Introduction
Excellent writing style for the world of work is efficient and effective. The theory behind such style comes from the ancient concept of brevitas, the virtue of excellent human communication. Don’t confuse “brevitas” with mere “brevity.” Brevitas doesn’t just make communications brief. A communication that leaves out vital information is not efficient or effective. It might even be disastrous. Similarly bad is the problem at the other end of the stylistic spectrum: excessive length. Such writing needlessly drains the reader’s mental energy and time.
The ancients used the term obscurity to describe the vice of “too little” in human communication, while they used the term “prolixity” to describe the vice of too much. Then what is “brevitas”? It is the virtue of just-rightness in communication, positioned at the sweet spot, in the middle. It avoids the vices at either end. If this reminds you of Aristotle’s “Golden Mean” philosophy of human virtues, you are thinking in the right direction.
Most educated people understand this basic concept about writing—that is, the badness of using too few or too many words. What’s less understood is that “word count” is still just a fraction of the brevitas concept. Because it’s not just a matter of appropriate numbers of words. Rather, it’s a matter of psychology. Good stylists learn how the mind processes language, and they craft communications to unburden readers of unnecessary mental work.
In other words, good stylists make what a sentence says as quick and easy as possible for the human mind to process (to read and understand). The importance of what the sentence says—the significance of the content to the reader—is another matter. Certainly, the reader might need to spend a lot of time and energy pondering that significance. That is a proper use of mental energy. Struggling with bad prose is not.
Modern theorists have called this the theory of Conservation of Mental Energy. The 12 tutorials in professional writing style are based on this theory.
Tutorial Lessons and Practice Opportunities
The tutorials, referred to here as “lessons,” build upon one another, and sometimes a lesson will refer to an earlier lesson. However, work through the tutorials selectively and in the order you choose (unless your instructor otherwise directs).
The lessons are fast-paced and possibly a little fun. They will strengthen your stylistic powers no matter what your discipline, but they are particularly helpful if you are a student or professional in engineering, science, business, or technical communication. They will help make your writing clear, precise, and engaging.
At the end of each lesson, there is a “practice” section where you have the opportunity to apply what you’ve learned in a series of interactive editing exercises. You can enter your answers to the questions and then see Dr. Hirst’s suggestion. (One of the beauties of language is that there are many ways to communicate effectively! Dr. Hirst’s suggestions will illustrate one way to respond–and there are many other correct responses, as well!)
The 12 Tutorials
Each item listed below is linked to a separate style tutorial lesson. Once you have finished the lesson, apply what you’ve learned using the interactive editing exercises in the “practice” section that follows.