Good Writing

When writing for any type of media, whether it be traditional print or online, there is generally a basic standard the writer must adhere to; that is if the writer wants people to read. In web based digital media, “good writing” has a typically higher standard than traditional print. That standard varies depending on what is being written about; however, no matter the standard, the most important thing to keep in mind for all good writing is to keep the readers interested. That starts from the moment a potential reader clicks on the page to the end of the article.

General Advice

• Be brief

Readers of the web read 25% slower than when reading a newspaper, so they will not be attracted by a long works on the web. They want information quickly and if they don’t get it quick enough, it’s only a click of the back button and pressing the next search result in Google to find exactly what they want quickly.

• Be concise

Don’t try to show how intelligent you are by using inventive sentence structure and don’t waste words on long introduction. Get to the point.

• Be Precise

Say what you mean and mean what you say. If a shorter word will do, use it!

• Be Direct

This isn’t poetry. No one wants to have to try to interpret writing on the web. The same goes for ambiguity. Only leave opinion up to the reader. Otherwise just write what is meant and don’t try to be suspenseful about it.

• Be Consistent

This applies to mechanics and style. Sentence structure should be parallel and whether using the oxford comma is right or wrong, the use of it or not should be consistent. It makes the writer more reliable and helps the reader to begin to distinguish the style of the writer.

Stylistic Advice

• Voice

Just like when a person answers the phone and they recognize the sound of someone’s voice, the same applies to writing. Writing has to have voice and much of that depends on word choice, sentence structure etc. The voice in writing can mean the difference between sounding like a twelve-year-old girl and a strict fifty-year-old English Teacher. It can also convey someone who knows what they’re talking about and someone who doesn’t.

• Imagination

This does not mean to try to be like Chaucer who didn’t like spelling the same word the same way twice. It also doesn’t mean to open the thesaurus and find big fancy words for simple words. What it does mean is to approach the topic from a different angle. For instance a blogger wants to talk about their favorite movies. Well, there are plenty of movies that do that but a different approach would be to take favorite movies and compare it to something the reader wouldn’t expect; For example, Lion King and “Rappuccini’s Daughter.”

• Audience

Who is the writing talking to? Just like people have different ways to talk to their parents, friends, or professors, writing has that same distinction depending on the audience. Writing about Jane Eyre for thirteen-year-olds who just read the book and a group of English majors in college who probably read the book at least twice is going to give two completely different articles.

Other things to consider

• Awareness
• Plagiarism
• Identification
• Revise! Revise! Revise!