Michael Mackey

The Power of Clear, Simple, and Human Writing.

This week was my first time creating and posting a blog for class, and honestly, it felt both intimidating yet exciting. I’ve always written essays for professors, not public readers, making this something I’ve never done before. All of a sudden, I had to think about design, structure, and how someone scrolling online might actually experience my words. Not only does it have to sound semi-professional, but it has to be eye-catching. 

Reading On Writing Well by William Zinsser helped me start in the right place. The text reminded me that good writing is simpler than it looks. Good writing is clear, simple, and human. I found myself deleting unnecessary filler words and rewriting shorter sentences that sounded like something I’d actually say out loud.

Then I started reading from both Jakob Nielsen’s “How Users Read on the Web” and Sue Dunlevie’s “16 Rules of Blog Writing.”  Where they completely changed how I now view online content. They made me realize that people don’t read every word online, they skim and scan the context looking only for what they want to know. Which means short paragraphs, strong headings, and white space are very important in any online post. Which I then tried to apply in this post.

Maria Konnikova and Nicholas Carr showed me why our brains struggle to read deeply online. Here, I realized I skim too. Carr’s question, “Is Google making us stupid?” stuck with me, because sometimes I do feel more distracted than informed. I move too fast and my attention to detail when it comes to reading information on the internet isn’t good. . 

Steven Pinker’s idea of the “curse of knowledge” also sat with me. In his reading “The source of Bad Writing” he explained that writers forget that readers don’t know a lot, that there’s a reason they are researching it in the first place. This reminded me to write with clarity. Effective communication doesn’t come from texts that sound the smartest. You want the audience to actually understand what you are saying, not feel dumb when they are reading it.  

Overall, this first assignment taught me that writing online isn’t just about what you say, it’s about how you say it and guide your reader through it. I’m still learning, but I already see how structure can make a huge difference when it comes to audience engagement and interpretation.