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12.07 - 01.08

Improve Your Writing, Enhance Your Career

By Chris McManes

One of the best ways to enhance your career and ensure your employability is by improving your writing skills.

Well-written work portrays you and your employer in a positive light. It allows your colleagues, supervisors, current clients — and potential ones — to know how good your ideas and proposals are.

This can pay off in raises and promotions, and bring new work to your company.

“In business communications, you are what you write,” said Richard Berman, a former news editor and senior producer at NBC News. “If your written material communicates effectively, and grabs the reader’s attention, your message will be positively received.”

Conversely, poorly written material reflects negatively on you, your employer and any other organizations you represent. Peggy Hutcheson, chair of the IEEE-USA Employment & Career Services Committee, said work habits can often be gleaned through writing ability.

“If you’re careless and make mistakes in something small, such as an e-mail,” Hutcheson said, “it could be an indication that you’ll make mistakes in a project itself.”

Because technical skills are not enough for today’s engineer to succeed, IEEE-USA offers a host of resources designed to help you find work and maintain a long and fruitful career. To find out more about the many things the IEEE provides for its members, go to the IEEE-USA Career Navigator at www.ieeeusa.org/careers.

No matter what field you’re in, good writing skills are essential. So whether you’re writing an e-mail, letter, memo, proposal or article, here are some guidelines to help you become a better writer:

Influence & Motivate — The major goal of communication is to share ideas and information. This can help you influence people and motivate them to action. Good writing should be accurate, informative and entertaining. Verify your facts before you release them.

Write & Review — You have to write to become a better writer. Write, re-write and re-write again. Then ask someone to review your work. He or she will see things that you’ve missed. After you’ve made corrections on screen, print out a copy and read it for additional changes. All printed works look differently on paper than on screen. Use spell check.

Be Concise — Say things in as few words as possible. For example, if you write, “He lives in the state of Kentucky,” “the state of” is not contributing vital information. Most people know Kentucky is a state, so just write, “He lives in Kentucky.” Also, “Engineers play important roles in the betterment of society” can be shortened to “Engineers are important to society.”

Be Positive — Present ideas positively. Convey what you favor or propose rather than what you dislike or disfavor.

Be Enthusiastic — Strive to write with passion and enthusiasm. If you’re not enthusiastic about a subject, project or proposal, how can you expect the reader to be?

Use Active Words — Find words that convey activity, that are lively and vibrant and more likely to contribute to a reader’s enjoyment. Active writing is much better than passive. For example, “Peyton Manning threw for three touchdowns and ran for one to lead the Indianapolis Colts to a 45-21 victory over the Phoenix Cardinals” is much more compelling than, “The Indianapolis Colts’ 45-21 victory over the Phoenix Cardinals featured Peyton Manning, who threw for three touchdowns and ran for one.”

Paint the Story — Use words to paint a picture in the reader’s mind. Every word, like a color in a painting, should be an essential piece of the story.

Capture the Reader — Write a strong lead (the opening paragraph) to capture the reader’s attention. This will motivate him or her to continue reading.

Lead with Strength — The beginning is the most important part of any sentence. The end is next, while the middle is least important. So put the most important information up front. For example, write, “The Senate approved the innovation bill after much deliberation by a vote of 90-10” instead of, “After much deliberation and by a vote of 90-10, the Senate approved the innovation bill.” The Senate’s approval is most important, and the overwhelming vote in favor is next in importance. The deliberative process is least important.

Quotes — Good quotes lend authority and authenticity to written work. Your most powerful, gripping quote is often — but not always — the first one you should use. Your second- or third-best quote is often used at the end because it leaves a strong impression in the reader’s mind. This is called the kicker quote.

Reading — Read the work of good writers to see how they construct sentences and convey ideas. Pick up tidbits that will help you in your writing.

He Said, She Said — Use “said” instead of “says.” Once something is said, it’s over and not necessarily something someone would still say. “Said” is also preferable to such terms as “stated” or “explained.” If you’re trying to convey lightheartedness to one’s quote or statement, you can use “quipped,” “joked” or “said with a laugh, said with a chuckle.”

Clichés — Finding new and compelling ways to say something shows creativity. It’s easy to use clichés, but they have lost their effectiveness. Good writing requires work.

Jargon/Acronyms/Technical Terms — When writing for a broad audience or for people who are unfamiliar with your work, jargon, acronyms and technical terms are confusing. It’s fine, however, when writing for a targeted audience that understands your work.

Fancy Words — Your goal should be to express, not impress. Everyday words are fine. However, slipping in a seldom-used, obscure word occasionally is OK. It might inspire the reader to look the word up and increase his or her vocabulary.

Here are some specific style guidelines:

Titles — Occupational titles are capitalized when they come before the person’s name. For example, write, “IEEE-USA President John Meredith.” When the title comes after the name, write, “John Meredith, IEEE-USA president …”

Academic Degrees — Write “associate’s,” bachelor’s,” “master’s” and “Ph.D.” However, if describing the degree, write, “bachelor of arts,” “master of science,” etc.

Academic Majors — The only academic majors that are capitalized are languages ( i.e., English, French, Italian, etc.) Thus, “Dr. Thompson teaches computer science and holds a doctorate in electrical engineering.” “She earned a double major in French and English.”

Numbers — Spell out one through nine, use numerals thereafter. Example: six, 16, 39. The principal exception to this is ages; use numerals at all times. “He is 2 years old.” You should also just use numerals when describing millions and billions of dollars. “Her salary is $3 million a year.” “The project cost nearly $1 billion.”

State Abbreviations — Use the Associate Press (AP) abbreviations for all U.S. states except those with five letters or less (Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Utah and Texas) and the two not part of the contiguous United States (Alaska and Hawaii). Don’t confuse two-letter postal codes such as MD, VA, CO, CA, etc. with the proper abbreviations — Md., Va., Colo., Calif. — found in the AP stylebook.

Also, state abbreviations are followed by a comma in the middle of a sentence. So you would write, “He lives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and works in Miami,” and “Bill Henry of Manassas, Va., holds a master’s degree in political science.”

Stand-Alone Cities — Major, well-known U.S. cities such as New York, Washington, Denver, Dallas, Chicago and Los Angeles are written without a state abbreviation. Other cities require the state abbreviation. For example, “She lives in Denver and works in Fort Collins, Colo.” “He grew up in Syracuse, N.Y., but moved to New York after graduating from college.”

The same holds true for major international cities like London, Paris and Rome. They do not need the country name.

Single Space — Use a single space after a sentence.

Suggested Reading — Get a copy of The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law. This reference book is excellent for print journalists on uniformity of style and punctuation. The Elements of Style is a classic must-read for all writers. This best seller “has conveyed the principles of plain English style to millions of readers.”

Chris McManes is IEEE-USA’s public relations manager. He stresses the value of good writing in presentations he makes across the country at IEEE-USA-sponsored career enhancement workshops. This article will be part of an e-book he is writing on media relations. Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org. Opinions expressed are the author's.