How to write better
When I wrote my master’s thesis, I thought long paragraphs and difficult words made writing better. The more complicated the sentence, the more it proved I belonged in the field.
Oh boy, was I wrong.
Long paragraphs and difficult words bury the point. Stating the point directly, in plain words, makes it clear.
Usually, I write about backtesting and strategies. This post is about writing, because an idea no one can follow is an idea no one will use.
I picked five rules from Ben Jacobsen’s Some Research and Writing Tips (2014) and Deirdre McCloskey’s Economical Writing (1999).
1. If you want to say something, say it
If you have a point, say it, and say it first.
Write the point in one or two short sentences.
Before:
This post uses a monthly-rebalanced, equal-weighted backtest to examine whether a portfolio of the 30 highest-yielding US equities delivers a higher annual return than the S&P 500.
And the better way of saying it:
The 30 highest-yielding US stocks returned 7.9% a year. The S&P 500 returned 15.0%.
The original describes the test. The rewrite states its result.
2. Cut the words
Then ask which words you could delete without losing the point.
Before:
In this post, it will be shown, using a bucketed median approach, that the S&P 500 exhibits a median return of +3.81% in the week following a single-day decline of 5% or more.
And here with fewer words:
After a one-day fall of 5% or more, the S&P 500 returned a median of +3.81% over the next week.
When the finding is your own, search your draft for “that” after verbs such as find, show and argue, and try deleting it together with the words before it. We find that momentum beat the market becomes Momentum beat the market.
3. Write plainly
Assume your reader is unfamiliar with the topic. Explain each idea as it appears, and spell out the abbreviations.
Before:
I test whether the DY factor generates positive CAR after controlling for FF3 loadings.
And here in plain words:
I test whether stocks with high dividend yields earn positive abnormal returns after adjusting for their exposure to the market, size and value factors of Fama and French.
4. Use the active voice, and say “I”
The passive voice leaves out who did what. Write in the active voice and name who did it.
Before:
It is generally believed that value beats growth.
And here in the active voice:
Fama and French (1992) find that value beats growth.
The same holds for your own work. If you wrote it alone, say “I” and drop the royal “we”.
5. Start inside the story
Do not warm up with a sentence about the post. Let the first sentence begin the story. My post on predicting World Cups had two possible openings.
Before:
This post applies the Elo rating system, originally developed for the game of chess, to the domain of international football.
And here is the one I used:
Elo rates chess players. The same idea applies to football, because the outcomes are the same: win, draw, loss.
Conclusion
Every rule here comes back to rule 1. Do not announce your point. Do not pad it. Do not bury it under abbreviations, the passive voice, or a warm-up. Say it.
Write the draft, then rewrite it, then rewrite it again. Each pass makes the point clearer.
Sources: Ben Jacobsen, Some Research and Writing Tips (2014). Deirdre N. McCloskey, Economical Writing, 2nd ed., Waveland Press, 1999.