- For question #2, explain how your new post successfully addresses the three main objectives of Plain English writing as discussed in class. Provide a detailed breakdown of each objective. (9 Marks)
The three main objectives are:
- Find what they need
- Understand it
- Use it to fulfill their purpose
My post successfully addresses the first objective of finding what they need because I have written my post out in more of the F-shaped pattern that people typically read when they are on a website. This means I have organized my content in a way that will make it easy for them to see what I am outlining in my introduction. I have used clear headings and bolded text to separate what is being talked about in each different section. I also used bullet points and numbering under some of the headlines as it creates a list which is easier for people to read and understand. There are fewer larger sentences this way, making the reader not have to spend so much time trying to read everything listed in paragraph form. I want them to be able to find the information they need quickly and efficiently. The order I have written in makes sense as well for organizational purposes since I start with a short introduction with a few sentences to share who we are and what products and services we offer. Then, I go into why readers should choose to shop from my business, and I list three main reasons so they will stay interested in viewing what we have to offer next. Then I go into the flower bouquets and subscriptions we offer in an ordered list, so they know exactly everything we have. Lastly, I have a call to action at the end telling people where to go to start shopping.
My post addresses the second point of understanding my content because my writing is straightforward and to the point. I have used everyday words that people understand and quickly get the message without having to think too hard about what I am talking about. I have cut down a lot of what I put in my first introductory post because I didn’t get right to the point like I have in this one. I only have one short paragraph at the very beginning giving an easy understanding of who we are and what we have. The goal is to give my readers a quick understanding of my business because it's only an introduction post. I didn’t want to overcomplicate any concepts that could get them lost in this post because they would be able to find further instructions within the website.
My post addresses the last point of using it to fulfill their purpose because the way I have written out this post makes it easily understandable for them to gain basic knowledge about my business and why they should shop from it with the listed products/services I have to offer. Based on my last sentence, the call to action should send them the message that the next thing they should do is go to my website so they can start flower shopping. Based on the content I have provided them, I have told them what we have to offer, so if it's what they are looking for, then they will want to go to the website and continue to fulfill their purpose of wanting to buy flower bouquets. Having a call to action will give them visual and verbal instructions on where to go next because I have told them to visit my website with a link provided to them so that they can purchase their bouquets or start their flower subscription journey.
a) Describe one specific technique you used to improve readability in your revised version and explain why it is effective. (4 Marks)
I focused more on designing it for reading. My last introduction post was very long and had a lot of information that wasn’t necessary for a basic intro post. It was basically two pages of information that could have been summed up into the most important parts. The way I wrote it the first time, I had longer paragraphs with information not really organized in the best way that would make it easy for those to skim over and be able to get a majority of the important information. This time, I wrote focusing on the F-shape pattern that people typically read in. I gave clear headlines and bolded text so readers knew what topic was being talked about. I used lists and bullet points to define what we have to offer and why we are the business that people should choose to shop from. This is much more effective because I have taken into account how people are actually reading things online. My information can be scanned over, with a lot of my main information being on the left side of the page with shorter sentences because people focus more on the first few words on the left side of the page rather than wanting to read all the way to the right side. People will know what we have to offer them rather than the information being all mixed in paragraph forms. It makes it much more clear and understandable, which is what the goal is because I have used the F-shape pattern technique in the way it's supposed to be used rather than in my other introduction post.
b) What was the most challenging aspect of applying the F-Pattern and Plain English writing principles? How did you overcome it? (5 Marks)
The most challenging part was taking all the information I had before in my introduction and narrowing it down a lot. At first, I wanted to give people a lot of information regarding my business so they know how everything works and what to do, but I knew that it was too much information and it wasn’t all needed for an introduction post. Focusing on writing to the reader and using “you” to seem like I am talking right to them can be difficult at times. Applying the F-pattern to the post was hard again because I had so much content the first time that I really just needed to focus on what was most important and how I could put that information in more easily readable forms like lists. To overcome this, I read through what my headings were in my last post and decided that there were a few that didn’t need to be added to this introduction post because the information didn’t really have anything to do with introducing people to my business. Starting with narrowing down what I wanted to focus on, which was giving a brief description of what my business is, why people should utilize it, and what we have to offer them. I realized that these could all be separate sections with subheadings to make them clear enough to stand out. Then, instead of writing longer sentences and paragraphs talking about each section, I summarized them down to be in a listed format that way, people can read them a lot easier and faster. Overall, the summarizing part of my first introduction post was what made it difficult to write in the F-pattern, but that is really all I had to do to overcome the challenge and try and focus on the most important points for an introduction post.