Writing Meta

Dated Apr 17, 2022; last modified on Sun, 18 Sep 2022

The Importance of Clear Writing

In science, tech, or management, you influence people by writing things for them to read.

An essay helps you figure something out. Think of it as an idea graph - at each node, pick the most interesting related idea. Expressing your ideas also helps you form them. Writing them down forces you to think well.

I’ve noticed this when composing a post to ask why my code is not working. In the middle of writing and making sure that I’ve done my homework, I arrive at my answer, or an idea that I haven’t tried yet!

Dan Luu’s blog is quite informative and novel. In , Luu lists his motivations for measurement posts. Notice how they mostly start with an itch to dive into a personal curiosity.

References

  1. How to Write More Clearly, Think More Clearly, and Learn Complex Material More Easily. Michael Covington. University of Georgia. www.covingtoninnovations.com . Accessed Apr 17, 2022.
  2. The Age of the Essay. Paul Graham. www.paulgraham.com . Sep 1, 2004.
  3. Some reasons to measure > Appendix: the motivation for my measurement posts. Dan Luu. danluu.com . Aug 27, 2021. Accessed Aug 28, 2021.