informative writing

goal of informative writing?

provide essential information clearly

what must technical writers maintain

giving too much or too little info

magic number for short term memory

7 +- 2 items

8 principles of informative writing

• minimize memory load

• create order

• connect new with known concepts

• provide general frameworks

• employ graphics

• keep it simple

• repeat important concepts

• eliminate cognitive interference

common organizing principles

• function

• form

• composition

• location

best practices for lists

• keep under 5 items

• bullets for equal items

• numbers for order

why use graphics

visuals simplify complex info

what is cognitive interference?

anything making understanding harder - bad font, layout

why is repetition useful?

reinforce memory/ understanding

what is parallelism?

repeating grammatical structures

3 part repetition structures

speech: what youll say → say it →tell them what you said

paper: intro → body → conclusion

6 patterns of recognition

• sequence of time

• sequence of space

• comparison

• order of importance

• general → specific

• problem → solution → recommendation