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23/9/2020

KEEP IT SIMPLE

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Keep It simple
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​If in doubt, leave it out. This mantra of the newspaper world was hammered into us during journalism studies. The idea probably dates to the days of manual typesetting where unnecessary words really were a waste of some poor soul’s time, putting individual letters into place. Today it may be easier to get your words out to the public – but with ease, comes excess. And our adage becomes more important than ever. We are constantly staring at screens, bombarded by the written word. Under pressure, we skim. Mails become meaningless, messages get lost in a deluge of communication. The more we read, the less we take in.

That, to me, is reason enough to keep things concise.  Sadly, we are not brought up to see the beauty of brevity. From an early age, academic goals are defined by number of words. We’ve all tackled tedious essays, constantly checking the word count, adding in an adjective or ten to pad things out. As if long words and lengthy sentences were a mark of success. 

In the media, however, the opposite is true. The holy grail of effective writing is tabloid journalism. It takes a lot more skill to get the key stuff over in 100 words than it does to devote half a broadsheet page to it. 
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You wouldn’t believe how often I edit sentences where the meaning is repeated within the space of a few words. Try looking at your own work. Next time you write a long passage that feels like it’s losing its way in the fog, examine every word. Does it  really  add to what you’re trying to say? Take it out. The cloud will lift and, sure enough, your work will start to sparkle.
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By Jill

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    So you've found our blog. As you can see, it's still in its infancy, but we'll continue to add those topics that often come up when we are coaching or editing.
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    ​​AUTHORs

    The expat world is a small one, and as native English speakers both living in a small town, we quickly found each other.  It turned out we both  taught academic writing. That was back in 2011.  We started Write English in 2014 to support graduate students and researchers with their academic writing skills. ​ Since then, we have gone on to work with leading universities and research institutes throughout Germany and the rest of Europe. Jill Henne has been working with us as a text editor since 2017, and Bridie McHale has recently joined our training team.  It's a cliché to say we are passionate about what we do - but we are.  From archeology to astro-physics, we get to read fascinating research and work with people at the forefront of their fields. Our workshops are diverse and international with opportunities for researchers to exchange ideas on writing, the publication process, and other aspects of their work.  ​
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    ​Anne Wegner 
    ​My working journey has taken me from the UK to Germany, to Brussels, the Netherlands, France and back to Germany. It has taken me from a long pit-stop in the business consultancy and NGO world to teaching graduates about academic writing and to science editing and proofreading.
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    Jill Henne
    ​Jill comes from Yorkshire, in England, where she studied German and translation before completing a postgraduate diplo​ma in journalism. After several years as news editor on local papers in the UK, Jill moved to Germany in 2001.
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    Lesley-Anne Weiling 
    Lesley-Anne comes from Ireland and graduated in Modern History from Queens University Belfast. After building a successful sales and marketing career in London, she moved to Germany in 2001 and retrained as a teacher of English as a Second  Language. 

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  • Home
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    • Writing Job Applications
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    • Lecturing to an International Audience
  • Coaching
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  • Text Correction
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  • Our Blog
  • CURRENT COURSE SCHEDULE