The Way Things are Written

     An article on Lifehacker entitled Improve Your Resume with This Simple Formula caught our attention yesterday. More specifically, the picture used grabbed us, since the resume is marked up. It's clear that writing is more important than ever because of the internet, and that the way in which certain things are written is becoming more diverse to suit the specific needs of people and businesses.
     Every piece of writing has a desired audience, which helps shape the writing. The business memo is quite different from a reflective journal; the doctoral dissertation is yet different not just in length and format, but in the discipline's jargon.
     What we see emerging in the business world is a general streamlining. Here's what we've been noticing (presentend in time-saving bullet points):

• Use shorter sentences and paragraphs to quickly catch the audience's attention because time is at a premium. 
• Do not obfuscate meaning at all; come straight to the point. 
• Use active voice to highlight actions. 
• Use words and vocabulary effectively; don't try to impress people by digging into the thesaurus. 

    This is just a short list of changes out there. But like with all writing, it takes time to form the habit to become good at it, and feedback in order to know what to change.