5 WAYS TO MAKE YOUR WRITING READABLE
The way to a reader’s heart is to make your writing readable. You may have flawless language and great ideas, but except your writing can be read with minimal effort, many of today’s readers will give it, and subsequently you, a wide berth.
5 Ways to Make Your Writing Readable
1. Use simple words
If your reader finds it hard to understand most of the words you use, you’re doing something wrong. No matter the level of your writing, make it easily comprehensible to those you’re writing for.
2. Use short sentences and paragraphs
The longer your sentences and paragraphs, the harder they will be to understand. In addition, errors of construction and mechanics can easily creep in when you lengthen your sentences, thus jeopardising the clarity of your work. Just one comma out of place can change the meaning of that long sentence or leave it open to different interpretations.
Shorter, block paragraphs help your writing to breathe and make your work look less forbidding on the page than endless lines of type.
3. Insert subheadings in long pieces
Subheadings help to communicate your points at a glance. They also help you present your ideas in small, digestible chunks. Many of today’s readers will not read hundreds or thousands of words to glean the points you wish to make. Unless you do the work for them through your subheadings, those patient enough to read might miss the points you’re communicating in the maze of words.
4. Avoid excessive use of caps and italics
Some people type in all-caps. Some use italics a lot. These fonts are hard to read and should only be used sparingly, for titles and emphasis. Use conventional, roman fonts for the bulk of the body of your work. Stay away from highly decorative fonts, except for special purposes.
5. Include illustrations
Illustrations, like pictures, drawings or charts give a graphic view of your message beyond what words can do. They are also great attention getters. So, placing illustrations strategically in your writing improves its aesthetics and amplifies your meaning. Catchy illustrations will draw more readers to your writing than text alone can.
To make the illustrations more effective, choose what relates to the topic of your post. Use a picture of a mom and her baby to illustrate an article on motherhood, for instance. Add some words to the image, if necessary. You can do simple graphic designs, even in the picture gallery of your phone.
However, do not overload your writing with illustrations, except you’re doing a photo story, for example.
Takeaway: If you want to be widely read, do not stress your readers. Make your writing readable.
You may also like these related posts:
Further reading:
7 Strategies to Instantly Improve Readability and Write Content That Converts
Everything can simply be summarized as “keep it short and simple”. thanks ma’m
Bless you! There are also points on aesthetics. Cheers!
Thank you for giving us these clear tips on how to make our works readable. They’re very helpful. Good evening, ma!
Good evening to you too! You are richly blessed in Jesus’ name.
A writer is supposed to write stories that are simple, short and understandable to the reader so you don’t bore them.
Now I can try all these methods on my blog. Thank you, Ma.
Go for it! Cheers!
This post is so understandable, thanks ma. I have a question Ma, when it comes to illustrations in editorial writing, must every editorial have an illustration??
Many newspapers draw editorial cartoons to go with them, but they don’t always have illustrations.
This is a very vital information, especially to me an upcoming writer, thank u so much ma.
You’re welcome. God bless you!
Well in my own opinion ma I would say u should consider ur reader’s level of literacy when writing, cause it would help them understand ur work better and with that u get to keep ur audience going.
True. Thank you!
To make your writing readable,make it simple,short paragraph,sentence and straight to the point. Avoid the use of long words that can confuse your audience,because your reader’s view is determine by the appearance and tone of your writing.
Lesson:. Keep your work short and simple, for easy understanding.
More or less.
To make your writing readable, make it simple, short paragraph, sentences and straight to the point. Avoid the use of long words that can confuse your audience because,your reader’s view is determine by the appearance and the tone of your writing.
The use of the acronym kiss is very essential in one’s writing to convey one’s ideas efficiently.
Uhmmm, the use of the ideas in the acronym, KISS, you mean. Cheers!
C’est parfait!!
I have a question or somewhat like a suggestion. The part where you said “insert subheadings in long pieces”, Is it advisable for long articles and essays?
Will it not make the work unappealing?
No, it won’t. It’s not usually good to have too many words without a break. Even in novels, the writers sometimes introduce breaks within chapters, even if they are not subheadings.
The Kiss Rule always applies. Keep it short and simple.
Thanks ma’am
You’re welcome! Remain blessed!
Very educative, especially d use of punctuation mark wrongly will render the whole story meaningless. eg1. Okoro Adindu loves cooking.
Eg2. Okoro, Adindu loves cooking
In eg1. one person loves cooking
Eg2. Two people loves cooking.
Thanks U ma for D writing tips. No. 2 got my attention.
Two people love cooking.
I think in the second case (if we go by the punctuation and grammar, the speaker is telling Okoro that Adindu loves cooking.
Anyway, thank you for helping to illustrate the importance of placing punctuation marks correctly.
Thank you so much ma….This is very helpful to me. Most times for fear of boring my readers because I have so much to say but don’t know how to go about it, I just avoid writing at all.
Now I know I can give my audience all the details they need in a simple format.
Glad you found the post helpful. God’s grace in your writing.
I think this should be made known to writers. Most writers kill the spirit of their readers.
Most often, some writings do not have starting point and ending.
I’ve got some important tips to enhance my writing skills. Thank you, ma.
I actually thought italics makes a piece to appear more beautiful, anyway too much of everything is bad.
Thank you ma for this reminder.
“If you want to be widely read, do not stress your readers. Make your writing readable.” This quote in the article sums up everything for me
Thanks ma this is very helpful.
If we follow this steps we will improve our writing skill
This is very educative!!
Especially the aspect of using simple words..journalists or writers need to learn how to use simple words because if they fail to it may seem like they don’t consider their audience and they are just interested in showing off their own intelligence.
I’m glad I have learnt something beneficial today. This piece has helped broaden my knowledge on writing. Thanks a bunch ma.
If you want to be widely read, do not stress your readers.
Thank you Ma for another wonderful piece. I will try to apply these in writing
With the above-mentioned tips , I believe I will be a good writer. Thank you ma.
The use of simple words is very vital to make one’s story readable and getting the attention of readers, to always want to check up, if you have another piece to inform them.
Short sentences and graphic writing with illustrations to create mental picture. This will enable the reader to feel the reality of the story.
As l can see, these are the rudiments of becoming a proficient journalist. Thanks Ma.
Thanks for the tips ma
What is writing without readers digging into your work.
An amazing piece. The aspect of punctuation in writing cannot be over emphasized. Sometimes even the “short” paragraphs are not easily understandable because of wrong punctuation placement and the likes. Thank you ma.
Making your work simple and short is often regarded the best way of writing, cause in this era we are now people don’t often read long stories in some writing cause for some of them it delays their time.Also putting down illustration in your writing is very important cause it draws the attention of the readers to have a glance of what the write-up is talking about.
Use of simple words makes your writing easy to understand , the readers need not to be impressed with ambiguous words that would confuse them .
“one comma out of place can change the meaning of that long sentence or leave it open to different interpretations”. From the second point. I agree to this, it is very easy to misinterpret.
I can’t thank you enough Ma’am. You’re really helping us to becoming outstanding writers, me particularly!
‘5 ways to make your writing readable’ is indeed a must read for every aspiring Journalist and book writer..Value well received Ma.
Oh my God!
I love this platform, it is educating.
Lesson: Placing illustration like pictures and charts brings more understanding to the reader. Thank you ma, for the wonderful tips you gave us to know as a journalist.
Informative! Illustration helps the writing look more realistic and drives the message home properly.
Thank you ma!
Capturing your reader’s attention by use of illustration is a very effective way to make your article readable
From what you shared, simplicity is key. Thank you for this post Ma. Very helpful!
If you want your readers to understand your writing, keep it short, simple and straight to the point.
As a writer and precisely a journalist, I should not write to impress my audience with ambiguous words but I am to make my write up simple both in words and sentence structure. A good way to judge a piece of writing is its ability to drive home the point to the readers.
Keeping it short and simple is the only way to capture ur readers attention.in our world today people don’t really have time to read long epistle.
Thanks for this ma’am
I notice most people say or comment ‘keep it simple and short’
If i may ma’am, do you mind posting an article on how to keep it short and simple?
Maybe some examples on how to achieve simplicity in writing
Thank you
Hi! There’s a specific article on this blog on keeping it short and simple and it has an illustrative piece- a fictional story attached.
Brevity and simplicity Certainly aids free flow of thoughts and easy comprehension. Bravo!
Thanks ma. I will try to put all these tips in practice to enhance my writing
The young people of this generation hardly have time to skim through long stories, so writers have the job to make sure they write catchy works. Cheers
It is very important to keep our story short and simple. As a writer we should not bored our readers with long sentences that will confuse them.
Nice post filled with wisdom and helpful guides as always. I think every writer should be like u when it comes to writing readable articles,my humble suggestion though
KISS– keep it short and simple. A golden guideline for writers. Going straight to the point will attract readers to your posts. Thanks a lot ma.
Very informative and helpful to everyone who writes.I personally have issues with extra long write-ups.
I learnt that there are many ways to make your writing readable are to keep your writing short and simple use short sentences and paragraph and many more important notes.
“Keep it short and simple (KISS)”, by Mrs Chinweobo (smiles, learnt to avoid plagiarism). Thank you ma’am, this is very helpful.
Some people have the habit of writing lengthy stories or articles thereby misusing the correct use of punctuation marks and every other good writing tips but I believe with this article of yours we ought to know how to keep our work simple and short with good language to enable readers understand perfectly.
Understanding the writing is the key factor. When something is readable it means the reader is able to read and understand without obstruction. And Simple language is one of the main ways to achieve this.
Thank you very much ma for this tips
I will definitely apply it when writing
Number three was speaking to me. Inserting subheadings can make your write-up look smaller and readable. Thank you ma
Wow, from this work I can proudly think of making a good readable work if I can make my writing readable and simple, for my readers to understand through illustration like pictures drawing and writing sparingly not in caps or italics… thank you so much ma this is good.
We learn everyday
Thanks for the piece
The article is Educative. It’s good to use short sentences and paragraphs while writing. Thank you ma
I understood that writing is a source of communication and if write applying these tips here, then I will be communicating effectively to my readers. Thank you Ma
Don’t use ambiguous words which some readers may find difficult to comprehend, but use simple words that every readers will understand
A writer is supposed to write stories that are simple, short and understandable to the readers.
Thanks ma’am for this wonderful piece. It has never been a waste of time going through your blog. More grace to continue
This explains simplicity as the key way to make your message easy for the readers. What is the maximum amount of words that when used is considered too long for the readers?
Thanks Ma
Read the post again. You will see it talks about breaking up long post. You can do a series, rather than lump thousands of words into one unbroken post. But having segments in it can make a long post readable.
What number of words is too long depends on the skill of the writer. A thousand words may be too long if you can’t sustain the interest of the reader but a skilled writer may have readers begging for more even after 3,000 words.
This will definitely go a very long way in helping me while writing. I learnt a whole lot of things from this piece. Thanks ma’am.
So many writers these days come up with lengthy write-ups and expect more people to read them, I get easily discouraged when I see lengthy stories and skip them. Writers should really learn to keep stories short and simple and also make use of illustrations, this can easily get readers like me to read the write up.
I have not said every piece must be short. Point No. 3 explains that subheads can be used for lengthy articles.
A young writer is advised to keep their piece short to ensure the reader goes through all of it but a more experienced writer who has the requisite skills can keep the readers to the end of long pieces and still have them begging for more.
Not every story should be flash fiction of less than 1,500 words. Regular short stories are longer and novels have tens of thousands words.
Very useful article. Although making use of simple words is somewhat difficult at times because you still have to make your work intellectual as well
Thank you
Thank you ma’am for these tips on how to make our writing readable, it’s really educative and helpful.
In this piece, we get to acknowledge the steps in making a readable writeup. The writing should be written with simple languages and should also be short and easy to understand
A writer’s major focus should be to communicate the required message to the readers and not to try to impress them with the use of numerous vocabularies or complex words that distort the meanings of their contents.
Use simple words while writing and make your sentences short and simple to make it understandable to the readers.
An insightful post ma. All of the five ways to make your writing readable was used by you in this post. Thank you for using this post as an instruction and example.
We are in the contemporary times where people find it hard to read long epistles,so for a writer to see that his or her work is read to the end and Understood properly,the writer has to keep his work short and simple.
Thank you ma, this is very nice . It’s a guide to us up coming writers . write ups should be simple and clear for easy reading.God bless you ma.
Now i can try all these methods on my blog.thank you ma.
I find this article very helpful in writing for the audience. Keeping your work simple always so that readers can read and understand.
Illustrations are just it! These times, its almost impossible for readers to continue reading without at least seeing pictures and other illustrations; especially when the story itself lacks the tendency to provoke imagery in the reader’s mind.
This will help me while writing and also to keep my writings short and simple..Thanks ma’am
Now I can try all these while writing. Thanks ma
Many writers don’t realize the mistakes they make in their writings which makes their work tiring to read,but with these guides, we can learn were our faults occur. Thank you ma!
Thanks ma. As a writer i have to make use of sample words, short sentence and paragraph to keep my reader’s fully focused.
This is insightful. The central theme is to keep it short and simple. Pictures and illustrations are AD(attention directing).
Just as you wrote,u also applied the “insert subheadings”. This will enable readers get the central message at a glance.
I was reading an article. The words used in it were more of big words, which made me visit my dictionary frequently. It just got me angry and I left it. Keeping your writing short and simple attract Readers. Nice one ma
The whole write ups tells me to keep my writings short, simple and illustrative.
Wow! The way to reader’s heart is to make my writing readable. This is to say that if it not readable, it will be a waste of time and energy. Ma, you are wonderful!!; More wisdom from God to you!!!
Making your grammar clear and simple in a way that the readers understand is the most important thing in writing. Thank you ma and bless you
The keep it short and simple rule is really important,when I see some unending writeups,I fail to read them
Use short sentences and paragraph , so it doesn’t bore the readers
KISS – Keep it Short and Simple.
Use of illustration.
I hardly use illustrations on my writing but having read this, I might as well give it a try. I will equally bear in mind not to put in much illustrations. Thank you ma’am.
Trump was seen as a threat because his view didn’t align with that of those at the top. In the game of politics you either play by the rules or you’d be removed.
Very true. God bless you! It’s a miracle he is still alive. The plots against him came from all sides: Big Corporations like Amazon and Walmart for fighting their attempts to snuff small businesses out of existence; Green Energy companies, the UN and radical leftists for standing in their way of destroying fossil fuel companies and those who are dependent on them in favour of inefficient and ineffective solar and wind energy contraptions by boosting fossil fuel exploration and making America energy independent; Big Pharma for his reduction of drug prices; BigTech for drawing attention to their ever-growing and unchecked power; the DC establishment for exposing its deep and widespread corruption; the media for their deception and propaganda on behalf of the powers that be and the global elites for their plots to undermine national governments in favour of a one world government.
In summary keep it simple and short and no need for long n lengthen paragraphs.
“Takeaway: If you want to be widely read, do not stress your readers. Make your writing readable” oh wow???. Thank you ma
Perfect…mam in a country like Nigeria where the reading cultural is fading we no longer have the patience to read through a whole article but with the use of ways we will be able to keep it simple and short and also with the use of illustration as many tend to be attracted with pictures.tanks ma.
For effective communication the receiver should be able to understand the message. So inserting subheadings in long piece will easily get their attention to the message.
Simplicity and clarity are usually the best way to keep your reader interested in you and in your work, thanks a lot more for this post, it will help me restructure my write-ups
yes, simplicity is always the key to a good write-up…
I understand this ma, but what if the message you want to pass is an extensive one?
Read the post again. It says something about that.
that’s wonderful, I must say no 1 and 2 is what I admire most, some writers make their readers get bored with their works which is totally wrong , they keep beating about the bush instead of going straight to the point. it is also very important that a writer makes use suspense, as this motivates the reader’s urge to finish the story, because they will be curious to see what happened in the end of the story
Well said ma, your writing can become readable if you make use of simple, short and clear words.
This is a Among the best article for me because am an example I don’t like reading long messages but with this one can actually pass out information and yet convey all he wants to and yet the work will be short and presentable and besides in our country reading is fading so if a journalist really want his or her audience to get her write up it has to be short
I’m not encouraging a poor reading culture, my dear. University students ought to know better. Write short for social media browsers but write long for those who care.
Cohesive and coherence paragraph,with proper organization, mechanical accuracy, content development, punctuation,poses an important aspect to also take note of,in arousing and sustaining your reader’s interest in your write-up. You command more respect, to your readers,when all this principles of writing are applied.
Correctness- spelling, grammar, punctuation too (as you pointed out)- matters a lot in writing.
I’ve learnt so many things from you in such a short time. I’m so grateful to God for giving me the opportunity to read this and digest all its meanings. Thank you once again, ma.
All these tips are really helpful especially illustration. Most times the most simple sentence become the best with the accurate use of illustration.
Writers should note that passing across the intended message to the readers, supercedes everything they do in the writing process. Therefore, making use of words that are easily understood and also using appropriate punctuations where necessary will amongst others as mentioned by our dear lecturer help to convey the message to the readers.
This inspired me in a positive way-use simple word, don’t write to impress your audience with big grammar, rather communicate in an understandable terms. Thanks ma for this
A journalist has to be concise and straight to the point, so as not to tire the readers.
I can also add from experience, that longer writings makes readers loose interest.
Before now, I thought the use of caps makes readers know the importance of points thank you ma for the insight.
But Ma, how does simple words make one writing readable?
Come on, you can answer that question yourself!
With the above-mentioned tips,I believe I will be a good writer. Thank you ma.
What caught my attention was the subheading that talked about using graphics to attract readers attention… That is the same method you used in your blog ma’am and it’s very captivating if I must say.
Thank you ma, simplicity is the best element in writing making use of simple words which make one’s work readable and understandable because you are not trying to impress your reader’s but to impact knowledge to them.
I am guilty of writing long sentences and paragraphs and also not including illustration in my writing, but now, I know better, I will do better.. Thank you ma
Wowwwwww, thank you so much ma for giving us these clear tips on how to write well. Thank you ma.
As a writer, its not wise to bore your audience with ambiguous words, long sentences and unnecessary paragraphs. Make it simple, short and straight to the point for better understanding
Writing with simple words and highlighting main points through subheadings.
These are good points.
Thank you ma’am
Using this five Golden guidelines, a writer would be every reader’s favorite. In country where people only have time to read what they consider “Important”, only writers that apply catchy headlines, and write straight to the point gets the reader’s attention.
We were taught some of this things you outlined in our first semester under a course called element of journalistic styles in this prestigious university, and I can relate to your post, thanks for bringing back memories.
As a writer, you should write in a way your reader will be able to understand whatever is written. Use of big words can discourage your reader from reading.
That’s a good one there, simplicity, keeping your writing simple and short. That way it would be easily understood by the readers.
Thank you very much ma ! The use of illustrations is very much effective as it attracts readers because some people can’t read without pictures .
This is a really good piece of writing, really took note of some layed out here, just like when you said writer should make use of simple words and minimize their usage of big grammar, also use of pictures to portray their work helps create a vivd image on the Readers mind.
Very important guides for writers I must say. In all I believe simplicity should be more focused on though because what is a piece worth if your readers cannot comprehend what is written?
Simplicity is the key. As a writer I should be able to keep my writing simple for a better understanding between my audience instead of using big grammar and confusing them. Thank you ma this.
This is good especially the part about keeping your work short and simple. I hate reading long messages so I think if writers can employ these tools in writing it would make their work better.
Thank you ma! The use of illustrations is very much effective as it attracts readers because some people can’t read without pictures.
Understanding the writing is the key factor, I understood that writing is a source of communication and if I apply these tips on my writing,I strongly believe,I will be communicating effectively to my readers
Thank you ma. This would be helpful for us upcoming communicators.
Thanks for enlightening us, most times we make mistakes of using ambiguous words just so that people will say we are learned forgetting that a secondary school student or even other people might come across it, and it will be difficult for them to comprehend because of the big grammar and they will get frustrated and end up not finishing the write up, in our world today children tends to enjoy a story more when there are pictures and beautiful drawings, so a good writer should adopt this tips in order for people to enjoy his or her writeup.
Thank you Ma. The write-up is as short and simple as the message it’s trying to pass across
Your reader finds it hard or becomes ignorant of what you’ve written if it’s not Simple and clear, Be clear be Simple.
This is wonderful. I believe as a writer, when we apply all this five rules, it will improve our writing skills and it will help us go a long way. While writing we should make use of simple languages , short sentences and paragraphs and we should make use of illustration for our readers to understand fast.
Simplicity is a way to make your message easy for comprehension. Thanks Ma
I really like that you laid emphasis on the use of subheading in long pieces. Many writers are actually defaulters of this. Nice piece.
I love the fact you included illustration for lazy readers like it tends to draw our attention and it also attracts readers.
Nice tips ma, these will help to not only improve my writing skills but also make me a better writer. With these I’ll be able to communicate better to my audience.
Simplicity is very necessary and essential. This is basically writing while keeping it short and simple.
Very helpful article.
Very inspiring ma.
This would go a long way in helping me.
But I have a question ma.
Are short sentences required in every writing given that there are different topics a writer can write about?
You vary your sentence length but short ones are easier to read.
This post points out ways to ensure that your write-up is as simple and as eye-catching as possible…it is indeed essential to every mass communication student.
Thank you ma!
Most writers fail to understand that the attention of the audience can never be gotten through the use of ambiguous or complicated words. When writing, the use of simple words should be employed.
To make your writing readable, one should make use of punctuation marks which is very important in any write up to help reader understand full the message that is been passed across. Also we need to keep our write up short and simple as well as straight to the point so that even a lame man can understand because the purpose of every write up is to make readers understand whatever message that is been passed across. This post is very helpful as a mass communication student to me and all will be taken into consideration whenever I am writing. Also the use of illustration in any writing is very important because it attracts readers and helps to create an image on the write up.
The whole story is talking about Kiss..we should try nd keep our work simple nd short.. for easy understanding . Thank you Ma.
It went beyond that, thank you!
Keeping it simple and short is all it is. Illustration also helps in creating better mental pictures. Well said ma
Simplicity is an important art that any writer could master as this enables easy readability of the writer’s works.
Simplicity helps alot in writing because it makes anybody who wants to read ur articles understand it very well without difficulty,&making use of pictures & illustration also helps alot because it attract people more.
Keeping a write up simple, short and precise should be at the back of every writer’s mind and with such, your audience enjoys the writing.
One has to use simple words in consideration of his or her audience literacy and no long writing, a short heading and a picture that is attractive
This is what we were thought in our elements of journalistic writing course. Every writing should be clear, short and simple in order not to bore the readers.
Many people think that the longer, the better but that is wrong. Thank you ma for this.
Not every writing! You guys are generalizing too much on this! There is a time for long articles too as I recently explained on Facebook.
Wow. The area of using short sentences and paragraphs really got me. Am guilty of always breaking that rule in my writeups though, and it has been affecting me. Thanks for the piece ma’am.
In summary keep it short and simple for our audience to understand at all times. Noted ma. I will start applying them in my writing cause I feel like my writings are long.
I have intentions of writing articles and even creating a blog, this is so educative on how best I should write. Thanks ma
Every writer should shun use of ambiguous words and should make their writing simple and Short.
Now I can go on and build my blog page with all this tips. Thanks so much Ma, I appreciate.
Thanks Ma for sharing to us how we are to present our articles in an acceptable manner.
I learnt to make my writing simple,clear and meaningful. illust ration is a good ingredient in writing.
These 5 ways is really helpful. Every writer is expected to consider this tips. Thanks Ma for giving us this knowledge.
Simplicity is key keeping everything short and simple ,using simple words to make it understandable for readers.
True. These are really going to get you readers. People of contemporary time do not like long talks, too much grammar. They indeed want easy to read and interesting active articles
Really englighteing I would do well to avoid every form of plygarism
Thank you for the insight. In sum, you have given us a clear tip on how to start
Thanks man for this beautiful write up. In short terms it’s simply keep your work, simple and straight to the point. And I truly loved that point where you talked about words to use while writing. Truly big words scare people away.
As a writer, in order to make the work readable, you need to keep your grammar simple, short so that the readers can understand it better.
It’s funny how we miss these supposedly basic things and wonder why our write ups lack engagements.
This piece is very impactful. Thank you so much ma for this.
There is this cliché that a good writing should contain “difficult to understand” words in order to make it colourful. But reading this article has given me the insight that writing should be poised and unambiguous in order for readers to read and comprehend.
Keep it short and simple. Thank you so much for this ma. God bless you.
Thank you ma I love this guide you give us in this post, it’s going to help me and many others who would want to write.
Ma you educated me again, this time on the importance of subheadings.
I now know better, the role of illustration.
Pictures help the reader to formulate a prelude to what your work is talking about before reading. It also aids understanding.
A lot of insights
Thank you ma🙇🙇
Using simple words helps the readers read the story with ease. Thank you ma.
A reader’s comprehension of a work lies on the simplicity of language, graphic representation, eof the message you’re passing across