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Professional Writing: The Curse of Knowledge
The Curse of Knowledge, suffered by many authors, is the inability to think like the less-informed layperson who is going to read the content.
- Professional writing is filled with all kinds of ‘ese’, legalese, academese etc. which makes it unrelatable and unclear, confusing or boring the reader.
- Writers are not aware that they need to simplify, clarify and be in the shoes of their readers.
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2.34K reads
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Vocabulary Is The Misfired Weapon
A big vocabulary basket is like the only ‘tangible skill’ the writer has, and it never occurs to them that they should use simple words instead.
The writer should focus on clarity instead of impressing others with professional-sounding words that cloud any real understanding.
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511 reads
The Solution To Incomprehensible Writing
- Do not use abstractions, and go for real, concrete nouns and everyday words.
- Assume that the reader knows less than you do and explain as you would to a newbie.
- Get someone to read your work and take feedback.
- Write down a draft and wait a while to come back and revie...
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365 reads
Functional Fixity
Sometimes writers invent confusing and bewildering terminology to explain plain and simple concepts. This is because their years of familiarity with such concepts makes them part of a bubble, in which they believe everyone would understand their vocabulary.
Example: Doc...
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258 reads
Using Analogies And Chunking
Using examples or analogies is a powerful and necessary technique to make the common reader relate to abstract content. Analogies are also retained by the memory for a longer time than raw, professional content with big words.
Messy writing is also due to chunking, a menta...
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304 reads
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The Curse Of Knowledge
Once you know something you assume others do too. It’s human nature. And that leads to bad writing.
'The curse of knowledge' refers to the inability that we all have in imagining what it’s like not to know something that we do know.
The Curse Of Knowledge
The Curse Of Knowledge is common among many experts, teachers and professionals, and is a cognitive bias where the knowledgeable person incorrectly assumes that others are able to decipher what he is trying to say.
This has serious implications in the field of education an...
The Problem Of Writing A Conclusion
Many authors, article writers and content writers draft samples without a proper conclusion or a wrap-up.
Beginner writers can try to follow the advice on structuring an essay or thesis statement, given by English teachers: “Tell ’em what you’re gonna tell ’em, tell ’em, and th...
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