![]() ![]() I’m a firm believer in writing simple and easy-to-understand copy. I recommend using a free tool like Hemingway Editor to determine what reading level you’re writing at.Ĭopy and paste your material into the editor, and it will display suggestions like replacing passive voice, improving complex sentences, and more. You want to keep your writing smooth, consistent, and easy to consume.Ĭhoosing a single vocabulary style or level and sticking to it is an effective way to achieve this. If you’re writing at a 7th grade level, don’t suddenly switch to vocabulary only Harvard professors will understand. This ensures that any reader who is not familiar with the term understands it and the preceding information. Sometimes it can be difficult to not use technical jargon or advanced terms when writing about particular subjects.ĭespite this, do your best to explain the jargon afterward. While showing examples: To demonstrate, for instance, for illustration, for example, the case of.Showing exception: However, despite this, yet.Proving a point: Evidently, obviously, indeed, since, in any case.While comparing points: However, in contrast, nevertheless, on the contrary, although.Adding onto an idea: And, furthermore, besides, finally, in addition.Use the following words to improve the transitions at points parts in writing: This can complicate the writing, making it more difficult to digest. You will often find that sentences, paragraphs, and sections as a whole jump to one another without any warning. This helps keep your writing smooth as butter, pushing the reader to the next sentence without any hiccups. Improve transitions between sentences, paragraphs, headers, etc.īesides shorter sentences and logically ordering information, the transitions between these elements are equally important. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to quickly improve the quality of any material by simply rearranging the existing points. Look at all of the information you’re presenting - whether it’s in a blog post, sales letter, or otherwise - and gauge if it’s ordered sensibly. That’s why a crucial step while you’re copyediting is to check for logical flow.įor example, would you talk about the pricing of a product before you’ve even introduced it? Sure, you may have all of the best strategies or ideas, but if they aren’t ordered correctly, it will throw off readers and confuse them. Or, do you find that the copy jumps from one irrelevant idea to the next? Check for logical flowĭoes every point you make logically lead to the next? This makes the content I produce for my blog or clients easy on the eyes and more enjoyable. I may break this rule if I’m feeling like a rebel, but I stick to my guns 90% of the time. This helps to make copy less intimidating versus giant blocks of text and easier to read at the same time.įor example, I typically don’t go beyond two sentences per paragraph. That’s why I highly suggest - depending on the type of material - breaking up sentences and paragraphs into shorter ones. If people can’t make it through a piece of copy, do you know what kind of results it will generate? Readability is a huge factor in high quality writing. That’s why you want to carefully inspect copy for punctuation mistakes as if you had a magnifying glass. Without the use of commas, the second one sounds like a crazy person spoke it □ I went to the store walked my dog and ate lunch.I went to the store, walked my dog, and ate lunch.Take the two following sentences, for example: Small components like commas, periods, quotations, and similar punctuation marks make a big impact on your writing. Using an en dash instead of an em dash or vice versa.Misuse of words like “affect” versus “effect.”.Run-on sentences and sentence fragments.Not using commas after introductory phrases or in other correct places.Misusing apostrophes, such as writing “its” when it should be “it’s.”.Some errors you should be looking for include: It’s the proper usage of rules and syntax that create sentences. Grammar, on the other hand, takes a more keen eye and experience. It’s simply finding words that are not spelled correctly. ![]() ![]() Spelling errors are easy to spot if you know what to look for. ![]() That’s why I wanted to separate the two by making them into their own points within this article. Whether you take this step of the copyediting checklist manually or with a tool, the idea is to quickly but thoroughly go through your writing to find spelling mistakes. This will prompt a small window where you can ignore or accept changes Google believes will improve the quality of your writing. ![]()
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