Writing Tips

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Writing Tips

• News Reporting and Writing Workshop
• Journalism and Media Studies Centre
• Gene Mustain

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Writing Tips

• A sentence should contain no unnecessary
  words, for the same reason that a drawing should
  have no unnecessary lines and a machine no
  unnecessary parts. This requires not only that
  the writer make all his sentences short, or that
  he avoid all detail and treat his subject only in
  outline, but that every word tell.
• The Elements of Style

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Writing Tips

• If any man were to ask me what I would
  suppose to be a perfect style of language, I
  would answer.A man speaking to 500 people,
  idiots or lunatics excepted, should be understood
  by them all, and in the same sense which the
  speaker intended to be understood.
• Daniel Defoe

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Writing Tips

• If language is not correct, then what is said
  is not what is meant if what is said is not what
  is meant, then what ought to be done remains
  undone.
• Confucius

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Writing Tips

• The news media serve a large, diverse audience
  to reach the most people, news writers must
  present information in a clear and interesting
  way. Every word tells.

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Writing Tips

• Good news writing is more than the use of
  simple words. It is
• --Using the correct words.
• --Composing sentences carefully.
• --Finding a pace and tone that matches the
  material.

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Good Writing

• 1) In general, keep sentences short. But vary
  their length.
• Short sentences pack power. They are efficient
  and can be dramatic.
• Short, medium, long, short, medium -- variety
  yields rhythm, and keeps the reader moving
  through a story.

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Good Writing

• 2) Simple sentences, not complex.
• Simple Experts said the chief executive is
  resigning for several reasons. The first is that
  
• Complex Experts said the chief executive is
  resigning because he did not like Hu Jintao
  criticizing him and because he is tired of
  constant fighting with legislators and because,
  as a former businessman, he wasnt prepared for
  the political challenges of running a successful
  government.

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Good Writing

• 3) Use words people know.
• Do not send people to the dictionary. Dont
  give them reasons to put your story down.

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Good Writing

• 4) Dont use unnecessary words, as this
  paragraph does.
• A factory in Yuen Long where a powerful blast
  killed three workers and injured four others late
  on Saturday evening has been found to have had
  failed two safety inspections last year. (32
  words)

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Good Writing

• Try to write this way instead
• A Yuen Long factory where a Saturday explosion
  killed three workers and injured four failed two
  safety inspections last year. (20 words -- 12
  less)

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Good Writing

• 5) Use active voice use strong verbs.
• Active A leaking gas tank triggered the
  explosion.
• Passive The explosion was caused by a leaking
  gas tank.

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Good Writing

• 6) Write the way people talk direct and
  plain, not like this
• The manager of a money-lending firm, who
  pleaded guilty to dishonestly appropriating 2.4
  million from his employer, has been described by
  two Democratic Party legislators as a honest man
  with many good qualities. (34 words)

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Good Writing

• Instead, write like this.
• Two Democratic Party legislators say a manager
  who stole 2.4 million from his boss is a honest
  man with many good qualities. (22 words 11
  less)

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Good Writing

• 7) Use words that help readers see, not words
  that blind them
• The first and only International
  Anti-Corruption Newsletter is being published on
  the Internet by the Independent Commission
  Against Corruption (ICAC) of the Hong Kong
  government.

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Good Writing

• Instead, help readers see
• Hong Kongs anti-corruption agency is
  publishing the first Internet newsletter designed
  to help investigators around the world to fight
  crime.

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Good Writing

• 8) Develop your own style and voice.
• From Elements of Style Every writer, by the
  way he/she uses language, reveals something of
  their spirit, their habits, their capacity.Put
  your own brand on your writing.

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Good Writing

• 9) Try to express, not impress.
• Even though writing is an act of ego, you want
  to express ideas, not impress people. So use
  clear, simple language. When you try to impress,
  rather than express, you can quickly and easily
  embarrass yourself.

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Good Writing

• Best tip for last
• 10) After you are done, rewrite it. And then
  rewrite it again.