us” becomes “let’s”—at least that’s what should happen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Random insertion of apostrophes

Sometimes people seem to insert apostrophes randomly. What was this person thinking?



 

 

 

 

The post Let’s visit apostrophe hell appeared first on Susan Weiner's Blog on Investment Writing.

MISTAKE MONDAY for March 26: Can YOU spot what’s wrong?

Can you spot what’s wrong in the image below? Please post your answer as a comment.

 

 

 

Want a clue to this week’s big mistake? Read my post on “Bloggers’ top two punctuation mistakes.” It doesn’t discuss this exact mistake, but it’ll point you in the right direction.

I post these challenges to raise awareness of the importance of proofreading. I make mistakes, too. Mistake Monday keeps me vigilant. After all, I don’t want to make any more mistakes worthy of posting here.

The post MISTAKE MONDAY for March 26: Can YOU spot what’s wrong? appeared first on Susan Weiner's Blog on Investment Writing.

Stinging quotes from “Do I Make Myself Clear?”

Harold Evans wrote some great lines against bad writing in Do I Make Myself Clear? Why Writing Well Matters. Here are some of them, organized by topic.

If you can avoid making the mistakes he highlights, you can live up to his statement that “Good writers breathe a kiss of life into old dead facts.”

I love the term “pussy footing passive,” which you’ll find in the section on the passive voice.

Passive voice

Evans says the passive voice “robs sentences of energy, adds unnecessary participles and prepositions, and leaves questions unanswered…”

“When you write in the passive voice, you can’t escape adding fat any more than you can escape piling on adipose tissue when you grab a doughnut.”

However, Evans admits there are times when the passive voice is necessary. These cases include when the actor isn’t known, when the identity of the receiver of the action isn’t known, when the writer wants to conceal the actor (also known as the pussy footing passive, according to Evans’ citation of Edward Johnson), and when otherwise the verb would follow a long subject.

Negatives

“Express even a negative in positive form…it is quicker and easier to understand what is than what is not.”

For example, say “Bond prices fell” instead of “Bond prices did not rise.”

Emphasize the impact on people

“Put people first,” says Evans.

“Eyes that glaze over at ‘a domestic accommodation energy-saving program’ will focus on ‘how to qualify for state money for insulating your house.’”

Prepositions

“The circumlocutory preposition is a fluffy substitute for a single preposition which gives the meaning as clearly. The grossest offenders are in the field of, in connection with, in order to, in respect of, so far as…is concerned.“

Miscellaneous

“The people who create and run companies aren’t stupid, but they put their names to statements that are management mumbo-jumbo, products of algorithms rather than thinking human beings.”

If you like what Evans says…

I also quote Evans in “Avoid long introductory clauses, or lose readers.”

 

Disclosure:  If you click on an Amazon link in this post and then buy something, I will receive a small commission. I link only to books in which I find some value for my blog’s readers.

The post Stinging quotes from “Do I Make Myself Clear?” appeared first on Susan Weiner's Blog on Investment Writing.

MISTAKE MONDAY for March 19: Can YOU spot what’s wrong?

Can you spot what’s wrong in the image below? There’s more than one problem this week. Please post your answer as a comment. 

 

 

 

 

Here’s a clue to one of the mistakes. Some words are commonly confused with other words that sound similar, but have different meanings. If you can’t find the confusing word in this week’s Mistake Monday example, check out “Top 30 Commonly Confused Words in English.” If this word appears frequently in writing that you proofread, consider adding it to a checklist of words that you review more carefully than others.

I post these challenges to raise awareness of the importance of proofreading.

The post MISTAKE MONDAY for March 19: Can YOU spot what’s wrong? appeared first on Susan Weiner's Blog on Investment Writing.

White papers: Can a non-scientist write them?

White papers are great marketing tools, but writing them can be intimidating.

White paper question

Here’s what one reader asked:

I’m curious if other readers of your newsletter have similar thoughts / questions about white papers that I do….I’m a little intimidated by the idea of writing a white paper because in a past job (medical device sales rep), white papers were written by scientists doing experiments in the lab. They had a budget, several people working on the research, and they wrote very detailed scientific results to their experiments with many, many footnotes. Often the language of the paper was very difficult to understand.

How can I as a business person write a white paper? (Isn’t that only for scientists?)  What would my “business person” white paper look like? Wouldn’t it have to be super scientific?

My answer

You don’t need to be a scientist or hold an advanced degree to write a white paper.

Here’s what I told my reader:

“White paper” has a broad range of meanings. But I think the key is that it poses a problem faced by readers and offers some sort of solution. You’re certainly capable of doing that. If the term “white paper” intimidates you, think of it as a “special report” or “mini e-book.”

My reader’s reply:

Thanks for your answer! The mini e-book resonates with me. Funny how terminology can affect you!

Still have questions about white papers?

Read “White paper marketing: Walk a fine line” to learn about what makes for a good white paper for an investment, wealth management, or financial planning firm.

If you want to write a white paper, but fear that you lack the necessary budget, read “How to get a white paper written on a budget .”

If you’re on the fence about writing a white paper, read “4 reasons you shouldn’t write a white paper.” This article may help you by talking you out of writing a white paper—or pushing you to satisfy a higher standard with your white paper.

The post White papers: Can a non-scientist write them? appeared first on Susan Weiner's Blog on Investment Writing.

MISTAKE MONDAY for March 12: Can YOU spot what’s wrong?

Can you spot what’s wrong in the image below? Please post your answer as a comment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again, here’s an error in a major newspaper. I suspect that text, such as headlines and captions, that isn’t written by the reporter may be particularly prone to becoming fodder for Mistake Monday. Do YOU have a theory explaining these errors?

I post these challenges to raise awareness of the importance of proofreading. I still struggle with proofreading my own work.

The post MISTAKE MONDAY for March 12: Can YOU spot what’s wrong? appeared first on Susan Weiner's Blog on Investment Writing.

7 factors that affect reading ease

On this blog—and in my writing workshops—I’ve written about things that affect reading ease. I’ve focused on the average number of syllables per word, words per sentence, and sentences per paragraph. However, Harold Evans’ Do I Make Myself Clear? Why Writing Well Matters, introduced me to a seven-factor list from Robert Gunning, creator of the fog index.

Factors that affect reading ease

Some of the seven factors relate to length. They’re similar to the syllable, sentence, and paragraph measures. They also feed into the fog index. Evans describes the fog index as follows:

If you want to be clear, count the average number of words in your sentences, count the number of words of three syllables (the percentage of hard words), total the two, and multiply by 0.4. The lower ranking on the fog index, the easier the reading…

The seven factors include:

Average sentence length in words
Percentage of simple sentences
Percentage of strong verb forms
Proportion of familiar words
Proportion of abstract words
Percentage of personal references
Percentage of long words

Why do the other factors matter? I like #3, the percentage of strong verbs, and #4, the proportion of familiar words, because they typically make the writer’s intent easier to grasp.

I’m puzzled by #6, percentage of personal references.

As I see it, personal references could cut both ways. Requiring detailed knowledge of your personal life will make your writing harder to understand. On the other hand, comprehension will improve when you use “you” and referring to things your readers care about.

The fog index isn’t infallible

Gunning’s seven factors can help you assess your content’s reader-friendliness. But they’re not infallible.

As Evans says,

Combine readability statistics with common sense. You can write illogical nonsense and get a good score of readability; the classic proof is that if you enter your sample from the last word to the first, you get the same score. Metaphor, analogy, and satire are unrecognized, wit unappreciated. The formulas have tin ears for the rhythm of sentence variety, for word choice, for the energy in the writing.

Test your reading ease online

You can run your text through an online version of the fog index.

 

Disclosure:  If you click on an Amazon link in this post and then buy something, I will receive a small commission. I only link to books in which I find some value for my blog’s readers.

The post 7 factors that affect reading ease appeared first on Susan Weiner's Blog on Investment Writing.

MISTAKE MONDAY for March 5: Can YOU spot what’s wrong?

Can you spot what’s wrong in the Mistake Monday image below? Please post your answer as a comment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I post these challenges to raise awareness of the importance of proofreading.

There’s more than one way to rewrite this week’s example. What’s your suggestion?

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