Language Barriers – Avoiding Jargon
By Elizabeth Vaughan | September 3, 2008
An article that appeared in in Eos, the magazine of the American Geophysical Union, asks the question, “How can climate scientists be more effective at communicating what they know, how they know it, and how they are sure of it?” The author, Susan Joy Hassol, points out that scientists are neither trained nor rewarded for communicating with the general public. In fact, like many other professions, science contains technical terminology that hinders clear communication with people outside the field.
Climate change is an especially interesting example because the public has a keen interest in understanding what scientists know about it and how they can be sure, as this knowledge could change the way they vote and behave. But jargon gets in the way. For example, when scientists use the word “enhance,” they mean “increase,” but to the general public it means “improve.” So, when a scientist says that the greenhouse effect is enhanced, that sounds like a bad thing to the scientist and a good thing to the general audience. While “fresh” might make me think of a cool breeze or a clean pile of laundry, to a scientist it just means “not salty.” The list goes on.
Hassol makes some great suggestions for climate scientists to help them get their messages across to a non-scientific audience, but the lesson that we must think like our readers holds for professionals in any field. Ironically, the more experienced you are in your profession, the more apt you are to overlook terms of art that have a different meaning — or no meaning at all –to the general public. If you only write for other members of your profession, this is not a problem. But most of us are called upon to explain what we do to non-experts, whether they are clients, investors, or a public hungry for information.
Lawyers are frequently guilty of falling into the jargon trap when communicating with clients and the media. While to you “consideration” may mean value given in exchange for something to form a binding contract, to your client it may mean remembering his wife’s birthday. While you might be pleased to announce that the Supreme Court has granted certiorari, the general public would be more interested in knowing that it agreed to hear the case.
Why should you care about communicating clearly outside of your profession? The answer lies in simple psychology. When people can’t understand what they read, it frustrates them and turns them off, and they tend to set the document aside and forget about it. Whether you’re a scientist trying to get the public to take action on global warming, a nonprofit trying to get a grant, or a sales representative hoping to attract and keep customers, losing the audience’s attention is the last thing you want to do. As a lawyer, giving your client a clear understanding of what’s going on in her case can avoid misunderstandings that lead to bar complaints. No matter what your profession, explaining yourself clearly and understandably makes you look like an expert. Remember, the greatest writers write to make their readers feel smart. The worst writers write to make themselves feel smart. Whom are you trying to impress?
No matter what your profession, try giving your business writing the jargon test. After you’ve written your document, go back and re-read it, putting yourself in your reader’s shoes. Have you used any terms that have a different meaning in your profession than for the general reader? Have you explained concepts in a way that your audience will readily understand? Have you made any unrealistic assumptions about what the audience already knows?
Remember that we write for our readers, not for ourselves. By thinking like your reader, you’re really thinking like a writer!
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Accentuate the Positive
By Elizabeth Vaughan | August 31, 2008
There’s nothing like a political campaign to provide vivid examples of what works and doesn’t work in writing. Although some of the best speeches sound casual and conversational, you can bet that someone — whether it’s the candidate, a bevy of speechwriters, or a combination of these — perspired over each and every word to make sure it would achieve maximum effect on the audience. Whether we agree with the candidates’ positions or not, we can learn a lot by examining their speeches.
One subtle technique that’s easy to implement in your writing is the use of positive and negative phrases. As William Safire notes in his book How Not to Write:
“Whenever a speaker wants to cozy up to an audience, he urges them warmly to remember; when he wants to waggle his finger and annoy his audience, as some hellfire preachers and losing politicians do, he warns them sternly not to forget. The positive style persuades; the negative style turns off.”
While this is a simple concept, it’s amazing how many writers weaken their own prose by using negative phrases where they don’t belong. Negative verbs come across as nagging and whiny, whereas positive ones inspire action. Compare the persuasive effect of a sign that says “Don’t Litter” to that of one that says “Keep America Beautiful.” Nancy Reagan wisely encouraged kids to “just say no” rather than scolding them with “don’t take drugs.” The mind naturally responds better to “yes” than to “no.” Of course, if the goal really is to weaken verbs, by all means, use negative constructions. Politicians know that “I don’t recall” has a softer ring to it than “I forgot.”
Similarly, making adjectives negative robs them of their power and imparts a weary tone. We worry more about a phenomenon that is “prevalent” than one that’s “not uncommon.” There’s a reason why that movie poster describes the film as “Action-packed!” rather than “Not dull!” People don’t rush out to see a not-dull film, and they’re unlikely to be inspired by negative constructions in other types of writing, either.
Take a look at your writing and see where negative constructions might be making it flabby. Is your writing lively and impactful…or just not uninteresting?
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Quotation Mark “Epidemic”
By Elizabeth Vaughan | August 21, 2008
A good friend of mine who knows what a writing geek I am alerted me to the delightful blogs The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks and Apostrophe Abuse. With wit and humor, these blogs use photos of signs and printed materials that the bloggers and their readers have encountered in daily life to point out the frightening phenomenon of quotation marks and apostrophes running wild. Here are a few favorites:
To review:
Quotation marks are not used for emphasis.
The apostrophe is not used to form plurals.
If you knew these rules already, congratulations! You’re already way ahead of many sign writers. Be sure to send any egregious and entertaining examples of quotation mark and apostrophe abuse that you encounter to these great blogs so we can all enjoy them.
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Are good writers made or born?
By Elizabeth Vaughan | August 20, 2008
A common lament I hear when working with people on their writing is “I’m just not a writer,” or “I’ve never been any good at writing.” For some, this belief came from someone telling them that they don’t write well, such as a teacher or a supervisor. Others simply assume they are “bad writers” because writing feels so difficult.
In truth, writing is hard work for everyone. If someone gets up every morning and goes for a run, we call that person a runner. We don’t add the additional requirement that they not break a sweat. While it’s true that writing, like running, comes more naturally to some people than to others, it’s also true that we don’t all have to write the Great American Novel any more than all runners have to compete in Olympic track and field. Most of us don’t need to create works of great literature on a daily basis — we need to get our ideas across in words that are clear, efficient, and correct. I believe that anyone can learn to write this way, not just that rare beast, more often cited than seen, the “born writer.”
Don’t believe me? Consider what the following writers have had to say about their craft:
As those move easiest who have learn’d to dance.”
~Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism
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Grammar Blooper of the Week: Neither Are
By Elizabeth Vaughan | August 15, 2008
If you have a keen editorial eye, you never have to look far to see bad grammar running wild in the streets. Here at Working Prose, we like to make note of the most instructive or amusing grammar errors we run across and share them with our readers. If you encounter a great example of usage that is more daft than deft, by all means, send it our way.
The Olympic Games are on everybody’s mind these days, and this week’s Grammar Blooper of the Week comes from an article by Chris Chase on Yahoo Sports that investigates the interesting question “why do divers shower immediately after diving?” It turns out it’s to keep their muscles warm, a trick we’re thinking of trying here at Working Prose.
The article states (emphasis added):
Theories have ranged from ‘to get the chlorine off’ to ‘they want to have fun’ — seriously, that last one is a direct quote from NBC’s diving analyst, Cynthia Potter. Neither are the reason.
The error of using a plural verb after the pronouns “either” and “neither” is a fairly common one. This is probably because when we use “either” and “neither,” it seems like we’re referring to two things (”Neither of the two divers was cold after taking a nice, warm shower.”). Gramatically, however, “neither” and “either” function as singular pronouns, a fact that is more apparent in this sentence: “Either Troy or Laura is going to win a gold medal.” Either Troy is or Laura is. No one would say “either Troy are or Laura are.”
A helpful hint for avoiding this error is to mentally insert the word “one” after “either” and “neither.” The word “one” serves as a reminder that these pronouns are singular. Although many make the error of writing “neither of the two divers were cold,” it’s less intuitive to write “neither one of the two were cold.” Because you know that it’s correct to say “one was cold,” you also know to say “neither one was cold.”
Whatever else you do, don’t suggest that divers shower to get the chlorine off, or just for the fun of it. Neither is the reason.
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Writing is Writing
By Elizabeth Vaughan | August 11, 2008
Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia proclaimed yesterday “I do not believe that legal writing exists.” A curious statement, considering he was accepting a lifetime achievement award from the American Society of Legal Writers. Perhaps they should change their name. Seriously, though, I couldn’t agree more. Justice Scalia went on to say,
That is to say, I do not believe it exists as a separate genre of writing. Rather, I think legal writing belongs to that large, undifferentiated, unglamorous category of writing known as nonfiction prose. Someone who is a good legal writer would, but for the need to master a different substantive subject, be an equivalently good writer of history, economics or, indeed, theology.
Justice Scalia’s remarks raise an interesting question: What is it that makes lawyers think that legal writing is different? While legal writing does have a few small differences, such as the need to cite authority, these features don’t account for the florid and opaque style that many lawyers use. Instead, I suspect that the cumbersome style often found in legal writing is a result of the writer trying to “sound like a lawyer” by using, for example, passive verbs, outdated language, and lots and lots of latin. Isn’t that the way to convince the court that you are clever and serious?
If you won’t take it from me, you now have it on the authority of a Supreme Court Justice: Good writing is good writing, whether it appears in a scholarly journal, a business memorandum, or (yes!) even a court of law.
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Got Style?
By admin | August 5, 2008
When I speak to law firms and businesses about their writing needs, many are surprised when I ask them if they have a style guide. While many people are under the impression that style guides are only for publishers and academics, in truth, anyone whose working life includes writing can benefit from using one. In addition to using a published style guide such as the Chicago Manual of Style, it’s useful to have an in-house style guide that addresses issues not covered in the printed guides, or ones for which your business has its own style.
Why do you need a style guide? First, it gives writers a quick and easy reference for questions that might otherwise send them on a wild goose chase. If associates do a Google search to find out whether “administrative law judge” should be capitalized (it shouldn’t), they’ll waste a lot of time and get conflicting answers. Even if you’ve reached a consensus within your office about these sorts of questions, having that knowledge in writing makes it easier for new employees to learn the preferred style. Another great reason to have a style guide is that it gets employees thinking about writing and creates an office culture in which good writing is valued and discussed. Finally, having a style guide will reflect well on your firm or business, as the writing your employees produce will be consistent – particularly important when multiple employees are collaborating on the same document or where employees commonly sign documents in their supervisor’s name.
How do you go about creating a style guide? I’m not suggesting that you write your own version of the Chicago Manual, complete with index. Instead, try these simple steps.
1. Start by selecting a respected, published style manual. Rather than re-invent the wheel, start by choosing a published style manual and a dictionary. As mentioned above, the Chicago Manual of Style is a well-respected manual, as is the Associated Press Style Guide. For law firms, I also recommend Bryan Garner’s The Elements of Legal Style and The Redbook: A Manual of Legal Style. For science-related businesses, the American Psychological Association’s Publications Manual may be more appropriate, whereas many scholarly publications prefer the Modern Language Association Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. It doesn’t matter so much which volume you choose, as long as you choose just one and stick with it. Depending on the size of your business, you may want to buy a copy for every employee, or keep one in a shared location so everyone can use it.
2. Begin a list of common style questions. Some firms find it helpful to choose one or two people within the firm to be in charge of this task. Have this Keeper of the Style Flame start a list of style questions and their answers and keep it on a shared drive, accessible to all employees. Have other employees e-mail The Keeper with their style questions. If the question is a common or important one and is not addressed in the standard style manual, add it to the in-house manual in alphabetical order.
3. Start a dialogue. Make it a habit to ask, at the end of every staff meeting, whether anyone has encountered any sticky writing situations since the last meeting. The Keeper can also bring up any style questions that employees have submitted, and you can discuss them as a firm to come to a consensus. You may be surprised to learn that your employees have strong opinions on such issues as hyphens and the serial comma!
4. Know what style isn’t. Before putting something in the style guide, be sure to find out whether there is a right answer. Style isn’t the same thing as grammar, spelling, or punctuation. The former are matters of preference not addressed by any set rule, while the latter have rules that should be followed unless you have a good reason to depart from them (intentional misspellings or idiomatic usages in advertising copy, for example, are common). Consult your published style guide and dictionary before making up your own wacky rule.
5. Don’t include everything. Not every issue brought up in a staff meeting necessarily needs to go in your style guide. The Keeper should be free to make judgement calls about which issues are important and common enough to go in, to avoid uncontrolled growth.
6. Do include a definition of plagiarism and your company policy on plagiarism. Plagiarism is not just unethical – it can get your business into serious legal hot water. Make sure employees are clear on what plagiarism is, how to avoid it, and the fact that your firm takes it seriously. Refer them to the published style guide for proper citation formats, if needed.
7. Embrace change. While the purpose of a style guide is to ensure consistency, language changes and over time, and your style guide can, too. Especially in this era of rapid technological change, new words go from odd to mainstream in record time (think about the word “blog,” for example). Updating your style manual from time to time will keep your business documents from sounding antiquated and will allow for changes in the tastes of your audience…or your management!
While it may seem like a lot of work, a style guide is actually easy to start and can grow over time into an indispensable tool that makes your firm or business stand out above your competitors.
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Welcome to the Working Prose Blog.
By Elizabeth Vaughan | July 7, 2008
Here at Working Prose, we’re excited to be adding our voice to the Blogosphere, which seems like a great way to share our mission of promoting excellence in professional writing. The purpose of this blog is to share information and tips about writing, promote discussion, and generally serve as a resource and a forum for all of us who use words for a living.
If you have suggestions for topics you’d like to see covered on the blog, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Also, if you’re interested in having the wit and wisdom of Working Prose delivered to your inbox, please do sign up for our newsletter.
I’m looking forward to collaborating with you in making writing feel easier, ring truer, and get you the results you seek. Here’s to your getting your success in writing!
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