There are thousands of blog posts full of writing tips, but sometimes all you want is to start writing – that’s where these easy writing exercises come in.
If you want to develop your writing skills, you need to practise (that’s practice for those of you in the States). Try these three easy writing exercises. And, don’t be shy – feel free to share your answers in the comments!
Identify your audience
I always tell my students you can’t write well until you know who your audience is. Your audience is never ‘everyone’.
Understanding your readers in the context of their health concern is vital.
This very simple exercise is designed to help you get inside your reader’s headspace – so you can write content that resonates.
Easy writing exercise 1: Identify your ideal reader
Complete the following ideal reader profiles for the specified patient education materials:
Patient handout about IVF
- My content helps ____ who ________ and are ________________.
Example answer: My content helps anxious women who are over 35 and are struggling to conceive.
Patient handout about Implanon
- My content helps ____ who ________ and are ________________.
Hay fever infographic
- My content helps ____ who ________ and are ________________.
Prostate cancer leaflet
- My content helps ____ who ________ and are ________________.
Immunisation benefits article
- My content helps ____ who ________ and are ________________.
Reducing jargon
For non-sciencey folk, jargon reads like a foreign language. Some of the many writing exercises you can use for reducing jargon in your writing include:
- Substitution – use a simpler word (though it may not be as accurate)
- In-text explainers – define the term in a sentence or two
- Parentheses – use the phrase or its simple explanation in brackets in the text
- Link out – link out to a more complex definition (you’ll still need to include a simple explanation, though)
Easy writing exercise 2: Explain these terms in plain English (aim for a grade 5 level)
Need help with plain English? Check out our medical writing in plain English guide.
Tip: Check your reading level on Hemingway, one of my favourite readability tools.
- Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP)
Example answer: Have you been exposed to HIV in the last 72 hours? PEP is a medicine that may be able to prevent an HIV infection. It’s vital you start PEP in the first three days after a potential exposure. To get PEP or find out more, visit your local sexual health clinic as soon as possible.
- Myelin sheath
- Malignant
- Metastasis
- Atherosclerosis
- Necrosis
- Type 2 Diabetes
Readability
‘Readability’ translates to easy reading. Writing ‘readable’ content isn’t just about clear language. An article’s readability is also influenced by formatting, structure, subheadings, sentence length, and more.
Easy writing exercise 3: Edit this text into more readable copy
Tip: Don’t just rewrite the content in simple terms – look for opportunities to reformat the content. Include a bullet list, or add some subheadings. Add a new paragraph after every 2-3 sentences.
Researchers have identified three main pathways through which social relationships may affect health: behavioural, psychological and physiological mechanisms. Health-risk behaviours associated with loneliness and social isolation include physical inactivity and smoking. Loneliness is linked to lower self-esteem and limited use of active coping methods, while social isolation predicts decline in self-efficacy. Feeling lonely or being socially isolated is associated with defective immune functioning and higher blood pressure. This evidence suggests that loneliness and social isolation may be important risk factors for developing disease, and that addressing them would benefit public health and well-being.
From: Valtorta NK, Kanaan M, Gilbody S, et al Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for coronary heart disease and stroke: systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal observational studies Heart Published Online First: 18 April 2016. doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2015-308790
Want more writing exercises?
The March 2017 edition of Writing Better, the official journal of the European Medical Writers Association, contains dozens of writing exercises.
Some of the tasks in this post feature in my article, three strategies to help you write clearly for a lay audience.
