Astrea Skills: Stop Waffling! Write more concisely at work

Bev Dee tells us about the Astrea Skills: Stop Waffling! Write more concisely at work session she went to in November. 

On 15^th November 2018, I attended the Astrea Skills session: ‘Stop Waffling! Write more concisely at work’. Alison Forbes from UCL Access and Widening Participation Office gave an interesting presentation which then led to some useful discussion.

Alison began the session by asking if we thought of ourselves as concise writers, somewhere in

the middle or wafflers!  The show of hands across the three options was well balanced.  Alison then asked us to think about reasons why we might waffle. These included not knowing how to stop a habit, not having enough time to proof read/edit, and a perception (misconception?!) that using jargon or formal language makes someone sound more professional.

You might ask, why should this matter? Some people thought it’s simply annoying, confusing and it can waste time. We also considered if it might be ineffective as our audience might stop reading when there is too much waffle. In addition, it could negatively affect the impression you’re trying to make.

Alison talked us through some tips including:

• about using short sentences
• avoiding saying the same things more than once
• using active, not passive, verbs
• using bullet point lists!

An interesting discussion ensued when Alison raised a question around why women might use softening and/or apologetic language more than men, and how might this affect women at work. There seemed to be a consensus in the room that we would usually adapt our tone and language depending on the intended audience. However, it’s helpful to keep in mind that it’s not always necessary or useful to soften language or be too apologetic.

We were asked to bring a sample of our own writing to the session. As a final exercise, we worked in pairs to edit the writing while thinking about the points Alison had raised during her presentation.

If you’re interested in learning more about this subject, a really good place to start is The Plain English Campaign website. There are lots of free guides and even a short grammar quiz.

Happy (concise) writing!