"Riveting Reports" by Bruce Ross-Larson

 

 

한글로건, 영어로건 어떻게 하면 글을 잘쓸까 하는 문제는 수년째 고민케 하지만, 마땅한 실마리도 찾기 어려운 주제다. 과제로건 보고서로건 이것저것 많이 써보지만 그런다고 맘에 들게 실력이 느는 것 같지도 않았다. 이런 저런 글쓰기와 관련된 책도 몇권 읽어 봤지만, 글쓰기에 대한 책을 읽는 것과 내가 직접 그것을 소화해서 나의 글쓰기에 반영하는 것과는 또 다른 차이가 있었다.

 

영어로 글쓰기는 더더욱이 쉽지 않다. 아무리 훌륭한 학자가 쓴 글이더라도 그들의 글을 읽을 때면 가끔 "이런 글이라면 나도 쓰겠다"고 자만스런 생각을 하다가도, 정작 별것 아닐 수 있는 과제를 위해서 키보드를 두드리다 보면, 이것이 글을 쓰는 것인지 그냥 손 가는대로 투닥거리는지 한심스러울 때도 있다.

 

그래서 서점엘 가든, 도서관엘 가든, 글쓰기와 관련된 책이 있으면 다시 돌아 보게 되고, 책을 떠들어 보게 된다.

 

"Riveting Report"라는 책도 우연찮게 발견한 책인데, 두껍지 않아서 몇시간이면 읽을 정도의 분량인데다가 정말로 글쓰기와 관련된 실용적인 내용들이 많아서, 책을 읽다가 몇번이고 "아, 맞아... 아, 이렇게 했어야되는데..." 하는 생각을 갖곤 했다.

 

늦게라도 그런 점 알게 되고, 어렴풋 알게 되었던 점은 전문가를 통해 확실하게 알게 되어, 정말 고맙다는 생각이 드는 책이었다.

 

구글 북스를 찾아 보니 일부 책 내용을 공개해 주고 있다.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RIVETING REPORTS

By Bruce Ross-Larson

1. FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU’RE WRITING AND FOR WHOM

-  What’s your main topic?

-  Who’s going to read what your write?

-  What’s your purpose in writing?

·         To say that you are writing to inform your audience about your topic is not enough: there is almost always another purpose.

·         The following verbs all avoid the specific: communicate, emphasize, describe, explore, tell, consider, suggest

·         While these verbs can push you toward greater detail and clarity: create, persuade, promote, take, convince, force, motivate, quell, change, push

-          How long should your report be?

·         If you’re writing 10 double-spaced pages, that’s roughly 25 paragraphs (at 2.5 per page). And if you’re writing 10 single-spaced pages, that’s roughly 40 paragraphs (at 4 per page).

-          How much time can you spend writing?

·         Give your estimate in clock time rather than calendar days, and think about multiplying that estimate by 2 or 3 to account for optimism and unexpected interruptions.

-          What’s your working title?

·         The best titles are memorable and easy to repeat. . . . In your titles, avoid words like: procedures for, overview of, experiment in, review of, findings of, summary of, report on, issues surrounding, strategy for, implications of, investigation into

·         And don’t get stuck with your first working title, as most writers do. Instead, continually scrutinize your working title to see how you can further refine it to be true to your messages and readers.

 

2. SPELL OUT YOUR MAIN AND SUPPORTING MESSAGES

                - Your main message

·         The most important question about any piece of writing is: What is the main message you want to convey? The main message is the single most important idea that you want your reader to walk away with.

·         Also like the title, the main message should do more than describe or inform – it should compel. . . . Use simple language, and load value into your main message.

·         Some attempts at coming up with the main message leave the reader with a So what? . . . This can often be fixed by adding a Because to the front of the first statement and continuing with the action recommended:

Because economic policies are often dominated by political considerations, economists must maintain contact with their roots and be more willing to accept innovation and change.

-          Your supporting messages

·         Your supporting messages divide your argument and thus become the conceptual architecture that inform your outline.

 

3. USE YOUR SUPPORTING MESSAGES TO DEVELOP AN OUTLINE

                - If you must use preordained section headings, try getting creative with your subsection headings, letting your messages drive them rather than the section headings. And if that’s not possible, try writing an executive summary with headings driven by your message structure.

                                The State in a Changing World

                1. Rethinking the state – the world over

                                a. The evolving role of the state

                                b. Refocusing on the effectiveness of the state

                2. Matching role to capability

                                a. Securing the economic and social fundamentals

                                b. Fostering markets: liberalization, regulation, and industrial policy

                3. Reinvigorating institutional capability

                                a. Building institution for a capable public sector

                                b. Restraining arbitrary state action and corruption

                                c. Bringing the state closer to people

                                d. Facilitating international collective action

                4. Removing obstacles to change

                                a. The challenge of initiating and sustaining reform

                                b. The agenda for change

 

4. Decide how long each section will BE

                - After you have developed an outline, decide how many paragraphs you will have in each section and subsection. . . . Because double-spaced typescript usually has 2 to 3 paragraphs per page and single-spaced 4 to 5, multiply the number of pages by 2.5 for double-spaced typescript or 4 for single-spaced, the average number of paragraphs per page.

                - The reason for doing this is that pages are merely units of display, while paragraphs are units of composition.

 

5. CREATE A PARAGRAPH-BY-PARAGRAPH PLAN

                - Paragraph-by-paragraph plans can be made at any stage of the writing process. I often prepare one for manuscripts that I edit – to get me quickly up to speed on content, structure, and balance.

                - But it is most helpful to make one in the planning stage, after you’ve determined your messages and section headings, and then revise it when you have completed your first draft. The revised one will help you stay aware of changes in structure and the continuing relevance of your messages.

                - Showing your paragraph plan to the people who will be reviewing your report – or to your fellow authors in a group project – is a good way to have them buy into what you’re planning write.

                - It also allows them to comment before you’ve invested a lot of time in writing.

 

6. MAKE A STRONG POINT ABOUT EACH OF YOUR PARAGRAPH TOPICS

                - Write the first topic of your paragraph-by-paragraph plan at the top of a sheet of paper (or at the top of a fresh page on your word processor), and make a strong point about it.

                - Now do the same for all the other topics in your plan. You’ll find for some that it’s easy, and for others, impossible – and that will suggest refinements to your plan.

                                Topic     New ideas about the role of the state

                                Point     The world is changing and with it our ideas about the state’s role in economic and social development.

                                Topic     Focus on the state inspired by dramatic event

                                Point     As in the 1940s, today’s renewed focus on the state’s role has been inspired by dramatic events in the global economy, which have fundamentally changed the environment in which states operate.

 

7. GATHER YOUR DETAILS, EXAMPLES, AND COMMENTS

                - on each pate, under each point – 20 for a 20-paragraph report, 100 for a 100-paragraph report – begin noting your support – data, details, examples, and comments. . . . I generally carry them around in a binder. That allows jotting down – and not losing – ideas that come to mind. It also allows working on one paragraph at a time.

                - If one point is short on detail and examples, you may need to compile more information by doing more research. If you can’t support a point well, consider cutting it.

                                Point                    The integrated model provides literacy and numeracy training concurrently with job training.

                                Support                                Only elements directly related to job included

·         Just-in-time remediation of basic skills speed learning process

·         The closer the tie between job skills and basic literacy and numeracy training, the more willing trainees are to increase basic skills

-          Having all your material slotted into a paragraph-by-paragraph plan enables you to refine it before you’ve written a paragraph.

 

8. CONVERT YOUR RAW MATERIAL INTO DRAFT PARAGRAPHS

1)      Lead with the points and support it

·         The most common way to develop a paragraph is to state the point in the first sentence and support it, in subsequent sentences, with evidence: details, examples, and comments.

·         This form of development is what most of us use for two-thirds of our writing. It becomes less effective when overused, and more when alternated with other ways of developing a point.

2)      Lead with the point and conclude with a comment

·         Concluding a paragraph with a comment can inject a bit of your personality and, at times, humor. A comment can also put a paragraph in perspective, create a bridge to the next paragraph, or reinforce your point after presenting a series of facts.

o   Geography is not geology, but they can be interlinked in surprising ways. Geographically, Sakhalin Island is part of the Russian Far East, though half of it was Japanese territory until 1945. Geographically, though, it is a northward extension of Japan and thus prone to the same sort of seismic ups and downs as the rest of that archipelago. Earthquakes are not respectors political boundaries.

3)      Lead with the point and follow it with a bulleted list

·         A list of numerical facts, complicated details, or recommendations can be difficult for readers to lift off the page from a block of text. Breaking that block into bulleted items clarifies those elements, a style good for setting up a line of argument.

4)      Conclude with the point after introducing the subject

·         Occasionally, put the point at the end of a paragraph to build suspense. one way to conclude with the point: introduce a subject, discuss it, then make a point about it at the end.

Imagine that a mad scientist went back to 1950 and offered to transport the median family to the wondrous world of the 1990s, and to place them at, say, the 25^th percentile level. The 25^th percentile of 1996 is a clear material improvement over the median of 1950. Would they accept his offer? Almost surely not – because in 1950 they were middle class, while in 1996 they would be poor, even if they lived better in material terms. People don’t just care about their absolute material level, they care about their level compared with others.

5) Start with a question and answer it immediately

·         Asking a question in the first line of a paragraph grabs readers’ attention and sets up your point. Using an immediate, direct answer to make your point demonstrates a firm stance, emphasized by the surety of a fragment.

So will squash eventually rival tennis as a spectator sport, and will Jansher Khan and Peter Marshall become as rich and famous as Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi? Almost certainly not. For all the gimmicks of a glasswalled court, a special white ball and more and better cameras, squash remains fearsomely difficult to televise.

9. Tape your draft on a wall to apply the finishing touches

                - only by doing so can you assess overall structure and the balance of your sections and subsections. This also makes it easier to track your various levels of headings, switching sections to subsections and vice versa.

1)      Review your line of argument

·         Ask yourself whether your ideas flow in a logical and obvious way.

2)      Spotlight your messages

·         Your readers should know your main message after reading only the first few paragraphs.

3)      Adjust length and balance

·         Look for duplication of information across sections, for long explanations of concepts that your readers may already know, and for tangents that side-track your argument. . . . If you cut or combine sections, you may need to adjust the balance of your report. Try to keep the sections roughly similar in length.

4)      Refine your title and section headings

5)      Test a last look

·         Before ripping your report off the wall, make sure that any changes you made in the last few sections didn’t displace another element.