In short, are you spending too much time re-writing the work of others?

Training in writing is an effective, proven way of overcoming these problems. Training for groups of up to 15 is also cost-effective, can be completed in only one day and includes a purpose-written reference and training manual.

Furthermore, courses can be customised for specific requirements – whether that’s preparing website content or writing ministerial briefs.

Julian Edgar can provide that training.  The training is hands-on and practical. The skills gained on the day of training  can be immediately put into effect in the workplace.

Unlike many trainers who have limited real world experience in the fields in which they teach, Julian has wide job experience, including working in the Australian Public Service at Executive Level, contracting to major private companies to provide editing expertise, and working in the commercial media – both in web and print.

Julian’s training in writing occurs primarily in Canberra but courses can be run anywhere in Australia – he has recently facilitated courses in Canberra, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

Julian can be contacted directly or courses can be arranged through training providers Anne Jenkin and Associates or Acorn Training and Consulting.

Julian also trains at the Australian Public Service Commission in Canberra.

Some of Julian’s courses:

Writing

• Writing for Technical Experts
• Persuading and Influencing Through Writing
• Preparing Articles and Features
• Preparing Press Releases
• APSC Essential Writing Skills for the Australian Public Service APS 1 – 4
• APSC Essential Writing Skills for the Australian Public Service APS 5 – 6
• APSC Essential Writing Skills for the Australian Public Service EL1 - EL2
• APSC Report Writing for the Australian Public Service APS 5 – 6
• APSC Report Writing for the Australian Public Service EL1 - EL2

Speed Reading

• APSC Smart Reading Skills

The Web

• Writing for the Web
• Using Photos and Diagrams on the Web
• Strategic Use of  Content to Build Website Readership
• APSC Publishing Web Content for the Australian Public Service – intranets
• Publishing Web Content for the Australian Public Service – external websites

Photography

• Producing Photos for Publication
• Strategic use of Images

Recent clients

Recent Australian Federal Government clients include:

• Department of Immigration and Citizenship (Canberra & Adelaide)
• Department of Defence (Canberra & Brisbane)
• Department of Parliamentary Services (Canberra)
• Australian Public Service Commission (Canberra)
• National Archives of Australia (Canberra & Sydney)
• Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (Brisbane, Sydney & Melbourne)
• Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (Sydney)
• Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (Canberra)
• Australian Crime Commission (Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne & Adelaide)
• Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (Canberra)
• IP Australia (Canberra)
• Indigenous Land Corporation (Adelaide)
• Australian Bureau of Statistics (Canberra)
• Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (Canberra)

If you are to communicate effectively, you must use writing that has good readability. To put that another way, if people cannot understand what you write, then your writing has failed.

At the time of writing (August 2011), the Australian Federal Government has just sent a pamphlet to all Australians. Called ‘What a carbon price means for you’, it relates to a new government program.

The Introduction to the pamphlet is an excellent example of writing with clear simplicity to create good communication.

The Sample

Here is the introduction. I suggest that you read it slowly and carefully – in a moment I’ll discuss not only how readable it is, but also what tricks have been employed to make it work so well.

This booklet contains information about the Government’s comprehensive plan to move Australia to a clean energy future.

It is a plan for all Australians. It will cut pollution and drive investment in cleaner energy sources, such as solar, gas and wind, along with new energy sources like geothermal and wave energy.

From 1 July next gear, subject to legislation being passed, the biggest polluters will pay for every tonne of carbon pollution they put into the atmosphere.

The carbon price package will ensure that by the end of the decade Australia will cut 160 million tonnes of pollution from the atmosphere each year. That’s the equivalent of taking 45 million cars off the road.

Some of the costs paid by polluters will be passed through to the prices of the goods you buy. That is why over half of the money raised from the carbon price will be used to fund tax cuts, pension increases and higher family payments. The remaining money will be invested to support jobs and help to build Australia’s clean energy future.

This booklet is designed to help you learn more about the new financial assistance you and your family may receive.

This assistance will be delivered through ongoing increases in payments and two rounds of tax cuts. This will help you plan your part to cut carbon pollution and look after your household budget at the same time.

You can visit the www.cleanenergyfuture.gov.au  website to find out what payments and tax cuts you may receive. The website will also provide you with ideas on how to cut power bills and pollution without cutting back on life’s essentials.

Putting a price on carbon is a big change for Australia — but it will help protect the economy, environment and future generations.

- extract from What a carbon price means to you, Commonwealth of Australia, August 2011. (Licensed from the Commonwealth of Australia under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License.)

Readability

The first step is to run Word’s Readability function across the passage. Doing so generates the result shown here. Let’s analyse what Word has indicated.

The passage is just under 300 words – a good length for an introduction.

It uses only 1.6 sentences per paragraph – that’s excellent. Short paragraphs are much more effective than long ones.

Its average word length is only 4.7 characters (great!) and most critically, the average length of sentence is around 20 words. (In my training in writing I recommend an average of 20 words per sentence.)

Passive sentences comprise only 33 per cent of the content (see here for more on active and passive sentences).

Finally, Word rates the passage as having a Flesch Reading Ease of 55 (very good) and the required years of education of a reader (the Flesch Kincaid score) of just over 10. To put the latter a different way, readers who left school after only Year 10 would be able to read this introduction.

Tricks

In addition to the use of short words and short sentences (and those techniques should never be underestimated!), what other ‘tricks’ has the writer employed?

The use of the words ‘you’ and ‘your’ – they are used no less than 21 times! Using personal pronouns makes a strong connection with the reader.

Effective cohesion – the writer links sentences and paragraphs to promote flow. For example:

Some of the costs paid by polluters will be passed through to the prices of the goods you buy. That is why…

The ‘That is why…’ links the second sentence back to the first. (To see this more clearly, try reading the ‘That is why’ without first reading the sentence that preceded it. You can see the ‘That is why’ doesn’t make sense unless you have read that earlier sentence.)

This booklet is designed to help you learn more about the new financial assistance you and your family may receive.

This assistance…

The use of ‘This assistance…’ links the beginning of the second paragraph to the ‘assistance’ described in the para above.

Tone – look at how there is a complete absence of bureaucratic language and very few government buzzwords and terms. Note also the empathic language like “…provide you with ideas on how to cut power bills and pollution without cutting back on life’s essentials”.

Conclusion

In summary, what makes this an effective document?

• Short words, short sentences, short paragraphs
• Use of personal pronouns
• Good cohesion (flow)
• Effective tone for the audience

Julian can be contacted directly or courses in writing can be arranged through training providers Acorn Training and Consulting or Anne Jenkins and Associates.

I’ve written previously about structuring documents around Key arguments and Proofs (see here), but on a more general basis, how do you mount arguments that are persuasive and effective?

Draw Relationships

One of the most important aspects of a formal document that mounts an argument is to develop relationships between the points.

One way to draw these relationships is to select and prioritise the facts.

This is most easily understood when you view a document where prioritisation and selection of the facts has not occurred.

I once read an internal government report where the author (let’s call him Bill) was asked to research what would happen to a group of asylum seekers if they were returned to their country of origin.

Bill diligently went about his research, consulting many sources. The research was quite extensive, and in the report Bill summarised what each source had indicated was the case.

However, after I had read the report, I had no idea what would happen to the asylum seekers if they were returned!

That’s because Bill had not prioritised (or weighted) the points being made – they were all given equal significance. Points that were seemingly irrelevant were given the same billing as points that seemed vital to drawing conclusions. And, talking about drawing conclusions, Bill in fact drew none – no relationships were developed between disparate points! For example, internal contradictions were left to stand, not explained.

The outcome for the reader was a great big nothing…

Bill saw himself as literally a ‘reporter’ – someone who would just report what others had said or written.

But in nearly all cases, that is not what is wanted. Instead, the report writer needs to become an instant expert, able to interpret what the research indicates and then present an argument built around that interpretation.

Just repeating what others have said or written is insufficient.

Present facts both for and against

To have a good understanding of your argument, to achieve credibility and to be persuasive, you should always present facts for and against your case.

Again it’s easy to see this if you look at an argument that does not do this.

I once did some writing for a company that developed wind farms – the ones with huge wind turbines. I was asked to assess the content of their company website. On the website there was a section that was designed for landholders – the farmers who owned the land on which the company wished to build wind turbines.

This section contained content that I thought could be summarised as pure marketing – we understand your concerns, we reach agreements with landowners that are beneficial to both parties, and so on.

In assessing this writing, I decided to act like the audience. What would I, as a farmer, do after reading this material?

Firstly, I did a Google search under ‘big wind turbines and farms’.

The results showed that many people thought wind turbines noisy and many others suggested that bird strikes were a major problem.

Then I did a YouTube search. I quickly found video that showed a huge wind turbine, still spinning, completing engulfed by fire! Talk about frightening…

By mentioning none of the negatives of having wind turbines on farms, the wind energy company immediately lost credibility with their target readers. To put this another way, even the most cursory research showed that the company was telling only half the story.

The ironic thing about that situation is that, for nearly all landowners, the benefits of having wind turbines on their farms greatly outweigh the negatives. By presenting both sides of the issue, the company could in fact have mounted a very effective argument supporting their case!

Presenting only side of an argument results in a loss of credibility and makes it appear that insufficient research was carried out.

Anticipate audience ‘sticking points’

When you are mounting an argument, especially one that results in formal recommendations, think carefully about the resistance that the reader may have to your points. Can you anticipate the arguments that may be mounted against your points or conclusions – and address them before those objections arise?

For example, you may be writing a report that recommends the expenditure of a large amount of money. When you consider this carefully, you realise that the reader may find this a cause for concern. So rather than suggesting the expenditure occur in one financial year, you instead recommend that the project be implemented in two stages with expenditure occurring over two financial years.

Pre-empting reader objections is a very important part of building an effective argument.

Summary

Construct written arguments where:

• points are weighted
• relationships between points are drawn
• points both for and against the argument are presented
• reader ‘sticking points’ are addressed

Julian can be contacted directly or courses in writing can be arranged through training providers Acorn Training and Consulting or Anne Jenkins and Associates.

Many emails you write in government or business are ‘action emails’ – those where you are asking someone you supervise to perform a task or tasks.

Said like that it sounds quite straightforward but in fact many of the people I train have problems with this type of email.

What sort of problems then?

Jill and Karen

Let’s take Jill. Jill is ex-military and is used to writing clear, concise action emails.

A typical Jill email might read like this:

Brian,

Please do the following.

Write and circulate an email advising unit members that the meeting of Sept 1 has now been changed to Sept 10 – same venue.

Chase up IT re everyone having two monitors for their PCs.

Ensure that staff in the unit are familiar with the evacuation policy.

The deadline for these tasks is COB on August 5.

Jill

Jill sees the email as having clarity and direction. But how does Brian see it? He sees it as abrupt, rather rude and certainly dictatorial!

A different type of email writer is Karen. She takes great pains to be gentle and polite. Here is how she writes the same email.

Hi Brian,

If you have time – and I know how busy we all are – I wonder if you could possibly do some things for me? The meeting room that we were going to use on September 1 has been double-booked (we really should do something about the booking system – maybe call Jane?) and so we’ll need to move the meeting date. I think that perhaps September 10 might work for everyone. Another thing that’s concerning me is the length of time it is taking for everyone to get two monitors for their PCs. As we discussed (and I know that Jeffrey agrees with this) productivity would be much better if we could use two monitors – as you know, it works really well because you can have your email up on one monitor and be working on the other screen. I don’t suppose it matters if the monitors are slightly different sizes because you could always use the smaller one for the email. I hear on the grapevine that next week we might be having a trial evacuation! That’s great fun (like having a picnic in the park, isn’t it?) so it’s important that everyone is familiar with the current policy.

Best regards,

Karen

Now when Brian gets this email, he groans under his breath - Karen is a nice person but why on earth does she write emails like these?

Brian then goes through the email line by line, trying to find what he actually has to do. He quickly concludes that if taken literally, he doesn’t have to do anything (“If you have time” the email said – and he doesn’t) but that he assumes Karen actually does want him to do some things.

But what things?

She doesn’t actually say that he needs to rebook the meeting room – but that’s probably what she meant. She doesn’t actually ask him to contact IT about the monitors, but again that’s probably what she wants him to do. Anything else? Nope – except we’re going to have a trial evacuation next week.

For Brian, reading Karen’s email is torture – and he missed one of his tasks.

Warm Fuzzies

The difference in Brian’s emotional reaction to the emails relate primarily to tone. In writing, tone is most easily established by ‘warm fuzzies’ – friendly phrases and empathy.

Think of warm fuzzies as the smile that might have been in the voice when giving oral instructions, or the positive body language that might have occurred in a one-on-one meeting.  Warm fuzzies are needed in writing – but not if the message then becomes so diluted that it is ineffective.

If, as in Karen’s email above, the warm fuzzies are integrated with the action tasks, the result is confusion.

If, as in Jill’s email above, warm fuzzies are entirely absent, then the result can cause offence.

Benita’s email

So how do we achieve a balance? One of the best approaches is to separate the ‘warm fuzzies’ from the tasks.  Look at this email, written by Benita.

Hi Brian,

Some things have come up that I’d like you to address. I know that you are pretty busy at the moment but with Jane away, I’d like you to handle them.

I’d like these done by the close of business on August 5 (that’s next Friday).

1.Please ensure that all staff in the unit are familiar with the evacuation policy. I understand that there may be a test of that familiarity next month.

2. Please write and circulate an email advising unit members that the meeting of September 1 has now been changed to September 10. It will be at the same venue.

3.I haven’t heard back from IT regarding our request for two monitors for each PC. Can you please contact them and find what the issues are?

If you run into any obstructions, please contact me.

Regards,

Benita

Consider for a moment how Brian reads the email. His eyes skip past his name (everyone can read their own name without actually looking at the word) and then very rapidly skim the first paragraph. He’s not really reading the first paragraph – instead he’s just absorbing the tone. The first time he stops to read carefully is the line about the deadline, and then at each of the tasks.

Note that the deadline is placed before the tasks, so that the tasks can be assessed in the context of that deadline.

Also note that the tasks have been numbered, implying an order of importance.

Finally, he skims his eyes past the last line – the one that establishes that Benita is available to provide help.

Brian has not been treated rudely or high-handedly. The tone is not offensive or belittling or dictatorial. But at the same time, Brian has rapidly gained a clear idea of what he has to do and the timeframe in which he has to do it.

Sandwich rule

Apply the sandwich rule.

1. That is, start the email with a warm and friendly tone. (However, this warm and friendly introduction should never be long.)
2. Present the tasks, numbered (or bulleted) and written as separate points.
3. Finally, finish by again using a warm and friendly tone.

The tasks are then in a ‘sandwich’ of warm fuzzies.

Note that the ‘warm fuzzies’ don’t have to be way over the top – you want them to help the message, not detract from it.

 Julian can be contacted directly or courses in writing can be arranged through training providers Acorn Training and Consulting or Anne Jenkins and Associates.

In my training courses on reading, the most common question is: “How can I remember what I read?”

Variations include comments like: “I often read a whole page then stop and say to myself, gosh, what have I been reading? Often, I can’t remember!”

So how can you remember what you read? In many cases, it’s a case of unlearning bad habits, habits that have ‘got you through in the past’ but which are unsuited to your current work.

Let’s first take a look at some bad habits.

Bad Habits

In terms of remembering what you read, I think the worst habit that you can have is the skill of cramming. That is, reading new material, remembering for 24 hours – and then forgetting it all. So why would people have developed that sort of skill? It’s common in people who study for exams, where the ability to retain information for later regurgitation can result in surprisingly speedy progress up the academic ladder!

Another bad habit is that of reading without thought. It’s easy to read documents, taking in what is being discussed but not actually thinking about it. In fact, when reading, many people are thinking about another topic altogether. After reading the doc they can tell you what was in it, but as to the deeper implications of the material – well, they’ve no idea.

Finally, many people take on too much. That is, rather than breaking the document down into small, manageable chunks, they try to read it as a whole – and then remember it in the same way. That’s a very big ask – one that is best avoided.

Remembering

I think the first step in remembering what you read is to not think of it as ‘remembering’ at all! Instead, think of it as learning the material. Learning – that is, understanding – the material will allow you to remember it with much less effort.

This approach is utterly different to many ‘memory tricks’ – you know, ones where you associate certain pictures with certain things, or where you invent a mnemonic device like ‘Roy G Biv’ to remember the different colours in the light spectrum.

With memory tricks like these, you don’t actually have a context or understanding – you have only the ability to regurgitate.

So how can you learn material? There are four key steps. Note that all require you think about what you are reading!

1.      Identify items that are outstanding or unique

Because we tend to remember things that are outstanding or unique, always actively try to identify such items in the content you are reading.

So if you are reading a new staffing policy, say things like this to yourself:

“Okkkkaaaay, so that’s different to the current policy.”

“Right, I haven’t heard of internal pay scales being arranged like that before – that’s unique.”

“What a great approach they’re now taking to flexibility in work hours! That will certainly achieve a drop in absences.”

2.      Identify items of relevance to you

We remember material that directly affects us. So the more that you can identify ideas and information as being relevant to you, the better you will remember them.

Again using the new staffing policy as the example:

“Hey! This policy makes the flexibility of holidays far better! I reckon I can now make the Easter break two weeks – great for that overseas holiday we could never squeeze in.”

“Hmmm. This new policy makes the required justification for sick days quite different. I need to draft a note to the staff in my section to make it really clear that no-excuse sickies will now be a thing of the past.”

“That’s interesting how the requirements for study leave have been relaxed. Maybe I should revisit the idea of going back to study.”

3.      Associate with information you already know

This is the really big one: when you are reading, constantly make connections with things you already know.

Think of how the ideas are similar to those you already know, how they are different, how they reinforce or contradict existing notions you have. You will very seldom in your business or public service reading come across brand new ideas; instead, they will be variations on those you are already familiar with.

Let’s again use the new staffing policy as an example.

“This is a staffing policy that philosophically is no different from many that I have read previously – it’s the typical top-down, lack-of-consultation model.”

“The differences from the current staffing policy [that I have just scanned to confirm my memory of it] are confined only to absenteeism, pay scales, and flexibility of holiday and study leave.”

“Based on how I have used previous staffing policies, it’s unlikely that I’ll refer to this more than once or twice in the next couple of years. There’s no point in trying to remember all this stuff – but for easy access, I will remember where it is located.”

You can see that ‘associating with information you already know’ allows you to define the big picture. To put this another way, you can grasp the underlying theme of the document – the context, rather than just the content.

4.      Review & Reflect

The final step is to break the content down into manageable chunks and then use the ‘Review & Reflect’ technique.

If there is a lot of detail to remember, you might have a ‘chunk’ size of just a single paragraph. That is, you read the paragraph and then consider:

• anything that is new or unique
• anything that is relevant to you
• how it ties in with what you already know about that subject

You might then make a note or two about those points. (Don’t just use highlighting – either on paper or on-screen documents. Highlighting allows you to find your way back to the key material but it does not improve your memory of those points! On the other hand, writing those points out in your own words is great for retention.)

On a simpler document you might ‘Review & Reflect’ on a page-by-page basis.

On some docs (for example, short emails) you might ‘Review & Reflect’ after reading the whole document.

Conclusion

Especially if you have fallen into bad habits, using the techniques outlined in this article can make an immediate and radical difference to the amount you remember from your reading. Try them!

Julian can be contacted directly or reading courses can be arranged through  Anne Jenkin and Associates.

When reading at work, many people find it hard to concentrate.  

In my reading courses participants often don’t actually say that - instead they’ll say things like “I am easily distracted” or “I can’t remember what I read because I keep thinking of other things”.

So how can you concentrate in your work reading, so gaining the maximum amount of information in the shortest time?

You need to concentrate!

The first and most important step to realise is that you need to concentrate!

Sure, some people can appear to multi-task quite effectively, reading while keeping an eye on their email notification, keeping half an ear on a conversation occurring elsewhere in the office, and occasionally also thinking about the shopping they need to do at lunch.

But you know something?

If they were concentrating on only their reading, they’d be much faster and more effective at that task!

In fact, don’t think of it as ‘concentration’. Think instead of ‘getting in the zone’. So what does that mean?

Years ago we had a painter do some work on the outside of our house. A Queensland house, it was elevated and so the highest walls were very high. Every day the painter would turn on a radio playing classical music before he climbed his ladder and started sloshing on the paint. The height didn’t seem to bother him, and the painting was methodical and went for long sessions between breaks. One day, I stopped at the bottom of the ladder and started to chat to him. But he didn’t hear a word I said.

Later, when he was having a break, I talked to him about it. “When I paint, I get into the zone,” he said. “I don’t hear anything because I am lost in the music.”

In the same way, when you are reading with concentration, you need to be unaware of anything except the material that you are reading.  That’s very different to listening to conversations, thinking about lunchtime shopping and so on.

Remove concentration stoppers

So what factors can cause a loss in concentration – a breaking of that ‘zone’? The most common are interrupters. 

A visitor is shown through the office and you immediately look away from your reading to glance at them.  Someone at the desk behind you takes a phone call and you stop reading to listen. You have your computer monitor on and you check every email as it arrives.

Preventing these common occurrences from breaking your concentration requires action on your part.

Turn off your monitor and check your email only every hour. Book a meeting room so you can read an important document in relative silence and without interruptions. Wear earphones playing quiet music – or use active noise cancellation earphones playing nothing but instead generating magnificent silence.

Anything that breaks your concentration will reduce the effectiveness of your reading.

Read with a purpose

Do you know why you are reading the document? Or to put this another way, for what purpose are you reading it?

If you’re reading a report because your boss just told you to read it, you will be reading without direction. After you have finished reading it, are you supposed to know only the gist of the document? Or the main headings? Or know one of the areas very well and have just an overview of the other points? Or do you need to know the document inside-out, with sufficient understanding to write a detailed rebuttal of the arguments contained within it?

If you know why you are reading a document, you can adopt the reading strategy that best reflects the purpose in reading it.  Depending on the purpose it might involve:

-        a quick skim of the main headings (on a 50 page document, taking a minute)

-        gaining an overview of the main arguments (perhaps 20 minutes)

-        reading for an overview followed immediately by reading for detail (an hour)

-        a detailed proof-read (perhaps 2 hours)

You can see that depending on the purpose in reading the document, the required time can vary enormously.

Reading for a purpose is like reading a document knowing the questions you will need to answer when you have finished. That’s always a far more effective approach than reading a document only to find that now you need to answer some questions you’ve never seen before.  

Think about what you are a reading

When you are a reading, constantly think about the material.

Think about:

- how what you are reading affects you (or your staff or department or organisation)

- how it relates to what you already know about the topic

- whether it contains material that is new or unique

When you get to the end of each page (or, on complicated material, the end of each paragraph), review and reflect on what you have just read. Use this pause to summarise the content and to consider its context.

If your mind ever starts drifting, stop yourself.  If you find that you are drifting off topic multiple times, reduce the amount you read before you pause to review the content.

For more on thinking about what you are reading, go here.  

Conclusion

Reading at speed and with good comprehension requires concentration, effort and purpose. If you can get into that zone, you’ll find your abilities to read at work are massively improved.

Julian can be contacted directly or reading courses can be arranged through  Anne Jenkin and Associates.

In my government writing training sessions I often discuss passages of writing with the group.

For example, I’ll put up a PowerPoint slide that displays a piece of writing, and then we’ll analyse it. The ensuing discussion can incorporate many points that relate to good writing – aspects like sentence length, avoiding redundancies, using clear and simple words, using the active voice and so on.

But what often strikes me about the discussion is that often people have geared their minds to search just for unimportant mistakes in the writing. They miss the big picture, lose the wood for the trees, sweat on the trivial – well, you get the idea.

So if there is a typo, or if there is a minor spelling error, they’ll triumphantly declare that they have found the deficiency in the cited passage – “Look, that word is spelt wrongly!”

The trouble is, very often the error they find is of only minor importance.  

It’s like a carpenter examining the work on a newly constructed house, and pointing out in a pained voice that a particular woodworking joint is badly made… completely overlooking the fact that the house is missing one of the rooms that was on the plans!

I think that people have become fixated on these trivial aspects because they believe that in fact it is this type of mistake that determines whether or not the writing is successful.

But that’s simply not the case.

Now I have worked as a proof-reader and editor. Spelling errors, apostrophes that are missing or are in the wrong places, missing commas – all are mistakes that should be avoided. But the presence or absence of these do not determine the success or otherwise of the writing.

To put this another way, judging writing on these criteria alone is to take fundamentally the wrong approach.  

Instead, here are three criteria that really do govern how good a passage of writing is:

1.      Is the writing effective for the target audience? (The target audience will help determine the vocabulary, concept level, order of points, formality and so on.)

2.      Does the writing develop a convincing argument for that audience? (The effectiveness of the argument can be determined by aspects such as the structure of the writing, and the strength of proofs that are used to support key premises.)

3.      Does the writer know their subject? (Are terms used correctly, are qualifiers minimised, are appropriate emphases placed and linkages made?)

The less you have thought about how writing functions, the less likely you are to consider a passage of writing in these terms.

Or to put this another way, if you don’t know what to look for, it’s easy to be looking for stuff that really doesn’t matter that much.

When evaluating a piece of writing, start with the big picture. Only when that is sorted should you look for little errors.

Very often in formal business and government writing it’s required that you present an argument. For example, if you are recommending a course of action, it’s important that you mount a strong argument in support of that outcome. If you are addressing Selection Criteria in a job application, you must develop an argument that supports the notion that you are best for the job!

So what are some simple rules to follow – things you can immediately put into effect without ploughing through a whole book on the subject?

Here they are!

State the key argument first

Whenever you mount a written argument, the reader should immediately have a clear idea as to what you are arguing for.

Think of it like this. Your reader is new to your document: they don’t know what it is about. If you present the background or the reasons for your argument before you present the argument itself, the reader will spend most of the time wondering where you are going with your points – rather than understanding the argument!

So state the key argument right up front.

In a Minute or Decision Brief, you might start by asking that approval be given for:

1.      The production of a pilot video that address community concerns about the new Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme

 2.      The online distribution of this video occur via our departmental website, YouTube and FaceBook

The reader now knows what you are arguing for. They can then assess the supporting points that you make – all the time keeping these recommendations firmly in their minds.

Always, even in documents not being written to a template, place the key argument (or arguments) first.

Or what about selection criteria?

The criterion you’re answering might require you to demonstrate that you ‘Support Strategic Thinking’ in a web publishing environment.  Many people will start their answer by backgrounding a situation that demonstrates this attribute – but again, that’s the wrong way around.

Instead it is better to describe the way in which you showed your strategic thinking and only then back that up with the detail.  Something like this:

As a Web Editor within the Department of [X], I developed cohesive and effective strategies for growth in both website content and audience.

Now the reader is looking for points that support this statement.

Provide proofs

Once your reader understands the key argument that you are presenting, they’re then looking for evidence that supports that argument. So what points can you present in a logical order to support your argument?

In the Minute described above, the one recommending that a video be produced and made widely available online, the proofs might be summarised as:

• People are having difficulties understanding the implications of the revised Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
• Other government departments in similar situations have used video with great success
• Distribution costs of the video are effectively free
• By sharing technical production costs with another [named] government department, our production costs will be only staff time
• We can integrate the video with an on-line forum allowing the answering of questions from viewers, thus broadening its function
• The proposed production process and timeline are [X, Y and Z]

These points ‘seem reasonable’ in the context of what you are asking for – the recommendations you stated first-up. (Of course, in a real Minute you’d flesh these Proofs out a little more.)

And what about the selection criteria example? You’ve already said that…

As a Web Editor within the Department of [X], I developed cohesive and effective strategies for growth in both website content and audience.

… so now you need to back it up, perhaps like this:.

I implemented changes in website content. These changes included working with subject matter experts to improve the presentation of statistical data, and co-coordinating the preparation of new educational materials suitable for secondary schools.

I also instigated and supervised a complete website redesign.

These strategies resulted in the following changes over a 12 month period. A 21 per cent increase in page views, a 15 per cent increase in website reader emails and an improvement from 25^th to 2^nd place in Google search rankings for typical search terms relating to the Department.

(Incidentally, note that this answer is only 125 words long – there’s plenty of room for other Key arguments and their associated Proofs, all without exceeding a 300 word limit.)

As with the Minute, these points ‘seem reasonable’ in supporting your Key argument – that in fact you have demonstrated strategic thinking in a web publishing environment.

Conclusion

By taking the ‘Key argument’ and ‘Proofs’ approach, you not only provide a strong and easily followed structure for your reader, you can also quickly identify inadequacies in your argument. For example, do you repeat Proofs? Or are some Proofs not really relevant to your Key argument? Or does a Proof get lost in the fluffiness of your writing?

It’s hard to go wrong when you concentrate on clearly stating Key arguments and their Proofs!

Julian can be contacted directly or courses in writing can be arranged through training providers Acorn Training and Consulting or Anne Jenkins and Associates.

In the speed reading classes that I facilitate, I get participants to perform a difficult exercise.  

They’re asked to look through a major article in Time magazine, one that they’ve never seen before. I set the stopwatch running and after 60 seconds, I ask them to close the magazine. The participants then have a few moments to write notes before they’re asked to describe to the whole group what the article was about.

Sometimes, as they close the magazine, people will say: “I just looked at the pictures and diagrams. So I cheated.”

That’s not cheating!

And here’s another example.

You arrive at a meeting and a document is handed out.

“Sorry I couldn’t get this to you earlier,” says the meeting chairperson. “Can you please read this before the meeting starts.”

You look in dismay at the document that appears to be about 20 pages. You start grimly reading from the first line of the first paragraph, ploughing along and knowing you’re never going to finish it in the available time.

Next to you, the person is looking through the pages, turning them after only five or ten seconds of scanning each page.

“That’s cheating,” you say to yourself.

That’s not cheating either!

And a final example.

You’re reading a novel. It’s for relaxation, to send you into another, more interesting, world. Some parts of the plot are gripping, full of excitement and action.

But other parts? Well, they’re just straight-out boring.

After a while you start skipping the boring bits, homing-in on the parts that are great.

A few hours later you’ve finished the novel – it was a satisfying experience.

You place the book on a side table and your partner says in surprise: “What, you’ve finished that already?”

“Yes,” you reply. “But I cheated by skipping the boring bits.”

That’s not cheating either!

So why isn’t it cheating?

The idea that in every piece of reading it is a requirement that you read every word is crazy. What you should do is to read the material to achieve the best possible outcome in the time you have.

If you know that time will be too short to closely read the piece, or you know that a detailed understanding isn’t required anyway, then don’t even attempt to read every word. Instead, look for key ideas and key content. In many cases, that can be achieved by just glancing through the pages.

If the material uses a lot of visuals (including photos, flow charts, graphs and diagrams), then looking at these will far more rapidly communicate the content to you than attempting to read the content line by line.

And the novel? You’re reading it for your own enjoyment – read it however you like!

It’s not cheating……

Julian can be contacted directly or reading courses can be arranged through  Anne Jenkin and Associates.

A lot of trainers in writing will tell you the following.

“The reader’s interest is highest at the beginning of the sentence and drops away as they keep reading.”

(This idea is shown by the red arrow in this diagram.)

“Therefore,” they go on, “you should always place the most important point first in the sentence.”

(Shown by the green arrow.)

I completely disagree with this – and in fact it’s quite easy to show why this idea is wrong.

Read the following passage quickly and then shut your eyes. What part of the passage do you remember?

Climate change will present major water resource management challenges given Australia is a naturally dry continent and it has a growing demand for water.

If you are like the vast majority of people, what you will remember is “….has a growing demand for water.”

That’s right – you tend to remember the last point you read. The last point – and not the first!

So to be effective for the reader, we should alter the order in which the points are presented, like this:

Given Australia is a naturally dry continent and it has a growing demand for water, climate change will present major water resource management challenges.

We now have the critical point in the right part of the sentence, but “climate change will present major water resource management challenges” is a bit of a mouthful.

Let’s change the word order a little more:

Given Australia is a naturally dry continent and it has a growing demand for water, climate change will present major challenges for water resource management.

Now nearly all readers will understand that the point is: “climate change will present major challenges for water resource management.”

Here’s another example:

ICT services are becoming increasingly important to staff in Canberra and in regional offices to deliver effective outcomes. 

The author wants to emphasise the importance of ICT services – but that point is diluted. Let’s change the sentence around.

To allow staff in Canberra and regional offices to deliver effective outcomes, ICT services are becoming increasingly important.

Note how this revised version now flows into the next sentence that will be about ICT services – the point of the piece of writing.

Here’s another.

We expect suppliers who work with us to act in an ethical manner and support our values so we can achieve mutual trust in our relationships and ensure our business dealings withstand public scrutiny.

The ‘takeaway’ of many readers? We want to withstand public scrutiny!

Better to present it like this:

To achieve mutual trust in our relationships and ensure our business dealings withstand public scrutiny, we expect suppliers who work with us to act in an ethical manner and support our values.

See how much stronger it is?

Always look at the order of words in your sentences and see if the outcome you are achieving is the one you actually want!

Julian can be contacted directly or courses in writing can be arranged through training providers Acorn Training and Consulting or Anne Jenkins and Associates.