Writing clearly and concisely

A helpsheet explaining how to write clearly and concisely. Includes sections on the use of long words and abbreviations.

Better report writing isn’t just about getting your information in the right place – it’s also about communicating it appropriately. That means using the language, styles and conventions of academic writing. But ‘writing academically’ isn’t necessarily the same as ‘writing like an academic’. If you are a research postgraduate, journal articles can be a good model. But for most other students, this kind of written communication may be at the wrong level for the research you have been doing.

The key is to think of your proposed readers – who are you writing the report for? Is your audience likely to include readers outside of your discipline who will not understand highly technical terms? Or is it for your peers or colleagues (real or hypothetical)?