Plain Writing 3: Discerning Mechanics & Media

We're talking about the need to know and follow the mechanics and consider the medium…

Plain Writing II: Getting Your Duck/Points in a Row

Let's investigate some strategies for organizing your project to meet three metrics: readers should be…

A Doomed Argument, Straw Man, and Hasty Generalization

With both straw man arguments and hasty generalizations, the level and quality of detail and…

Plain Writing: Your Audience and Its Goals

The directive "write with your audience in mind” seems like no-brainer advice, but many writers…

What Makes Up Circular Arguments & Red Herrings?

There are quite a few specific types of formal and informal logical fallacy: begging the…

How to Write an Effective Restaurant Menu

Providing your customers with their choices in a well-organized, stylish, descriptive, informative, and pleasing-to-touch (i.e.,…

Tips for Defining Your Terms in Academic Writing

Here are some tips about defining important terms in academic writing to best ensure your…

Become a Better Writer through Freewriting

You are not doomed to be a third-grade-quality writer. You need to unleash your writing…

3 Easy Steps for Lovely Thank-You Notes

According to Emily Post, “No fill-in-the-blank cards, no pre-printed cards, no phone calls, no emails,…

Easy Guide to Writing a Knitting Pattern

I call this an “easy guide” because actually writing down a pattern can be anything…

How Not to Write Like a Lawyer: Part 2

So, now the time has come when you want to write about something that you…

How Not to Write Like a Lawyer (and Why You Shouldn’t Want To): Part 1

It’s little wonder that when people can’t or don’t want to hire a lawyer, they…

Can Writers Evade Bias, Sexism, and Racism?

Language is always changing to reflect material developments and changing ideas, so it’s important to…

5 Cancelled Terms & Sayings

Several phrases have been cancelled in recent years for good reasons, but there have been…

How to Use Character Maps and Unicode

The Unicode Consortium, a nonprofit based in Mountain View, California, was founded in 1991 to…

Why Adverbs Can Be Bad

Problems with Jargon and More When Writing for General Audiences

Writing on a specialized topic for nonspecialists can be a challenge for writers of all…

Common Errors When Using Names

For readability and clarity and out of respect for those referred to, it is important…

Guide to Transitions: Sentences

Last time, we talked about transitioning from topic to topic, which means from paragraph to…

Quick Guide to Transitions: Paragraphs

Transitions are essential to making sense in a proposition or argument, so it’s little wonder…