How to Say Nothing in 500 Words

By Paul McHenry Roberts

Roberts, Paul. “How to Say Nothing in 500 Words.” Fresh Takes, edited by Deborah
Israel, Wayne Stien,
and Pam Washington, McGraw Hill, 2008, pp. 195-202.
In the introduction the author began with the topic why college football should be
abolished and how he used this as example to show common pitfalls in writing.
Gradually the author laid out pointers on how to generally improve in writing from
how to attack the topic to effective word choice. All it takes to start is a fresh
idea to spice up any topic that has been discussed. Delivering an idea takes more
than persuading words and it is more of illustrating the sides of the argument by
presenting facts and figures. Also, taking note of the audience determines the
jargon that sets apart from poetic words. Word choice can heavily affect what the
author is directing the readers that it is important to take note of its usage.
This serves as guide when one does not know how to attack a topic. It emphasizes
that good writing does not need to be verbose.