Developing a Writing Style

A report must contain all the information its readers need to understand a given situation but the writing style must be one's own. This chapter describes techniques that will help to focus reports correctly in a direct manner by avoiding unnecessary words and expressions. To get the focus right, it is advisable to identify the reader and the purpose. Informative writing is much simpler than persuasive writing, which is a little difficult as one has to preserve one's objectivity. The direct writing technique involves identifying the most important information, consolidating it into a short summary statement, and by writing as much as possible in the first person and in the active voice. The pyramid can be used to structure paragraphs. The first sentence becomes the topic sentence, and the remaining sentences support and develop the initial statement. Additionally, words of low information content (LIC) and overworked expressions should be eliminated.