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© 2006 Phil Druker
 University of Idaho
 
Content / Overview / Style Check 3

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Week 12

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 Overview
Style Check 3
Paragraph Revision
 



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Style Check 3
Instructions: In this readability style check, you will analyze one paragraph from the Section of the Final Report that you just turned in. E-mail the style check to me as a Microsoft Word 97 or higher document. thompson@uidaho.edu

Required assignment:
Points: 1
Grade: or 0
Due: See Course Content Area

To analyze that paragraph, follow these steps:

  1. Sentence lengths:
    1. Cut and paste one paragraph from the body of the Section of the Final Report to make a separate Word document.
    2. Number each sentence.
    3. Count the number of words in each sentence and list those numbers at the bottom of the page.
    4. Calculate the average sentence length.

    NOTE (and remember) this information about average sentence lengths.
    14-17 words / sentence = writing for readers with a high school education.
    17-20 words / sentence = writing for readers with a college education.
    20-24 words / sentence = writing for readers who are professionals, graduate students, or professors.
    ≤ 25 words /sentence = writing for readers who will read anything they need to read
    to get the information they need. This is not reader friendly.


    Of course you don’t want to bore your reader with short sentences. Nor do you want to belabor your reader with lots of long sentences. So, the key here is variety. Use a mix of long and short sentences:

    1. Use short sentences to emphasize ideas.
    2. Use long sentences to connect ideas.
    3. Use transition words to build long sentences rather rely on words like “and.”

     

  1. Verbs:
    1. Highlight all the BE VERBs  with RED.
      BE VERBS:
      Am Is Are
      Was Were
      Been
      Being
      Be
      Note: “Have” – “has”, “had” – are not “Be verbs.

       

    2. Count the number of BE verbs in the paragraph.
    3. Check for PASSIVE SENTENCES. Highlight the passive verbs with GREEN.

    NOTE:
    Avoiding Be verbs and Passive Sentences is possible but difficult. Mostly it’s a matter of using vocabulary. Try to keep Be and Passive sentences to around 30%.
    Avoiding Wordiness.

     

  2. Transition Words:
    1. Highlight the Transition Words with Blue.
      Note: especially look for subordinators, words like:
      1. Although, because, since, where, when, if, while, that, which, how, why….
      2. These words indicate you have complex sentences.
         
    2.  If you have short sentences, you need to use subordinators to combine sentences.
    3. If you have long sentences, you need to use subordinators to show how ideas in the sentences are related.
       

E-mail this information to me. thompson@uidaho.edu

 

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University of Idaho
 Environmental Science Program
 Advanced Technical Writing

thompson@uidaho.edu