5 Top Mistakes that Writers Make
We have almost 13,000 students enrolled in our eight Udemy writing courses so far (and we thank all of you for your support!). See: https://www.udemy.com/courses/search/?src=ukw&q=ugur%20akinci
Based on such extensive user data, we have identified the top five mistakes that students make while designing and writing their documents and papers.
- UNDERUTILIZED HEADERS and FOOTERS
Some students do not use any headers and footers at all which is a waste of valuable real estate when it comes to business writing or technical documentation. Some others underutilize it. Most popular footer item is the page number. But in a header or footer, you can also include such information as document title, copyright information, and running headers and footers (see https://www.technicalcommunicationcenter.com/2013/04/02/how-to-add-a-running-headers-or-footers-to-a-ms-word-technical-document/ for more info).
- MISSING TERMINATION PERIODS
Do not forget to terminate your procedural steps or descriptions with a period, especially for items in an unordered (bulleted) list. Rules of English grammar are valid for unordered list items as well ? .
- MIXING UP COPY AND BUSINESS OR TECHNICAL WRITING
Copywriting is to excite and entice consumers into buying something. Business and technical writing, on the other hand, is to administer a service or to describe how to use a product that is already purchased. Thus, there is no need to praise in documentation a product or service by phrases and sentences like “Congratulations for buying the best blender in the market today!”, “Rest assured that your phone system will serve you reliably for many years to come” or “Consumer surveys show the product you are holding in your hands is second to none in user satisfaction!”
- VIOLATING THE PROXIMITY PRINCIPLE
Your images, illustrations, drawings, or flowcharts must be placed as closely as possible to the text that refers to them. The images must be right next to the relevant text for maximum comprehension and information retention. When you place an image on page 5 but talk about it on page 4 or 6, that places additional cognitive load on the reader who must now expend an extra effort to establish the mental link between different pages.
- FLOWCHART DESIGN FLAWS
A flowchart is a great visual information tool. However, if not designed properly, it’ll lead to confusion and not clarification.
Keep these two important points in mind when designing a flowchart:
(5a) A flowchart must have a START point and an END point. Otherwise your user may not know where to start or end and get into an infinite loop.
(5b) Use very clear DECISION DIAMONDS with only TWO outcomes: YES and NO. Ask only questions in decision diamonds that can be answered with a YES or NO and you’ll instantly have a better flowchart. If the answer (for example) is “yellow” or “10.45” go back and redesign your decision diamond.
Write tight, stay bright, serve right!
