Shift the source of questionable information to maintain credibility.

What do you do if you are not confident about your ideas? You may still want to write it, but you don’t want to be accused of misleading your reader if the idea is proven wrong. The most common reason for hedging, after all, is fear that you will lose credibility and, frankly, look dumb.

Here’s what you do: Shift the source of the idea to a third party, i.e., give credit for the idea to someone else. Here’s an example.

Hedging: “I think tomorrow will be a warm day.”
[Risky approach; weak writing]

Confident: “Tomorrow will be a warm day.”
[Also risky; strong writing]

Shifted: “The weatherman said that tomorrow will be a warm day.”
[Not risky; shifted source; strong writing]

If the idea is proven wrong, you are not to blame, and you won’t lose credibility with your reader. And you won’t look dumb.

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This is the strategy for day 16 in 300 Days of Better Writing, available at Hostile Editing in PDF, Kindle, and paperback formats.

For a sample of 300 Days of Better Writing and other books by Precise Edit, download the free ebook.

Use topic chains to create cohesive paragraphs.

If you write a long paragraph (more than 4 or 5 sentences), how do you keep focused on the topic? How do you keep the reader aware of the main idea being discussed?

You do this with topic chains. A topic chain is basically a series of words and phrases that refer to the main idea. In most cases when you use a topic chain, each sentence will have one or more words that refer to the idea. If this is not possible with a particular sentence, you may need to consider whether or not that sentence belongs in the paragraph. Consider this paragraph from a proposal for state authorization to provide after school services to at-risk children.

The term disabilities comprises many conditions that may inhibit student learning. Often, students with disabilities require specialized instructional strategies to reduce the degree to which these inhibitors affect learning. Students with special needs require a highly-qualified teacher with training and experience in addressing such needs. As part of the tutor selection process, [the company] identifies those teachers possessing these unique skills, resulting in the ability to match students with special needs with teachers possessing appropriate teaching skills. Teachers will use strategies that allow for differentiated pacing with careful sequencing, monitoring, and control of the learning process.

The underlined words create the topic chain. As you can see, each sentence contains words that refer to the topic introduced in the first sentence. These words keep the reader focused on the topic.

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This is the strategy for day 137 in 300 Days of Better Writing, available at Hostile Editing in PDF, Kindle, and paperback formats.

For a sample of 300 Days of Better Writing and other books by Precise Edit, download the free ebook.

Respond to expected criticism.

If you present your ideas well, most readers will agree with you. However, some won’t, and they may have valid reasons for disagreeing. To earn their agreement, you have to think like they think. You have to address their criticisms. This is part of understanding your readers.

When writing, ask yourself, “What reasons will my readers have for disagreeing with me?”

I recommend that you list those reasons. Then, you have two strategies for addressing them. First, you can address those criticisms directly. For example, you might write, “While the argument can be made that . . . , in fact . . . .” Although this strategy works, you might seem as if you expect criticism (which you do) and are insecure about your ideas.

Second, you can revise, expand, and strengthen your arguments and rationale so that those criticisms are not possible. This is the more difficult, but more effective, strategy.

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This is the strategy for day 124 in 300 Days of Better Writing, available at Hostile Editing in PDF, Kindle, and paperback formats.

For a sample of 300 Days of Better Writing and other books by Precise Edit, download the free ebook.

Only use one exclamation mark, if any.

Exclamation marks generally do not have a place in formal business writing, though they may have a use in advertising text and narrative texts. However, if you do decide to use an exclamation mark, only use one at a time. Strings of exclamation marks are characteristic of amateur writers, and most readers will interpret them as a ploy to create artificial enthusiasm. In either case, using more than one exclamation mark at a time will damage your professional image and credibility.

Improper use: “This is the best sale of the year!!!!”
Proper use: “This is the best sale of the year!”

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