Reading Aloud

A great way to tell if our writing flows smoothly is to read it aloud. If a phrase sounds odd to us or we find ourselves stumbling over a sentence, then revision is in order. Further, following the advice of the Purdue Online Writing Lab https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/, we may find it helpful to read our work aloud a friend and solicit feedback and/or listen to a friend read our work.

If, when reading our essay aloud, we find that our prose seems a bit “flabby” or “meanders”  in some places, The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Writing Center provides a helpful corrective: “How to Write Clear, Concise, and Direct Sentences”  http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/Clear,_Concise,_and_Direct_Sentences.pdf

If we notice places in our essay where we seem to be moving too quickly and there are abrupt shifts, then we need to provide some transitions to help our reader follow the flow of our argument.  Here the University of Virginia Writing Center’s “Transitions” is a helpful resource, https://www.uvu.edu/writingcenter/docs/handouts/transitions.pdf

A great way to tell if our writing flows smoothly is to read it aloud. If a phrase sounds odd to us or we find ourselves stumbling over a sentence, then revision is in order. Further, following the advice of the Purdue Online Writing Lab https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/, we may find it helpful to read our work aloud a friend and solicit feedback and/or listen to a friend read our work.

If, when reading our essay aloud, we find that our prose seems a bit “flabby” or “meanders”  in some places, The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Writing Center provides a helpful corrective: “How to Write Clear, Concise, and Direct Sentences”  http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/Clear,_Concise,_and_Direct_Sentences.pdf

If we notice places in our essay where we seem to be moving too quickly and there are abrupt shifts, then we need to provide some transitions to help our reader follow the flow of our argument.  Here the University of Virginia Writing Center’s “Transitions” is a helpful resource, https://www.uvu.edu/writingcenter/docs/handouts/transitions.pdf

Last revised on January 25, 2018.