I deliver a lot of advanced writing skills training and we usually come up with this checklist
- Start a paragraph with a topic sentence
- Avoid the use of redundant words – i.e. core principle
- Make sure that the style and tone is appropriate to the audience.
- The structure of a sentence should match the function – i.e. a request is “can you do this….” not “it is important that…..”
- Word choice – be consistent with your choice of register and do not vary this within the text
- Don’t invent new compounds nouns – “team centred…”
- Start from what your readers know – i.e. people generally understand EU funds provided for countries outside Europe better than “ the ENPI project instrument….”
- Be aware of when you are using EU or institutional jargon.
- Make sure the reader knows what they should do – “pleased return your completed reports by the 17.00 of Wednesday”
- The most important messages come at the beginning of the sentence and paragraphs.
- Use correct sentence structure – Subject + verb + object
- Cut words where possible – i.e. do you need to say both effective and efficient or will on word do
- Use active sentences more than passive ones. Passive writing is harder to read.
- Give your paragraph structure that the reader can follow – think of questions that you are answering for the reader.