By Dana P Skopal, PhD
During our work projects, we often hear people say that they cannot write. This goes back to the question of how do we define writing – especially ‘writing’ in the workplace. Writing a business case or a policy requires researching the issue and knowing your topic. Next comes planning your document and then drafting.
Another issue with writing is that many people seem to write long descriptive background information, which can lose a reader. Hence planning your text means knowing what you want to say and to say it succinctly.
Think about what message you want to get across and why it is important. In academic writing, we refer to Robert Brown’s eight questions. This is similar to a checklist that writers use: list the five Ws and one H on one page (who, what, when, where, why, how).
The first step is to know who your readers are, which aligns with the principles of plain English. Then in no more than 50 words for each question, answer the following:
- What did you do?
- Why did you do it?
- What happened?
- What do the results mean in theory?
- What do the results mean in practice?
- What is the key benefit for your readers?
- What remains unresolved?
This process allows you to form a summary of your document, which can also guide you to write an executive summary. Another approach is to write one sentence to explain each of the following:
- background of the issue (context)
- how the issue affects the reader
- recommendation / proposal for a solution
- why your solution needs to be considered
- outcomes / next steps.
If you cannot explain the point in one sentence, then maybe you are not exactly certain of what you want to say.
By focusing on these key points, you can plan your document and start writing. If you are using headings, remember that your sub-headings should ‘add up’ to your main heading. For long documents, listing your sub-headings on one page can also help you plan before writing up the content. Headings act as signposts and are another way to check your structure is clear and logical for your reader.
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