1

Preparation Tip sheet

Golden 1 Know your reader 8 Identify gaps, trends,
Rule themes, and differences of
2 Think about what you want opinion
to tell your reader and why
9 If needed, get more material
3 Think about how many to fill the gaps or to clarify
words you’ve got and how the issues
much time you have
10 Brainstorm your answer; if it
4 Put your topic in the form of helps, use a mind map
a question
11 Write some headings and
5 Read everything you can subheadings to frame your
about your question answer; use your categories
to help you
6 Take notes, highlight
passages, photocopy 12 Phrase your headings like
pages, copy and paste they’re summaries of your
paragraphs, download arguments
passages from the Internet,
and collect ideas from other 13 Paste or transcribe the
sources into a computer file material you’ve collected
or hard-copy folders under the relevant headings

7 When you keep finding the 14 Start writing, without

same references, stop stopping
reading and start grouping
your materials into
categories

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 2
Structure Tip sheet
The introduction The conclusion
15 Tell the reader the question 22 Keep your conclusion short
you’re answering
23 Summarise your answer,
Power 16 Give your answer upfront but restate it freshly
Tip
17 Briefly explain the reasons 24 End powerfully; consider:
for your answer (‘I have
answered this way „ suggesting the next step
because …’) „ ending with a good quote
„ linking to the introduction
The body
„ listing the reasons your
18 Focus each paragraph on answer is right
one idea that supports your
„ leaving the reader with a
answer
powerful image
19 Use the first sentence in „ mentioning the
each paragraph to explain implications of your
the point of that paragraph answer
„ ending with a slightly
20 Use the rest of the
different angle on your
paragraph to amplify your
answer
point, support it with
evidence, qualify it, or give
examples

21 Link your paragraphs by—

„ opening with words like

‘But’, ‘Also,’ and
‘Moreover’; or
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 3
Word Tip sheet
Choice

Golden 25 Write for your reader 41 Don’t write ‘he/she’ or ‘he or

Rule
she’
26 Write as if you’re talking
with your reader 42 Don’t write ‘and/or’
27 Use ‘I’ and ‘you’ 43 Avoid clichés
28 Use contractions unless 44 Avoid exclamation marks
your writing is formal
45 Connect modifying words to
29 See if you can avoid ‘am’, the words they modify (for
‘be’, ‘is’, ‘are’, ‘was’, ‘been’, example, ‘I gave him only
‘were’, and ‘being’ $1’, not ‘I only gave him
$1’)
30 Prefer small words to big
words 46 Use the same word for the
same thing
31 Prefer simple words to hard
words 47 Change negative phrases to
positive phrases (for
32 Prefer specific words to
example, write ‘he forgot’
general words
rather than ‘he did not
33 Prefer English words to remember’)
foreign words
48 Ignore the ‘rule’ that you
34 Prefer non-technical words can’t start sentences with
to technical words ‘So’, ‘And’, and ‘But’
35 If you must use a foreign 49 Ignore the ‘rule’ that you
word or a technical word, can’t end sentences with
then define the word words like ‘to’ and ‘of’
36 Know the difference 50 Take care with pronouns—
between ‘that’ and ‘which’ make sure your reader
37 Prefer verbs to nouns (for knows what ‘it’ refers to
example, use ‘apply’ rather 51 Don’t use ‘former’ or ‘latter’
than ‘make an application’)
52 Avoid filler phrases like ‘It
38 Prefer short sentences to should be noted that’
long sentences (aim for an
53 Be consistent with matters
average of 20 words)
like ‘-ise’ and ‘-ize’ and
39 Prefer short paragraphs to capitalization
long paragraphs (aim for an
54 Use 1 noun to name 1 thing
average of under 100
words) 55 Don’t use ‘&’ unless it’s in a
company name
40 Use 50 to 70 characters a
line

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 4
Punctuation Tip sheet
56 List a series in order of 62 For light interruptive
Power
syllables, like this: ‘pea, phrases, like this, use
Tip
grape, apple, orange, and commas rather than em-
cucumber’ (unless there’s a dashes
simpler, explicit, familiar, or
otherwise better order) 63 For heavy interruptive
phrases — this is an
57 Put a comma before the last example — use em-dashes
item in a series, like this: ‘a, rather than parentheses
b, and c’
64 Use well-recognized
58 Define your acronyms—for symbols rather than words
example, ‘the Securities (for example, write ‘99%’
Exchange Commission rather than ‘99 percent’)
(SEC)’
65 Hyphenate adjectival
59 Don’t use periods in phrases (for example, ‘well-
abbreviations (for example, recognised symbols’)
write ‘Mr’ rather than ‘Mr.’)
66 For introductory phrases,
60 Don’t abbreviate ‘for use a comma
example’ to ‘eg’
67 Put footnote numbers after
61 Don’t abbreviate ‘that is’ to punctuation, like this.1
‘ie’

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 5
Layout Tip sheet
68 Put more space above 80 Prefer lowercase to
headings than below uppercase
headings
81 Don’t write in ALL
69 Use larger type for headings CAPITALS
than for subheadings
82 Avoid slashes (/)
70 Use larger type for
subheadings than for sub- 83 Don’t use hyphens for en-
subheadings dashes(–) or for em-dashes
(—)
71 Left-align your headings
84 Use 10-point, 11-point, or
72 Left-align your text 12-point font size, or higher
for special documents
Power 73 Use lists for important ideas
Tip 85 Use lots of white space
74 Unless you want to rank
86 Use serif fonts like Times
your ideas, or you want to
New Roman for print
cite your list, use bullets for
lists 87 Use san serifs fonts like
Arial for websites
75 Don’t have single words as
the last line on the top of the 88 Use no more than 2 fonts in
page 1 document

76 Don’t have single lines at 89 Order your information

the top or bottom of the down columns rather than
page across rows

77 Use examples to help your 90 Put citations in footnotes

reader to understand
91 Don’t hide important ideas
78 Don’t underline in footnotes

79 Use bold and italics for 92 Don’t have headings at the

emphasis, but don’t overdo bottom of the page
them

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Review Tip sheet
93 Put your work away for a few days before reviewing it

94 Cut redundant words

95 Cut wordy phrases

96 Cut a quarter of your first draft

97 Check your spelling

98 Take care with words that sound the same (like ‘their’, ‘there’, and
‘they’re’)

Power 99 Use software to help you (see www.write-better-english.com for a list)

Tip
100 Edit your work at least once on paper

101 Get someone to read your work

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