HALLMARKS OF GOOD WRITING

[Course Policies]

 

Clarity Simplicity & Brevity Logic Grammar & Spelling
Checking Grammar & Spelling Use of Tables, Graphs & Exhibits References & Reference Lists Writing Style Manuals & Websites

 

In writing reports, you should refer to a good manual of English grammar and writing style (see the Manuals of English Grammar and Writing Style section at the end of these guidelines for recommendations and on-line guides). You should use the following criteria to guide your writing of all assignments.

 

Clarity
Clarity is the most important criterion of good writing. The reader should be able to understand quickly and effortlessly a written report. People will not read a report if they have to decipher its meaning. Some methods for increasing clarity include:
  1. English is a precise language. Try to find the right word, not one that the reader could interpret to have a different meaning than the idea you are trying to convey. Strive to write sentences that readers can interpret in only one way.
  1. In general, you should write in active voice. In a sentence written in passive voice, the subject is acted upon rather than acting. This is lifeless. For example the sentence, "The procedures are listed in a manual, " is passive (and dull). The sentence doesn't tell us who is listing these procedures. Rewriting this sentence to, "The assistant controller documents all procedures in a manual," identifies who is acting and thus, provides greater information to the reader.
    1. A good rule of thumb is to place the actor and action in the beginning of the sentence (often in the first five words).
    1. You should use passive voice sentences deliberately on the very few occasions when you want to emphasize what is acted upon rather than who is acting.  For example, Tom Wicker once opened an article on the assassination of President Kennedy with the passive voice sentence, "President … Kennedy was shot and killed by an assassin today" because he wanted to emphasize President Kennedy (the sentence's object) not the assassin (the sentence's subject).
    1. You can use word processing software to help you find and rephrase passive voice sentences.  The Checking Grammar, Spelling and Readability section below explains how to do this in Microsoft Word.
  1. Each paragraph should be necessary to support the idea of the report. Topic sentences should capture one aspect of the report's idea for the paragraph. Each sentence in the paragraph must logically support the topic sentence. Paragraphs should be complete: you should fully develop the paragraph's topic. Arrange the sequence of sentences is some kind of order: time order (as in a narrative of what happened), space order (as in a description of a physical place), or logical order. Examples of logical order are cause to effect, effect to cause, general to specific, and specific to general.
  1. The report's main text should refer to any table, graph, exhibit, and illustration that you include. Readers, however, should be able to understand these visual aids without reference to the written report.

Simplicity and Brevity [Top of Page]

Avoid long or obscure words when simpler, more common words suffice. In addition, short, simple sentences are usually easier to understand than long, complex sentences. Word processing software can help you determine whether your sentences are, on average, long or short. The Checking Grammar, Spelling and Readability section below explains how to generate readability statistics in Microsoft Word for Windows.

Readers are generally impatient. They appreciate brevity in writing. Eliminate every unnecessary word and idea from your reports.

 

Logic [Top of Page]
The report must have a logical structure. Each sentence, paragraph, and section must have a role in the deductive or inductive logic that supports the report's topic or theme. Illogical statements, phrasings, and structures confuse readers. Good reports are logically organized. They typically include an introduction that states the report's objectives, a statement and discussion of the report's topic or central theme, a discussion and analysis of alternatives (e.g., ideas, causes, solutions), and a statement and discussion of recommendations and conclusions.

In many instances, poor writing is the result of presenting one’s unsupported opinions instead of arguments supported by logical and numerical reasoning.  Further, poor writing is the result of supplying a large number of data from which the writer expects the reader to infer a thesis rather than providing strong arguments organized around a central theme.

Use a good system of topic headings throughout the report.  Topic headings break-up the report with white space and, more importantly, are a "road map" for readers that allow them to understand the report's overall structure and what is coming next in the report.  Topic heads also allow the reader to move around the report with greater ease, particularly when they wish to return to a report section.  Although any number of topic heading systems are acceptable, one that you may use is:

 

TOPIC HEADING LEVEL 1

Topic Level 2

Topic Level 3

Topic Level 4

      Topic level 5. (as a paragraph heading)

 

Grammar and Spelling [Top of Page]

Reports must conform to accepted conventions of English grammar and spelling. With the widespread use of personal computers, you should use word processor grammar- and spelling checkers to help you edit your document. The Checking Grammar, Spelling and Readability section explains how to do this in Microsoft Word for Windows.

Of course, word processing programs do not replace careful editing by the author(s). Generally, it is true that the quality of the writing in a report reflects the number of drafts prior to the author's final version.

 

Checking Grammar, Spelling and Readability [Top of Page]

Microsoft Word includes powerful spelling and grammar checking functions that you can use to improve your writing. Word uses standard Microsoft Windows menus, meaning that the menus drop down, allowing you to choose options using the mouse. You can use Microsoft Word at any CCSO site at UIUC.

Edit your document until you believe that it is complete and that the spelling and grammar are accurate. Then check its grammar and spelling, edit as appropriate, and then generate readability statistics. Repeat until you feel the writing meets readability, grammar and spelling standards.

 

To Check Grammar and Spelling on Word

To check the grammar and spelling of a document in Microsoft Word 2000, select the “Spelling and Grammar” option on the Tools menu.

If the grammar and spelling checker is not active, you should click ”Options” on the Tools menu, select the “Spelling & Grammar” tab and check your desired options. At minimum, you should select “Check spelling as you type” spelling option and the “Check grammar with spelling” and “Show readability statistics” grammar options.  Also, select the “Standard” writing style option.

 

Interpreting and Using Word's Readability Statistics
When Word finishes checking spelling and grammar, it displays some useful statistics about your document in a dialog box . While there are no definitive rules for the document statistics generated in Word, there are some useful guidelines that you can use to improve your writing. These guidelines include:

 
  1. Try to keep the number of sentences per paragraph more than about two and less than about seven. Why? A paragraph should fully develop a single idea. Paragraphs too short do not fully develop ideas.  Paragraphs too long generally develop more than one idea.
  1. Try to keep the number of words per sentence less than about 15. Why? Run-on sentences are difficult to follow and can often be broken into shorter, more comprehensible sentences.
  1.  Unless you are using passive voice for a specific purpose (e.g., to soften bad news, in certain scientific writing), try to keep the percentage of passive sentences less than about 5-10%. Why? Passive voice sentences (i.e., sentences in which the subject receives rather than performs the actions of the verb) are boring and lifeless. The grammar checking function in Word can help you find and fix sentences that contain passive voice verb forms.
  1. The Flesch Reading Ease statistic measures document readability based on the average number of syllables per word and the average number of words per sentence. Scores range from 0 (zero) to 100. The average writing score is about 60 to 70. The higher the score, the larger the number of people who can understand the document. Try to get your documents into the 50s or 60s by rewording and rephrasing terms to simply your language.
  1. The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level measure computes readability based on the average number of syllables per word and the average number of words per sentence. The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level indicates a grade-school level. For example, a score of 8.0 means that an eighth grader would understand the document. Standard writing approximately equates to the seventh-to-eighth-grade level. Try to keep your documents at about 12 or below.

Use of Tables, Graphs and Exhibits [Top of Page]

Tables efficiently organize data and information into a standardized, understandable form. Illustrations, or figures, include drawings, photographs, graphs, and charts. Construction of good report exhibits is an art that requires considerable practice to acquire. Some simple rules for exhibits include:

 
  1. Reference all exhibits in the text of the report.
  1. Cross-reference data in exhibits against corresponding text explanations for accuracy, and compute and total numerical data in tables and illustrations for accuracy.
  1. You should label every exhibit with an Arabic number and title. The order in which you mention exhibits in the text determines the numbering, and you should place exhibits as close as possible to the first mention in the text.
  1. Table columns and rows should have clear headings, and illustrations should have clear legends.

References and Reference Lists [Top of Page]

You should disclose the sources of all information and data presented in your report in order to document to the reader where your information and data comes from and to give credit to the words and ideas you borrow from others. A system of references and reference lists accomplishes this. I recommend you use parenthetical references, which is the style in The Chicago Manual of Style (1982). In the parenthetical reference system, one gives authors' last names and dates of publication in parentheses within the text or at the end of block quotations. You then list the cited references in a reference list at the end of the text.  The reference list should be in alphabetical order by author last names. 

Examples of parenthetical references include (Brown 1985) and (Brown and Solomon 1990). Sometimes, you may use the authors' names in the text itself, in which case the parenthetical reference includes only the date. For example, "According to Brown and Solomon (1990), the largest cause . . ." When referencing the same authors with multiple publications in one year, add letters to the end of the date: for example, (Brown 1979a).

References included in reference lists at the end of the report should be organized similar to the following examples:

 
  1. An unpublished manuscript:

Brown, Clifton. The Health Care Industry in the United States: An Introduction. Unpublished manuscript, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1997.
  1. A journal or magazine article:

Brown, Clifton; and Ira Solomon. Auditor Configural Information Processing in Control Risk Assessment, Auditing: A Journal of Theory & Practice, Vol 10, No. 1 (Fall 1990), 17-38.
  1. A newspaper article:

Peterson, Iver. Learning to Cheat to Catch the Cheaters. The New York Times, national edition, (May 5, 1994), A17.
  1. A book:

Horngren, Charles T.; George Foster; and Srikant M. Datar. Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis, 9th edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1997.
  1. An interview:

Naughton, John. Interview with authors at KPMG Peat Marwick, Chicago, IL. January 26, 1995.
  1. An Internet Web site:

Dell Computer Corporation, Annual report for fiscal 1998. Dell Computer website:  http://www.dell.com/, 1998.

Manuals & Web Sites of English Grammar and Writing Style [Top of Page]

The following English grammar and writing style references may be helpful in improving your writing. They generally are available in bookstores and libraries.

 
  1. American Psychological Association. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 4th edition. Washington, DC: APA, 1994.
  2. Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1993.
  3. Legget, Glenn, C. David Mead; and Melinda g. Kramer. Prentice-Hall Handbook for Writers, 11th edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1991.
  4. May, Claire; and Gordon S. May. Effective Writing: A Handbook for Accountants, 4th edition. Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996.
  5. Shertzer, Margaret. The Elements of Grammar. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1986.
  6. Strunk, William, Jr.; and E. B. White. The Elements of Style, 3rd edition with revisions. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1982.
  7. Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 6th edition revised by John Grossman and Alice Bennet. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 1996.
  8. University of Chicago Press, The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 1993.
The following Internet web sites provide online guidance to English grammar and style:

 
  1. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Writers’ Workshop. http://www.english.uiuc.edu/cws/wworkshop/index.htm
  2. Hughes, Anthony. On Line English Grammar. http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/
  3. The reference section of Bartleby.com. http://www.bartleby.com/reference/
  4. Bowling Green State University.  Writing Lab On-Line.  http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/writing-lab/
  5. Purdue University’s On-Line Writing Lab.  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
  6. English Structure for Academic Purposes http://www.iei.uiuc.edu/structure/structure1/salzmann_index.html
  7. Guide to Grammar and Writing http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/index.htm
  8. Hypergrammar http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/
  9. Mary Nell's Grammar Summaries and Explanations  http://faculty.washington.edu/marynell/grammar/grammar.html
  10. ESL Service Courses Writing Resources http://www.deil.uiuc.edu/eslservice/Writing.html