What's the difference?
Specialists write for each other. Here's the difference in writing for a public audience.
I’m SO glad you’ve signed up for Write Up. Today we’re going to think about the differences in writing for other people like yourself — other advocates, specialists, academics, doctors, researchers, people who are steeped in what you know best — and writing for a public audience. These lessons should help you turn your complex research and ideas into a readable reports, opeds, essays, powerpoints, whatever it might be.
First, let’s consider how you write for other academics or specialists. When you do so, you are likely to use:
A predictable structure, whether it’s a law brief or a medical article or an academic article. For instance, academics may be used to writing a summary, literature review, methods, findings, conclusion.
A shared vocabulary, with ideas condensed into jargon for quick delivery
A point of view that is neutral, restrained, objective
Piles of facts that you can trust your readers to interpret
BUT we flip that on its head to write for outsiders: non-specialists, newspaper or magazine readers, legislative staff, donors, stakeholders. You’ll do a better job at keeping their attention if you can use:
A surprising or engaging structure (a grabby opening line, a “curiosity gap” in the opening paragraph, a promise of an unexpected conclusion).
A more inviting, vivid, and personal vocabulary (active verbs!) that explains specialist terms the way you might to your neighbor.
A point of view that is lively, engaging, and full of personality, whether that’s your personality or that of your organization.
Clear explanations of relevant facts and why they matter.
So, for instance, would you be more likely to read an op-ed that started with a pile of information about imbalanced race, income, and gender statistics about which parents get reported to child welfare agencies … or one that started like this: “Which would be worse: being beaten by your partner, or having social services take away your children?”
Of course, that opening is for an op-ed or article. It wouldn’t work for a report or policy document. But here’s the point: Consider your audience and your format carefully. Think about what they need and want to know.
In later lessons, we’ll take apart existing pieces of writing and think about how they manage to do that.
Or, sign up for my upcoming class … slots will be closing soon.