What is Style?

Style refers to how someone expresses themselves in writing—in other words, what makes their writing
sound like them. Just like how someone might choose clothes based on their mood, the weather, or the
persona they’d like to convey, style allows writers to adopt a particular “aesthetic” tailored to their
purpose, context, and personality.

Building Blocks of Style

The two main building blocks of style are diction and syntax:

1. Diction
o Definition: Diction refers to word choice.
o Usage: A writer might choose a certain word based on its denotation—its dictionary definition
—or its connotation—the “slang” or implied meaning a word can pick up in certain contexts.

2. Syntax
o Definition: Syntax refers to sentence structure.
o Usage: The length and complexity of sentences are matters of syntax, as are the ways that
different clauses are arranged and how they flow. Choosing different kinds of syntax allows
writers to manipulate the qualities of rhythm and coherence throughout a piece of writing.

While they aren’t the only methods writers have for creating their own style, diction and syntax are
powerful tools for establishing the persona they wish to present to their audience.

Writing in Plain Style

Writing for a broad audience can be difficult, especially if the goal is to explain tasks or new
information. For this reason, many writers—and readers—prefer plain style, which emphasizes the
readers' needs. Plain style is reader-friendly because it's clear, concise, and precise; it uses short, action-
driven sentences free of jargon to make language accessible and easy to understand. That's likely why
readers across a wide variety of audiences prefer it, but plain style also has other benefits, like making
documents more cost-effective and easier to update.

Best Practices for Writing in Plain Style

1. Keep it Brief
o Short sentences are less likely to confuse readers because they tend to be less complicated and
ambiguous. For task-oriented information, try to limit your sentences to about 20 words; for
conceptual information, about 25 words.
o Example:
  ✕ With design-time controls, you control the look and feel of your Web pages in a
WYSIWYG editor environment, and at the same time use all the functionality of
SAS/IntrNet software in your Web pages. (35 words)
 ✔ With design-time controls, you control the look and feel of your Web pages in a
WYSIWYG editor environment. In addition, you can use all the functionality of
SAS/IntrNet software in your Web pages. (19 +15 = 34 words)

2. Use Active Voice

o Active voice emphasizes the action in the sentence and the agent of that action. Active voice is
shorter and easier to understand than passive voice, which emphasizes the recipient of the
action.
o Example:
 ✕ To access the results that are returned by the query, use standard JDBC syntax. (14
words)
 ✔ To access the results that the query returns, use standard JDBC syntax. (12 words)

3. Be Logical, Literal, and Precise

o Focus on the literal meaning of the sentence.
o Example:
 ✕ This report compares the salaries of different departments for employees who have
the same education level.
 ✔ This report compares the salaries of employees who have the same education level,
grouped by department.

4. Use Verbs, Not Nouns

o Verbs emphasize action and generally require fewer words. Turning nouns into verbs is one
way to make sentences shorter and clearer.
o Example:
 ✕ The committee came to an agreement to the effect that a study should be carried
out by the consultants into the feasibility of the provision of national funding. (28
words)
 ✔ The committee agreed that the consultants should study the feasibility of providing
national funding. (14 words)

5. Build Towards New Information

o Put easier information and/or information readers are more familiar with at the beginning of
the sentence, and build towards newer and/or more complex information at the end.
Additionally, arrange actions in the order they occur and name the action agents in the
sentence.
o Example:
 ✕ Its decision on allocation of ESF assistance will be taken subsequent to receipt of all
project applications at the Committee's meeting.
 ✔ When all applicants have submitted their project applications, the Committee will
meet to decide how much ESF aid it will grant to each one.

6. Avoid Jargon
 o Jargon is one of readers’ most common frustrations. Writers often don’t realize that their
audience may not be as familiar with specialized terms as they are. Furthermore, jargon tends
to be dense and wordy, so avoiding it makes sentences shorter and clearer.
o Example:
 ✕ The patient is being given positive-pressure ventilatory support.
 ✔ The patient is on a respirator.

7. Use Clear and Consistent Terminology

o Using different terms for the same idea can confuse readers. They may not understand that the
different terms refer to the same thing, or they may wonder if there’s a meaningful distinction
being made that they don’t understand. If you plan to use multiple terms for the same idea in
order to avoid being repetitive, be sure to clarify that to your readers.
o Example:
 ✕ “Article,” “blog,” “blog post,” “post,” “piece,” “entry”
 ✔ “Blog”

The Writing Process

These OWL resources will help you with the writing process: pre-writing (invention), developing
research questions and outlines, composing thesis statements, and proofreading. While the writing
process may be different for each person and for each particular assignment, the resources contained in
this section follow the general workflow of pre-writing, organizing, and revising. For resources and
examples on specific types of writing assignments, please go to our Common Writing Assignments
area.

Writing Task OWL Resource List

Overview

What kind of writing task do you need to complete? The list below will help you pinpoint the OWL’s
resources that will be most helpful for you according to the kind of writing you need to accomplish.

If you’d like to see a complete list of our resources, please visit the OWL's main page.

When You’re Just Beginning Your Writing Task

 Understanding Writing Assignments

 Prewriting (Invention)
 Writer's Block/Writer's Anxiety
 Developing an Outline
 Audience Analysis

When You’re Ready to Compose Your Writing Task

For an Abstract:

 Writing Report Abstracts

  Writing Scientific Abstracts Presentation
 Conciseness

For an Academic Research Paper:

 Writing a Research Paper

 Evaluating Sources of Information
 Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

Style Guides (for citation format):

 APA
 MLA
 Chicago Manual of Style

For a Bibliography or Annotated Bibliography:

 MLA
 APA
 American Sociological Association
 Chicago Manual Style Guides
 Annotated Bibliographies

For an Argument or Position Paper:

 Developing Strong Thesis Statements

 Logic in Argumentative Writing
 Organizing Your Argument Presentation
 Introductions, Body Paragraphs, and Conclusions for Argument Papers

For a Book Report or Book Review:

 Writing a Book Report

 Writing a Book Review

For a Business or Cover Letter:

 Writing the Basic Business Letter

 Business Letters: Accentuating the Positives
 Cover Letter Presentation
 Academic Cover Letters

For a Curriculum Vitae:

 Writing the Curriculum Vitae

For an Email:

 Email Etiquette
 Email Etiquette for Students

For an Exploratory Essay:

 Essay Writing
 Introductions, Body Paragraphs, and Conclusions for Exploratory Essays

For a Literary Analysis Essay:

 General Advice:
o Writing About Literature
o Writing a Literary Analysis Presentation
o Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism
 Writing About a Novel or Story:
o Writing About Fiction and Performing Close Reading
 Writing About a Poem:
o Writing About Poetry

For a Literature Review:

 Social Work Literature Review Guidelines

 Writing in Psychology: Experimental Report Writing

For a Memo:

 Memo Writing
 Conciseness

For a Narrative or Descriptive Essay:

 Essay Writing: The Narrative Essay

 Essay Writing: The Descriptive Essay

For a Personal Statement or Statement of Purpose:

 Writing the Personal Statement

For a Poster Presentation:

 INDOT Poster Design Handout

 Visual Rhetoric
 Color Theory Presentation
For a PowerPoint Presentation:

 Designing an Effective PowerPoint Presentation

 Using Fonts with Purpose

For a Report:

 Handbook on Report Formats

 Writing Engineering Reports

For a Résumé:

 Résumés
 Résumé Design
 Résumé Workshop

For a Visual Analysis Paper:

 Visual Rhetoric
 Visual Rhetoric: Analyzing Visual Documents

For a White Paper:

 Writing a White Paper

 Prioritizing Your Concerns for Effective Business Writing

To Revise, Proofread, and Polish Your Writing:

 Proofreading Your Writing

Invention: Starting the Writing Process

Writing Takes Time

Find out when the assignment is due and devise a plan of action. This may seem obvious and irrelevant
to the writing process, but it's not. Writing is a process, not merely a product. Even the best professional
writers don't just sit down at a computer, write, and call it a day. The quality of your writing will reflect
the time and forethought you put into the assignment. Plan ahead for the assignment by doing pre-
writing: this will allow you to be more productive and organized when you sit down to write. Also,
schedule several blocks of time to devote to your writing; then, you can walk away from it for a while
and come back later to make changes and revisions with a fresh mind.
Use the Rhetorical Elements as a Guide to Think Through Your Writing

Thinking about your assignment in terms of the rhetorical situation can help guide you in the beginning
of the writing process. Topic, audience, genre, style, opportunity, research, the writer, and purpose are
just a few elements that make up the rhetorical situation.

 Topic and Audience

Topic and audience are often very intertwined and work to inform each other. Start with a broad
view of your topic such as skateboarding, pollution, or the novel Jane Eyre and then try to focus
or refine your topic into a concise thesis statement by thinking about your audience. Here are
some questions you can ask yourself about audience:

o Who is the audience for your writing?

o Do you think your audience is interested in the topic? Why or why not?
o Why should your audience be interested in this topic?
o What does your audience already know about this topic?
o What does your audience need to know about this topic?
o What experiences has your audience had that would influence them on this topic?
o What do you hope the audience will gain from your text?

For example, imagine that your broad topic is dorm food. Who is your audience? You could be
writing to current students, prospective students, parents of students, university administrators,
or nutrition experts among others. Each of these groups would have different experiences with
and interests in the topic of dorm food. While students might be more concerned with the taste
of the food or the hours food is available, parents might be more concerned with the price.

You can also think about opportunity as a way to refine or focus your topic by asking yourself
what current events make your topic relevant at this moment. For example, you could connect
the nutritional value of dorm food to the current debate about the obesity epidemic or you could
connect the price value of dorm food to the rising cost of a college education overall.

Keep in Mind the Purpose of the Writing Assignment

Writing can have many different purposes. Here are just a few examples:

 Summarizing: Presenting the main points or essence of another text in a condensed form.
 Arguing/Persuading: Expressing a viewpoint on an issue or topic in an effort to convince others that
your viewpoint is correct.
 Narrating: Telling a story or giving an account of events.
 Evaluating: Examining something in order to determine its value or worth based on a set of criteria.
 Analyzing: Breaking a topic down into its component parts in order to examine the relationships
between the parts.
 Responding: Writing that is in a direct dialogue with another text.
 Examining/Investigating: Systematically questioning a topic to discover or uncover facts that are not
widely known or accepted, in a way that strives to be as neutral and objective as possible.
  Observing: Helping the reader see and understand a person, place, object, image, or event that you
have directly watched or experienced through detailed sensory descriptions.

You could be observing your dorm cafeteria to see what types of food students are actually eating, you
could be evaluating the quality of the food based on freshness and quantity, or you could be narrating a
story about how you gained fifteen pounds your first year at college.

You may need to use several of these writing strategies within your paper. For example, you could
summarize federal nutrition guidelines, evaluate whether the food being served at the dorm fits those
guidelines, and then argue that changes should be made in the menus to better fit those guidelines.

Pre-Writing Strategies

Once you have a thesis statement, just start writing! Don't feel constrained by format issues. Don't
worry about spelling, grammar, or writing in complete sentences. Brainstorm and write down
everything you can think of that might relate to the thesis and then reread and evaluate the ideas you
generated. It's easier to cut out bad ideas than to only think of good ones. Once you have a handful of
useful ways to approach the thesis, you can use a basic outline structure to begin to think about
organization. Remember to be flexible; this is just a way to get you writing. If better ideas occur to you
as you're writing, don't be afraid to refine your original ideas.

Organization & the CARS Model

Although each discipline has its own conventions for what articles, research reports, dissertations, and
other types of scholarly writing should look like, academic writing shares some general characteristics
across each field. One area of similarity is the introduction section. This handout provides strategies for
revising introductions.

CARS (Creating a Research Space)

John Swales’ CARS model for introductions is based on his study of articles across a range of
disciplines. He identified the following moves as common among most articles:

Move 1: Establishing a Territory

1. Claiming importance and/or

2. Making topic generalizations and/or
3. Reviewing items of previous research

Move 2: Establishing a Niche

1. Counter-claiming or
2. Indicating a gap or
3. Question-raising or
4. Continuing a tradition
Move 3: Occupying the Niche

1. Outlining purposes or
2. Announcing present research
3. Announcing principle findings
4. Indicating article structure

Writers can use these moves as a guide for revising their own writing, or for helping others.

Questions for Revision

Does the introduction to the piece of writing you are working with…

1. Establish the importance of the paper’s topic within the discipline?

2. Mention commonly accepted ideas about the topic?
3. Discuss previous research related to the topic?
4. Challenge existing beliefs about the topic?
5. Demonstrate a gap in current research on this topic?
6. Ask questions about current knowledge in the field?
7. Name an area of research that needs to be extended?
8. Explain the purpose of the paper?
9. Name the focus of the research?
10. List the primary findings of the research?
11. Outline the sections of the paper?

Topic Outline

A topic outline is a fast and easy way to analyze whether an introduction is effectively organized.
According to Pyrczak and Bruce, a topic outline can help show the flow of an introduction to ensure it
moves from a general introduction of the problem or gap to a specific discussion of the current research
(33). The topic outline can be combined with the CARS model to improve your introduction or to offer
advice to a peer.

Topic Outline Exercise

1. With your own paper, or a peer’s, read through the introduction section.
2. As you read, write down the main points in the introduction in outline form, using short phrases or
sentences to describe what you see happening. The outline need not be complex.
3. After creating your outline, read through it to see if each of the moves in the CARS model is covered.
Pay particular attention to whether the paper’s author: a. Mentions how the paper fits into previous
research, b. Lists the paper’s main findings, and c. Outlines the structure of the paper.

Works Cited

 Pyrczak, Fred and Randall R. Bruce. Writing Empirical Research Reports: A Basic Guide for Students of
the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Los Angeles: Pyrczak Publishing, 2000. Print.
 Swales, John. Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. 1990. Cambridge: Cambridge
UP, 2008. Print.