PRINCIPLES OF

INFORMING
By Michael Sjoerdsma
June 2023
 By the end of this module, you will understand some
basic principles about informative writing:
1. Minimizing memory load
2. Creating order
LEARNING 3. Connecting new with known information

OBJECTIVES 4. Repeating important concepts

5. Providing general frameworks
6. Employing graphics
7. Keeping it simple
8. Eliminating cognitive interference
 MAXIMIZE COMMUNICATION

Personal Style

Disciplinary Style

Cognitive Style

Error! What do I want to say? Correct! What does my audience

need to know?
CONSIDERATIONS FOR FORM
• Standard organization?
• Fonts and font size?
• Use of bold, italics, capitalization, colour?
• Headings and sub-headings and numbering? Check notes to authors, templates,
• Columns and paragraph length? and previous publications
• Numbering systems for pages and equations?
• Types of lists: bulleted/numbered?
• Referencing conventions?
• Use of appendices/footnotes?
• Figures, tables, captioning?
• Amount of white space?
NOTE ABOUT FORM
Form combines elements of persuading and informing
v Persuasion: Do you belong to the discourse community?
v Informing: Is this information structured in ways that help your readers?
The split between form and content is a false dichotomy
v Form: Over time, it changes and adapts to changes in content and processes
(i.e., view it as organic)
v Content: Some content cannot be expressed in standard forms (i.e., emotional or
personal content does not usually work well in technical journals)
v Reasons: You can often excuse deviation from the norm if you can justify the
reasons to the audience.
 1) MINIMIZING MEMORY LOAD
Magic number for short term memory is 7 ± 2 items * (or is it?**)

Mixed Analog/Digital Integrated Circuit Product Delivery Process Benchmarking

Benchmarking the Product Delivery Process for Mixed Analog/Digital Integrated Circuits

* Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus **Cowan, N. (2001). The magical number 4 in short-term
two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity.
Psychological Review, 63(2), 81-97. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24(1), 87-114.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0043158 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x01003922
MINIMIZING MEMORY LOAD
The major considerations for review are as follows:
•Emphasize team member participation in planning and managing each project.
•Provide formal project management training to all members of the project group.
•Emphasize team building.
•Introduce an effective bid-response system.
•Balanced resource planning.
•Lateral communications between functional departments.
•Marketing to solidify commercial specifications before commitment to build.
•Increase the involvement of senior management in the project process and coordinating the
functional departments.
MINIMIZING MEMORY LOAD
The major considerations for review are as follows:
1. Teamwork
• Emphasize team member participation in planning and managing each project.
• Encourage team building.
• Increase lateral communications between functional departments.
2. Coordination
• Develop balanced resource planning.
• Require marketing to solidify commercial specifications before commitment to build.
• Increase the involvement of senior management in the project process and coordinating the
functional departments.
3. Training
• Provide formal project management training to all members of the project group.
• Develop an effective bid-response system.
 What do the following items have in common?

paper clip, straight pin, nail, bobby pin, staple, cotter pin

2) CREATING Some possible organizing principles

ORDER • Metals (composition)
• Made of wire (form)
• Fasteners (function)
• Found in junk drawer (location)
BASIC PATTERNS OF ORGANIZATION
• A sequence of events through time
• A sequence of movements through space
• A comparison of similarities and differences
• A list from most important to least important
• An explanation of a problem and solution followed by recommendations
• A general point followed by a more detailed explanation and/or specific examples
(perhaps the most important pattern in paragraphs and document sections!)
ORGANIZING LISTS
• Make lists grammatically parallel when possible (i.e., all items should generally
begin with verbs or with nouns).
• Ensure that what all the items in a list have in common is obvious to the reader.
• Restrict lists to no more than five points wherever possible. (If you have more than
five points, try to break up the list by using subheadings.)
• Clarify how items are related, using bullets when the items are of equal importance
and using numbers to indicate priority, step-by-step instructions, general to specific,
or order of importance.
ORGANIZING
INSTRUCTIONS
USING RELATIONAL
LANGUAGE
• First …. Second ….
• Before …. After ….
• More …. Less ….
• Most …. Least ….
• Larger …. Smaller ….
• Above …. Below ….
• Next ….
• Then ….
• Etc.
ORGANIZING SENTENCES
To bold the selected text, press ‘B’ while holding down the ‘Ctrl’ key.
produces

bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb

instead write

To bold the selected text, first hold down the ‘Ctrl’ key and then press ‘B’
3) USING CONVENTIONAL FORMS
• Business Letters • Journal Articles
• Memos • Reports
• Résumés • Proposals
• Cover Letters • Specifications
• Experiments • Progress Reports
• Article Reviews
 1. Prefatory Pages
a. Title Page
b. Abstract or Executive Summary/Acknowledgements
c. Table of Contents
d. List of Figures

USING e. List of Tables

f. List of acronyms

CONVENTIONAL g. Glossary
2. Body of Document

FORMS (REPORT a. Introduction (includes scope/organization)

b. Background

GENRES) c. Discussion
d. Recommendations
e. Conclusion
3. Appended Pages
a. (Glossary)
b. Technical Materials
c. References Adjust the structure depending
upon the audience, purpose,
genre, and venue.
USING NEW FORMS FOR NEW APPROACHES
In this manual, all terms that appear in buttons are
defined in the glossary. To access the glossary, all
you need to do is click on the button.
You can save a lot of time if you set up a
for a document format you use often.

An early example of a linked on-line user’s manual

4) REPEATING IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Repetition helps us remember stuff!

USING PARALLELISM
We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with
growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island,
whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the
landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the
hills; we shall never surrender.

– Winston Churchill
REPEATING IMPORTANT INFO THREE TIMES
In a speech: 1. Tell them what you will say
2. Say it
3. Tell them what you said

In a paper: 1. Introduction
2. Body
3. Conclusion
 5) PROVIDING GENERAL FRAMEWORKS
Consider the following detailed directions: Easier to understand with general
frameworks:
Do you know where Lougheed Mall is?
Start at the intersection of Gaglardi and You do? Good. Do you know where the
University Way. Go South 4.5 kilometers Red Robin restaurant is near Lougheed
and turn left at the 3rd set of lights. Turn Mall? Great! I live in the apartment
left at the next set of lights. Then turn left block behind it.
again at the next stop light. Go one block
and turn left at the lights. Then go to the
next set of lights and turn South. I live in
the second apartment block from the
corner.

And if that doesn’t work?

SEND A MAP!
SOME FOOD FOR THOUGHT
• Did anyone notice that the detailed instructions did not match the map?
• Why didn’t we notice?
• Because the human mind is not very good at accurately noting or remembering
details!
• Be careful to not overwhelm your reader with details. Organize essential details
using lists, tables, graphs, maps, and illustrations.
6) EMPLOYING GRAPHICS
Use a figure

= rm <filename>

Or use a simile

Typing “rm filename” in Linux is like dragging that file to

the garbage can.
EMPLOYING
GRAPHICS
CAUSE OF THE SWEDISH
HOUSING CRISIS?
 • Glossary
• Appendices
• Footnotes
• Graphics (Videos?)
• White Space
7) KEEPING IT • Plain Language
We’ll revisit these claims later
SIMPLE SILLY • Short Sentences

K
I
S
S
¡¡¡OMG!!! NOT SO SIMPLE
Announcing Project Mortar:
In order to enable stronger focus on advancing the Web and to reduce the complexity and long term maintenance
cost of Firefox, and as part of our strategy to remove generic plug in support, we are launching Project Mortar.
Project Mortar seeks to reduce the time Mozilla spends on technologies that are required to provide a complete
web browsing experience, but are not a core piece of the Web platform. We will be looking for opportunities to
replace such technologies with other existing alternatives, including implementations by other browser vendors.
In order to keep costs low, we may use APIs internally that are not considered web standards. These APIs will not
be exposed to the web. Solutions that both reduce our support cost, achieve the desired user experience, and
make use of web standards will be preferred.
The project will start by investigating how Firefox handles PDF rendering followed by looking into lower cost
approaches to providing Flash support as it’s usage continues to decrease. Project Mortar is currently
investigating using the minimum set of Pepper APIs needed to support the PDFium library and the Pepper Flash
plugin. If successful, this work will allow us to completely remove NPAPI support from Firefox once NPAPI is
disabled for general plugin use.
Keep an eye on https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mortar_Project for status and future updates for this project. (Source:
https://m.signalvnoise.com/rewriting-bad-writing-7b33e9cebb5b#.iipjcjsz7)
MUCH BETTER
Today we’re launching Project Mortar.
The goal: advance the web by reducing Firefox’s complexity and long-term maintenance.
We all want to make the best browsing experience for our users. That means we need to spend less time building
non-core web components. Especially when we can replace them with existing alternatives.
We’ll keep our eyes open for the best options, like those based on web standards. Occasionally we may need to
use our internal, closed APIs. Together they’re our best chance at reducing support costs while still giving users a
great experience.
We’ll start with two major areas in Firefox  --  PDF rendering and Flash.
We’re starting with PDFium and Pepper Flash as possible replacements. We’re currently looking at what Pepper
APIs we need to pull this off. If all goes well, we can completely remove NPAPI support after it’s disabled for
general plugin use.
We’ll continue to post updates on the project wiki.
As always thanks for reading and for your continued support!

(Source: https://m.signalvnoise.com/rewriting-bad-writing-7b33e9cebb5b#.iipjcjsz7)
8) ELIMINATING COGNITIVE INTERFERENCE
This paragraph is set in 4 point text and is therefore very difficult to read. You have probably all had the experience of reading a poor quality
photocopy where you were required to focus so intently upon deciphering the individual letters and words that it became very difficult to put
together the meaning of the text. Because we read most efficiently by recognizing the patterns of the words, when you interfere with this by using
a very small font, by using a sans serif font, or by producing poor quality documents in other ways (i.e., poor quality copying), you slow down
your readers. Readers who are impeded in this way become frustrated and experience cognitive interference. In extreme cases, they give up.

This paragraph is set in 24 point text and is therefore a bit easier to read. You
have probably all had the experience of reading a poor quality photocopy
where you were required to focus so intently upon deciphering the indivi-dual
letters and words that it became very difficult to put together the meaning of the
text. Because we read most efficiently by recognizing the patterns of the words,
when you interfere with this by using a very small font, by using a sans serif font,
or by producing poor quality documents in other ways (i.e., poor quality copying),
you slow down your readers. Readers who are impeded in this way become
frustrated and experience cognitive interference. In extreme cases, they give up.
CONCLUSION
How will you employ the principles of informing in your informative paper?