New Abstract Writer: Don’t Confuse Your Reader With Your Words
- Posted by Essays Blog in Essays Blog |
- April 2nd, 2009 |
- Comments
OVERVIEW
Act confusing your Reader with the words you consume. Your Reader is trying his/her best to believe how your product works without having to figure out your writing. Here are any writing guidelines to help you act baffling your Reader.
SAME CONCEPT: SAME WORDS
Person Documents are not meant to be entertaining. Do not attempt to be creative, especially by exploitation synonyms for circumstantial concepts in your product. When you talk about a issue consume the exact same diction to describe (or name) the issue everywhere in your Person Document.
For example, the “Same Concept: Same Words” guideline, says that if thither is a control on your product called the “Activation Button,” so everywhere you talk about that button consume the constituent “Activation Button.”
Don’t be “creative” and consume words like “Activation Control” or “Start Control” to refer to the “Activation Button.” Exploitation the different wordings forces your Reader to have to act and believe “Is this the same abstraction as ‘Activation Button’?”
DIFFERENT CONCEPTS: DIFFERENT WORDS
I bought something on the Internet that had a rebate available for it. When I ordered the product, I was given a “Pursuit Number” to monitor the progress of my order. This is common for orders from large companies.
When I applied for the rebate, the rebate company old the same morpheme, “Pursuit Number,” but this time it meant “their rebate pursuit number.” When their site asked for “pursuit number” I entered the only one that I knew, the product ordering pursuit number. I was wrong; the rebate number was a all different abstraction.
The Rebate number is different from the order pursuit number and should have a real different name from the order pursuit number.
One might argue that “the rebate company is a abstracted company, and must handle rebates for all sorts of sellers.” Careful, but they can consume a real circumstantial name for their rebate pursuit number. They can call it the “Rebate Identification Number.” That name would not be old by any selling company to belt an order. The problem is solved. No Person would confuse “Pursuit Number” with “Rebate Identification Number.”
QUIZ
Given the information in the previous cardinal sections of this Article, wouldn’t it be really confused if the rebate company originally called it the “Rebate Identification Number” and so unheralded switched to calling it the “Rebate ID”? Answer: Yes, it would be real confused. The change forces the Reader to have to ask, “Is this the same abstraction as the ‘Rebate Identification Number’?”
It’s not that your Reader is also anserine or lazy to figure out what you mean. It’s that your Reader has better things to do than to decipher your writing.
WORDS YOUR READER DOESN’T KNOW
Jargon is the crosscut language of any industry. Make careful that if you consume jargon in your Person Document, you explain what it means. If the writing project can afford the bit of time, I recommend that you include a glossary in your Person Document. Define all the jargon, acronyms, and words that you might consume in distance your Reader might not expect. A great example of the latter are “debit” and “credit.” The common apprehension of these words is exactly opposite to those in the accounting (banking) profession.
Advise: Be fishy of any words your spell-checker identifies. Ask yourself cardinal questions when your spell-checker identifies a misspelled morpheme:
* Did I really charm that morpheme incorrectly?
* If it’s spelled correctly, am I certain that my Reader knows what the morpheme (or acronym) means? If it’s not in the spell-checker’s dictionary it might not be in your Reader’s cognition.
DON’T BE AMBIGUOUS
I have a notebook computer running MS Windows XP. If I am exploitation the Media Player and I press the keys to hibernate the computer (put it into an energy-saving kip country), something warns me that hibernating will lose my place in the recording. It so asks: “Do you deprivation to continue? Yes/No.” Continue what?: Continue hibernating, or Continue observance the recording? It would only accept one or cardinal more words to remove the ambiguity.
THE BOTTOM LINE
When you revise your writing, make careful that your Reader does not have to guess what a morpheme might mean. If you mean the same abstraction as another concept, consume the exact same name. If you mean something different, so consume as different (single) a name as you can. Define jargon, acronyms, and any outstandingly old words. Eliminate ambiguity.
Your reader is awkward enough having to read your Person Document, instead of exploitation your product. Don’t make things worsened by exploitation diction that makes your Reader have to exercise its meaning.