Principles of Writing Style for Effective Communication

Subject: Principles of Style Synthesis

As requested, I have complied excerpts from various assigned readings in order to demonstrate how to write in a concise and effective manner within the professional world.

Principles of Writing Style and Effective Communication

Of all of the assigned readings we have completed, the most broad is an chapter written by George Harwell called “Effective Writing.” In the chapter he discusses the importance of being able to communicate clearly and accurately through writing. Most of the chapter’s emphasis is on clarity because “it is a prerequisite to [the writing] being fully grasped.” Joe Glaser also brings up the same point a few chapters later called “Voices to Shun: Typical modes of Bad Writing” when he says that in the professional world bad writing happens on account on being unclear due to carelessness or simply overwriting. In Joseph Williams’ book Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace, the first chapter we were assigned to read get’s even more specific with the theme of clarity by saying that the actions in our sentences have to be well defined, but not the subjects of sentences. In chapter 4, “Characters” Williams analyses the need for characters to be the subjects of sentences. He says that there is a need for a defined subject of the sentence to be defined character. He also stresses that when sentences are set up so that the emphasis is on the actions of the subject rather than the subject it self, it makes the sentence hard to follow. Aside from having clear and defined subjects, Jennifer MacLennan stresses the importance of cohesion in her chapter, “Getting it Together: Strategies for Writing Cohesively.” The way to engage readers quickly is by employing the “known-new contract” in which you precede new information with a bit that the reader would already know in order to show