Think, organize, simplify: the thinking person's writing system.

• Author: Stephens, Cheryl

If you want to write reports and instructions that people will actually read, and may understand better, there is a simple procedure you can adopt: Think, Organize, Simplify. Do this for any writing: memos, letters, reports, whatever.

"Writing is thinking on paper."

British Columbia's late legislative drafter, Clifford Watts said: "First and foremost you must have clear thinking, clear policy and clear writing... Getting the words plain is easier than getting policy plain."

As a writer, you first think about your reader: What information do you need to convey to the reader? What is the reader's level of interest or knowledge in the subject? In what situation will the reader receive or use this information? What do you want the reader to do? Giving thought to your purpose, your reader's needs, and the constraints on both of you will focus your message and determine the format.

Be sure to make a simple statement of your underlying purpose when you are composing your message. Your goal is to solve problems. Think: what problem am I trying to solve? What problems will arise for the reader? How can we overcome the problems?

When you do put pen to paper, try to think-out-loud on the paper. Make your first draft a quick one. Don't get side-tracked by worrying over writing style, grammar, and feed-back. Deal with those later, after your thinking is so clear that your message seems effortless.

Organize

Now organize your thoughts on paper so your reader can follow them easily. There should be logical or chronological flow to your facts and ideas.

Organize your sentences into effective paragraphs: a paragraph should have only one main idea with elaboration, examples, or explanation of that idea. Put your topics and paragraphs in a sensible order so the progression of your logic or argument is apparent to the reader.

Show your organization with layout as if you were designing a flow chart of your ideas. Organize the entire document so that the information is accessible: use a table of contents for a document of more than three pages, use headings and numbering systems to show the architecture of the document and how the ideas are structured.

Write a summary introduction that lets your reader know what is ahead, along with a summary close that refines your whole message and includes a direction as to what should happen next. Think of leading your reader by the hand through your chain of reasoning.

If you plan ahead, you'll have your document ready in...