The Quality of Writing Written by: Herman Holtz Presented by: Adam Howell

“Quality is an elusive characteristic…” There is a lot to ponder when trying to approach a topic to be written. Holtz believes that quality is rather “elusive” but may not pertain to all forms of writing. There is a lot to ponder when trying to approach a topic to be written. Holtz believes that quality is rather “elusive” but may not pertain to all forms of writing. To start writing anything, one must first go through some sort of research to help develop the idea that a person is trying to convey on paper… This will increase quality. To start writing anything, one must first go through some sort of research to help develop the idea that a person is trying to convey on paper… This will increase quality.

Research Versus Writing Quality Holtz suggests that anyone needing to write must understand the concepts or ideas behind their chosen topics. Holtz suggests that anyone needing to write must understand the concepts or ideas behind their chosen topics. After coming across several poorly written manuscripts, Holtz realizes that poor writing is a cover up excuse for poor research. After coming across several poorly written manuscripts, Holtz realizes that poor writing is a cover up excuse for poor research. “The writer has not mastered [their] subject before trying to explain it to a reader.” “The writer has not mastered [their] subject before trying to explain it to a reader.”

A Diagnosis and its Test…  No matter what, a writer will always tell you that they are masters of the subject they have written on (Like myself and this presentation), but in fact, this person may only know the tip of the iceberg and could have missed some key points of information to help relay the correct point of view.

Holtz wanted to test a writer and his subject of choice. He asked the writer to produce a manuscript, leave it with Holtz, where in turn Holtz directed the writer to go back and write it again from scratch. “The result was […] a highly satisfying improvement in the manuscript.” This just goes to show that a person can improve on something they have already completed.

Gauge your own Adequacy As one who would approach the need to write about something, “you must learn how to gauge the adequacy of your own how-to research.” It’s hard to know when you have “mastered” the chosen topic, but once you have researched several parts, and everything starts to ‘click’, you may be ready to begin your piece of writing.

Training Yourself “It is possible to train yourself to examine your own writing with an objective eye.” As a writer, you need to be ‘suspicious’ whenever you start to sense your personal quality of technical writing begin to decline. Once you have assessed any ‘damage’ you have caused in your writing, a writer should go back and review the research to find more pieces.

Great writing due to Great Research Holtz believes that it takes great research to write a great how-to, but the writer must be able to learn and measure the adequacy of their research by understanding their own knowledge. Research should be done with great quality, which will help to produce great how-to material pieces of writing.

Work Cited Holtz, Herman. “The Quality of the Writing Can Never Be Better Than the Quality of the Research.” TechWR-L 19 Feb l.com/techwhirl/magazine/writing/hindsights _qualitywriting.html