Memorandum
Memorandum
Memorandum
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Memorandum
To: Lorrae Fox
From: Chris Gibbons
Date: 1/28/18
Subject: Prose Style Analysis
Be Concise
Writing concisely means writing only words that are necessary for the audience
to understand the purpose, and to meet the purpose for your writing. Overall, my
writing in this paper has some weakness in being concise and could use
improvement.
Unnecessary Repetition
In my sentences, I found a lot of repetition and words that were not
needed. For example, I used the word racial seven times within a
paragraph, when the meaning would be the same only using it once or
twice, such as in the following sentence:
I could have removed the word in this sentence completely and reduced
the amount it appeared in the paragraph.
Dead Phrases
A dead phrase is one that doesn’t say anything necessary. In my writing,
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there were a few examples of dead phrases, most were near death
phrases that could have been revived. You can see an example in the
following sentence:
The underlined phrase could have been replaced with the word “now” or
“today”. It would maintain the same meaning a remove unnecessary
words.
Unnecessary Modifiers
In this area, my writing is strong. One strength was knowing when these
modifiers added to the meaning and purpose. The following sentence
shows the one example I found where a modifier was not needed:
This section leaves out detail on what crimes people are targeted for and the
reasoning is left out. The audience doesn’t understand it and my purpose is
missed.
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Be Precise
Being precise in your writing means to use technical terminology appropriate to
the level of knowledge of the audience. In this paper my writing was strong
using precise language for the audience.0
Jargon
Jargon is specific terminology used within a particular field of study or
profession. In my paper, I used an appropriate level of jargon that the
audience could understand. Some jargon that people outside the field of
American History might not understand within my paper are:
Disparities
Stigmas
Incarceration State
Precise Terminology
Precise terminology conveys specific definitions as used in a given field
or profession without a writer needing to define the term.
Be Direct
To be direct in writing, a straightforward prose style is needed and needs to use
strong verbs, strong nouns, mostly active voice, topic position, and stress
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The sentences that use the strong nouns, like ones that mention the
Regan administration, explain my purpose more than ones that use weaker
nouns. It also lead to the use of stronger verbs when containing stronger nouns.
Topic Position
The beginning of a paragraph sets up the topic and is referred to as the
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topic position. My writing has a strong use of topic position and is seen
throughout. For example:
Stress Position
Stress position is the point a writer is trying to make that is placed at the
end of a sentence, paragraph or chapter. My writer has a strong use of stress
position throughout, which can be seen in the following:
This sentence wraps up the main idea of what was being discussed in a
paragraph and serves as the last sentence of that paragraph.
Noticeable Errors
I analyzed my writing for any specific errors that would be noticed by
workplace readers, but found no noticeable errors.
Conclusion
After reviewing my prose style I have found that I am strong in stress and topic
position, but weak in unnecessary repetition. This analysis has shown me what
needs to be improved in my prose style and what specific items to look out for.