3 tips for writing succinctly

It all comes back to the cardinal rule of omitting unnecessary words.

Ragan Insider Premium Content
Ragan Insider Content

Whether you’re shooting an email to your boss or drafting a campaign speech, succinct writing is essential. The goal of writing concisely is to communicate your message as efficiently as possible—a difficult feat even for experienced writers.

Trim your writing with these tips:

1. Use powerful, specific words.

Writers often use weak, vague words. Replace ambiguous language with powerful, specific words.

Wordy: The president discussed many of the benefits of integrating social media into the public relations strategy in his quarterly report.

Succinct: The president lauded the PR team’s social media efforts in his quarterly report.

By replacing vague words with stronger language, the new sentence expresses the same idea in fewer words.

2. Avoid jargon.

If the bulk of your audience is unfamiliar with industry terminology, avoid it in your writing. Industry jargon is often wordy and difficult to understand.

To read the full story, log in.
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today

Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.