1. Write in a Style That a Dope Can Understand and a Professional Would Appreciate
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The Feinberg Way (adapted/adopted/copied from the Bloomberg Way: A Guide for Reporters and Editors)
1. Write in a style that a dope can understand and a professional would appreciate.
2. Clear, accurate and convincing.
3. Information that relates to the class.
4. Diligent enough to correct your mistakes as soon as you become aware.
5. Humble enough to know you can always do better.
6. Clear writing is clear thinking.
7. Pithy, interesting, humorous isn’t bad.
8. Good writing is perceived as authority and gets respect, poor writing is perceived as ignorance and gets disrespect.
9. Imagine that I am sitting on an airplane next to the CEO of (fill in the name of a company you want to work for) and I am reading YOUR paper…YOU MUST NOT DISAPPOINT IF THEY READ IT.
10. While most of us will not write like Dickens (we might not want to) or Tom Clancy or Carl Hiaasen (you should get any of his books) we can all right with clarity, with knowledge of the subject, simple sentences, with good ideas.
11. Never use a long word if a short one will do.
12. If it is possible to cut a word or a sentence or a paragraph…DO IT.
13. Never use the passive when you can use the active… http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/539/01/
14. KISS..write as if your brothers/sisters, mothers/fathers, spousal units, paramours and others will be reading it.
15. Show don’t just tell….good writing is good story telling. Your nouns and verbs will do the work. Use examples and anecdotes to convince the reader you know what you are talking about.
16. Use no more or less than you need to make your point.
17. Have a point by the way.
18. The longer the sentence the less readable. Chop long sentences into short ones. If you have to take a breath as you read your sentence break it up. 19. No run-on sentences containing separate ideas that have no relationship to each other.
20. Try to avoid HYPE,
21. Attribution and documentation defines a story you are telling.
22. Titles are important…they are fun and informative and frame the paper.
23. You are defined by your work.
24. I am doing my best is not acceptable if it sucks…find a way…this doesn’t mean someone else writes it. It may mean they read it and give feedback.
25. Good writing is not copies from other places without proper attribution and citation.
26. Read it over…and then sleep and then read it again.
27. Now as NIIKE tells us…JUST DO IT.