Writing for your Readers

"...prune your initial draft of marketese [jargon, eduspeak, psychobabble, legalese, etc.*] and focus on answering two questions:

• What? (What will users find on this page — i.e., what's its function?) 
• Why? (Why should they care — i.e., what's in it for them?)" 

—"Blah, Blah Text: Keep, Cut, or Kill?" *Brackets added by your instructor.

In Part 1 we made it easy to draw readers' eyes to the content, and last week we eliminated the jargon and unnecessary words from our instructional content. Now what? 

Now we turn outward to our students — the people we are writing for. How do we meet them where they are so we can guide them to where they need to be? 

How does your content relate to your students? Why should it matter to them?

As we have established, students are people with their own interests, mental blocks, emotions, shortcomings, schedules, and stresses. What do they want from your course? Do they even know? Why should they want it? What do they have to do to get it? 

Does the way you write your content make accomplishing these things easier or harder?
Can they read and understand your content quickly?

How can you make your text more engaging?

Here are a few tips:

• Write like you talk, but correct any glaring grammar and syntax errors.
• How would you express the information if you were speaking to students face to face? 
• How would you would explain it to a family member or friend at dinner?
• Read it out loud, or have a friend or colleague read it out loud to you. 

"Speaking onto the page" is the term writer Peter Elbow, professor emeritus of the University of Massachusetts, uses for reading your work out loud. See The Process of Speaking: What Can It Offer Writing? 

• Don't be afraid to use personal pronouns like "you" and "I".
• A conversational tone of voice can open a lot of doors. Remember, you are talking to human beings — not learning machines.

About Conversational Tone

Use a conversational, informal voice, but remember... 
"There's a big difference between a conversational voice on a celebrity gossip site and a conversational voice on a bank site."
—Julie Wildhaber

Conversational tone does not mean a lot of slang or lame attempts at youthful vernacular. Be yourself, but—

• Avoid clichés.
• Check your humor. Without seeing your face or hearing your voice, humor can be misinterpreted very easily online. And international students may not see the same humor. 
• Be respectful to your students. Some may already be knowledgeable. Some may only think they're knowledgeable. Other's may be completely new to the subject. But no one wants to be embarrassed. 
• Have some empathy for your readers. Empathy helps to guide your voice and tone. 
  
  

^{♦ "}Plain Language Is for Everyone, Even Experts" by Hoa Loranger, October 8, 2017
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/plain-language-experts/

*A few resources related to emotions and learning:

• http://www.cdl.org/articles/the-connections-between-emotions-and-learning/
• http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/oct94/vol52/num02/How-Emotions-Affect-Learning.aspx
• Brain Rules by John Medina, Pear Press, 2014.
• Emotions, Learning, and the Brain by Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, W.W. Norton and Company, 2016.

Other resources cited on this page:

• A Sense of Style by Steven Pinker, Penguin Random House, LLC, 2014.
• To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink, Riverhead Books, 2012.
• https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/understanding-voice-and-tone-in-writing