Clear writing is like an iceberg; one-ninth you see, eight ninths you don’t. The part that gets on paper is small compared to the part that goes on in your head. Clear writing is the result of clear thinking. If the ideas are confused in your head, if the points you want to make are vague to you, they would not be any clearer just because you put them down on paper. To write clearly, you must think beforehand. You must figure out just what you want to say. And why you are writing in the first place. Know who your readers are and write for them. Only then can you expect clarity, conciseness, consistency, and accuracy. Stress the main idea so that your readers will be sure to get it.
In collecting material, watch for the little “human interest” items. Then organize the material in a logical way. According to time, maybe. Start with what happened first, what happened next, and so on. Or arrange the material according to importance, listing the most important point first, the next most important, second, and so on. Or you may want to organize the material in straight 1-2-3 order. Any logical arrangement will do.
The pattern you can use most often is the who-what-where-when-why order of a news story. State your main idea briefly at the beginning. Then give the points and details supporting this idea. A good rule would be: To get your readers interested, lead off with something interesting and promising; wind up with something you want him to remember.
Once you have organized the material, you can then concentrate on the job of saying what you have to say. You will find that you can write it briefly and clearly. One of the greatest rule in writing comes from Alice in Wonderland. The rule is worth recalling: The White Rabbit put on his spectacles. “Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?” he asked. “Begin at the beginning,” the King said very gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”
45 comments:
In journalistic writing, you write because you want to inform. So, it is obvious that you should gather up the details on a piece of scratch paper or put them into pieces in your head before you put them into writing. You should also observe logical orders of reasoning when writing, because sometimes, things come out of our minds out of the blue and most of the time those thoughts are plain and unarranged.When you do this, your readers would not get confused in what message you are trying to convey in the context that you are writing.
First comment, hmm.. i don't know how to start and what to say but, i just would like to agree with this first rule. Writing without thinking first of what you are suppose to write does not really make sense. Writing something would be easier and better if you have already taught of what exactly you are about to write, the specific topic you want to give to your readers and who you are writing for. It is better to spend time, thinking first than to waste your time writing and writing without any idea of how you will you do your writing activity. Think of the whole concept, of what you are writing and how would it go then put it all into writing and most probably it would be a good one.
So let us follow this first rule. The article above said it all. We just have to keep this first rule in our mind and follow it whenever we write and we'll surely have a great work. :D
I agree that this should be the very first rule that journalists should remember when making an article. It is very important for if the writer will not organize his ideas before he writes, the message will be vague and will not be conveyed to the readers. Some writers usually don't organize ideas and they usually write what pop out of their minds. As a result, less or worst no people understand theM. So to avoid this problem, Rule 1: Think First, Then Write, must be understood and memorized by heart.
The first rule is very important in improving our articles especially for beginners like us, students. Sometimes, it is really hard to make your reader interested so you really have to choose a material that will arouse their interest. Something that they still do not know. Something that is not common or overused. I find the first rule very important in improving my work.
Many students who write impulsively, such as I, sometimes forget to do this. Being spontaneous may be beneficial most of the time for me, but there are also quirks such as these. That is why I find it best that I have some time to just brainstorm, organize, and outline about a topic before starting on the article itself.
Not only is a well-directed article is easier to comprehend and but we should take not that the readers are not the only ones benefiting when the writer observes this rule. By writing with a premeditated path, there is less chance to miss important details and your thoughts would leap into words a lot more smoother and faster.
I think that starting an article is the most difficult thing to do. But once you're done with it, the ideas come spontaneously and it will be easier to write your article.
Turning from creative writing to journalistic writing was a drastic change. This rule really helped a lot because, as a former Creative Writing Student, I used to be spontaneous on what I write. I directly write what I think. But, I guess, I have to obey the rules now. Rule no.1: Think First then write, something that we humans tend to forget.
To think first is the principle of all human activities for them to be a success and be effective. This is not different in writing. The drafts that came from the mind are like trials and these things show the tips of the iceberg. But, the question is which tips are supposed to be highlighted. That is what to think about first then rewrite, rewrite, rewrite.
Think about your readers. The readers are what makes writing so enjoyable because they give feedbakc through actually reading and praising your work or not reading them because of second-rate performance or you were not thinking of the public that would accomodate your thoughts. That's how this rule gravitates audiences. You must think of your ideas first before writing.
This rule is of so much help even when we are asked to write compositions in other subjects. And, you really cannot write without thinking. In order to convey your message to the readers, you must really have a clear idea on your subject.
In rule 1, it says that we must first brainstorm on the subject that we want to write about. We should think of a particular subject and other information relevant to your chosen subject. Brainstorming before writing saves time because we already have an idea of what we are going to write. It also helps the writer avoid the construction of incoherent paragraphs. Thus, rule 1 helps lessen the mistakes that writers commit.
:)
I agree to what everyone posted here. Apparently, the human mind, when it comes to writing, blooms so much that you tend to mix things up. Writing it in paper makes it all better and logical. It's like what my previous teacher in journalism back in grade school used to say, "Writing is like a pathway. You need to go straight. Once you get lost, it's hard to come back." Having said that, we should bear in mind that we really need to think first, then write.
Thinking before you write is very important in journalistic writing. Based from my experiences, things that I think thougroughly are better than the things that I immediately blurt out or write. Thinking first will could make your work better than just writing immediately.
In writing, the first thing you have to do is come up with your introductory sentence. In order to do so, you have to think first of what to write and the message or feeling you want to convey in your writing. By thinking first the ideas, he can arrange the ideas logically and in order so that when he writes, he will not have a hard time to arrange them. When you they are arranged properly, the readers will not have trouble following what you are trying to convey.
Thinking is always the first step in achieving something. This rule will be of great help to an aspiring writer. It is like plannning in building a house. Without planning the house can never be finished. It is also true in writing, without thinking first you can't write and can never finish an article. Thinking covers planning your methods on how to attack your readers and what style you will apply that will make your writing interesting. Also it covers most of the time in creting an article. I'm glad that no one is on opposition that this rule is a crucial part of writing.
To be able to write something that's worth the time, first you must think of what to write. Get your ideas together so that writing would be much easier. Make sure that your ideas are connected in order to make a sensible piece.
Starting to write is the most crucial part in writing. We all know that even if we have all the things that we need to write, we wouldn't be able to know which parts should be the first to mention, the second, and so on and so forth.
In writing, it is not enough for writers to only have words of what to put in the paper. They should also have clear and organized set of those ideas so the product of their work will be easily understood by the readers.
-Kishishita Kaye Ricachonda Daria
Nothing you do is unplanned. Even involuntary body actions are carefully designed by the systems that work together. Therefore this rule isn't just a rule in journalistic writing, it's a universal rule. Thinking is what makes an action worth doing. An article that's not carefully thought of is just a messy pile of words.
In everything we do, we must think first before doing an action or making a decision. Same action must be done in journalistic writing. You cannot write anything unless you think first of what you should write. Your article would be nonsense if not well thought of. So for you to have a good article, follow the first rule.
I have to agree with this rule. What happens usually is that writers tend to waste too much time writing their thoughts when they’re completely aware that they haven’t gotten themselves together on what to write. So it is a must that we think first, arrange them and just write those thoughts down. It’ll make our work easier, sure thing. And in some cases, it is pretty obvious that some sentences aren’t thought of well. Remember, you might inform wrong information if you write something in a rush. So it is very wise to stick to this rule.
In journalism, it is easier to make an article if you think first before you write. The ideas or thought of the article would be more organized and less confusing. Also, we can save time if we do this rule because some writers keep on rewriting if they realize that what they are writing makes no sense and meaningless.
-Lorgiebert Diez Aguelo
Rule no. 1 makes your compositions and reports better. When you think first before writing, you are able to organize your thoughts and establish better ideas before putting them into writing. When we follow the first rule we produce better articles.
I certainly agree with the first rule. Thinking before writing gives you a clear image of what you want to say to your readers. It is important to organize all of your thoughts about the topic that you want to write and everything will follow. With this, you will be able to achieve clarity in writing that will inform your readers, not confuse them.
As everyone has mentioned, the first rule is true. No one can write without even thinking first. I really agree on the first rule because I believe that an article that is not well-thought out is an article full of nonsense. Everyone, even the professionals have to think first before they can write. So, everyone should follow or understand the first rule.
The first topic, which is think first then write is the most effecient way in which we can express ourselves, because in writing, we tend to mix things up and because of that we are not able to deliver the real sense of what we are writing. Also, we need to think first before we write to convey the real meaning of what we are writing.
How can you write if you don't know what to write, right? Journalism is not like creative writing that you can write what ever you want. There are rules you must follow.
What you think is what you write. That is what the first rule states. But it also implies that in writing, we must not only think. But we must think clearly. Thinking clearly helps us write a better article.
Another thing is that we must organize these ideas that we thought about. The things that we thought will just be put to waste if we not write them in such a manner that it will be understood. That is why organization is as important as the earlier mentioned.
Thinking first before you write is a very important stage in writing. This is where every writer should start. Writers should not waste their time writing anything that pops into their mind since this would cause a lot of confusion in the reader’s side. A journalist should be able to organize his ideas in his head before writing them down on paper. You should think before even trying to write an article because it would really help in making the article clearer and concise. If we didn’t think first our articles might end up confusing our readers instead of informing them.
So remember the rule, think first then write.
Leo Amadeus Gerella Ruiz
In clear and effective journalistic writing, one must really see to it that the information that is to be read by the public is well thought of. Thinking first then writing what has been thought about is the required preparation in order to be able to come up with a good writing. After having thought of the topic so much, the infomation written will have been, at most, accurate enough.
Do you remember when your parents tried to teach you about the world?
Probably you do not, I don’t, too. But if you ponder about it well enough, you will soon realize that they probably thought about how to teach you first. They also probably thought that it should be in a logical step by step manner. They did not teach you pulmonary disorders before your alphabet.
This is also how it is in Journalistic writing. You start by thinking logically, then you write something logical in the paper. That will surely get your point across. And, in this profession, we can’t blabber. We always have to make sure that when we are read, we are read as intellectuals.
I definitely agree with the first rule. Since this is my report, I understand well what it means and I think, everyone else does. You should really think first before you write because whatever is in your mind will not become clearer if you write it on paper or even speak it out. Gather and organize your thoughts for a more effective speech or article about any topic.
Beginning a work is the most crucial part of writing. Figuring out what to put first takes some time. Before writing, one must plan what to write and organize his thoughts to effectively write his ideas.
Thinking first before writing will help writers to save time and money. This will prevent us from rewriting again and again. We should think first then organize our ideas in the paper. This will avoid us from using too many drafts and papers wasted. This will also prevent sentences from being misplaced in the paragraphs. This would help readers a lot in writing.
It is always important to think before one writes. It minimizes the risk of being misunderstood, accidentally offending others, et cetera. Personally, I follow this rule quite a bit. It helps develop a good beginning , a good body, and, consequently, a good conclusion.
Thinking is the best way to have an effective article. It also saves time and money. Easier than those who just write and write then print and when they will read it, they will be confused, because of the non-sense words and sentences. So better think before you write in order for you not to waste time.
Agreeing to what Mark just said, I too believe that having the knowledge beforehand brings about the strength of the work. Without thinking out well, your writing will definitely fall to pieces. Pointing the obvious at an early time will give you much understanding on how the planned work goes out.
Ma Inna Paulina Egamino Palana
IV - Enrico Fermi
Fe-15
Thinking on what to write is the hardest thing to do. Sometimes, we have this eagerness to write, but nothing to write about. So massive thinking or brainstorming is really needed. I agree with Darryl, once you have something to write about, everything goes smoothly. You can already place any ideas you wanted. But, of course, to make a work better, you have to organize all the information you have in mind or you have gathered. You have to organize which one must be first so that the flow of the content is interesting.
I highly agree to this rule. First of all, who'd expect to create a decent journalistic writing if the writer does not put thought into his work before writing? A good news story is the result of thinking first before writing.
In writing journalistic articles, we must make sure that what we write is something arranged logically. By thinking before writing, not only the readers would benefit from a well written material but also the writer who has explained or discussed the topic very well.
Before doing anything, a normal person would most likely think first. We think so we can have
a good output. And writing is not an exception to that. We think first so we can have our ideas
organized before putting them into writing. Our ideas will not be confusing and in the end, your work will be more sensible.
There is a very simple logic behind this rule: "it is hard to write, when you have nothing to write about". So have an idea first before writing. It will make your life a lot easier.
When we think first before we write, we gather all the possible ideas we want to put in our work. Through this, our topics or ideas will be properly chopped. Through this rule, we can think of what really our topic is
This must be the golden rule in writing. How can we inform the readers what we really want to say when we ourselves can't even organize the thoughts we want them to know? Writing something with lots of ideas that aren't organized is just another way of driving the readers insane figuring out what you want them to know with your article.
Nobody would want to read an article that is too long because of unnecessary ideas that are almost not related to what you're really saying. Getting to the point makes the article short yet concise. I think these two qualities are enough to be the basis of a good article.
Thinking before you write, will make your ideas be concise and concrete. Because the ideas that come from your mind was very broad compared to the ideas you will write on your paper. As a journalistic writer, you must know how to make these broad ideas turn to simple ones.
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