 Lecture 34, As-Salaam-Alaikum. Welcome to the virtual university's course on business and technical communication. In today's lesson, we will be looking at common writing problems and how to avoid them. All of us as writers at some point or the other face particular problems. A lot of these problems are individual to us, but most of these problems are common for many writers. And today, we will look at the most commonly found problems that writers face. In this lecture, we will learn about writer's block which could be because of the lack of a well defined purpose or poorly analyzed structure or audience or lack of confidence or organizational problems. We will also look at punctuation problems, readability problems, with writing style which could be due to organizational logic, problems with logic of organization or they could be problems with the mechanical development of the topic or the writer's style or quality of the manuscript. Let us have a look at writer's block. What exactly do we mean when we say writer's block? I am sure a lot of you have heard of the term, but a lot of the times we are not really sure what it exactly means. We know that when we get stuck with writing, then generally we say that we are facing a writer's block. Although the results of a writer's block are the same that writing gets blocked, there are many sources of writer's block. And the reasons for this, a writer's block could be lack of information, lack of a well defined purpose, poor knowledge of the audience or lack of confidence. In chaaroon cheezon ki wajah se ek writer's block hosakta hai, writing mein block aasakta hai aur likhne mein doswari hosakti hai. Let us have a look at the first of these, lack of information. If you feel that you are not able to write more because you are lacking in some information, then the solution is very very simple. Get more information. If you are suffering because of lack of information, then all you need to do is go out and get more information. But naturally it is not always as simple as this. First one has to decide that you do not have enough information. Agar to aapko pata hai ki aap ke pahas information kam hai, phir to uska koi, usme koi problem hi nahi hai. Phir aap mazid information jama karni hai aur phir se likhna shuru karni hai. Lekin problem tab hoti hai jab likhne mein doswari ho rahe ho, lekin yeh nahi andaza ho rahe ho ke yeh doswari ish wajah se ho rahe hai ke information mein kami hai. A lot of the times we have a lot of information but none of it is useful and even then we are actually facing a lack of information because useless information is of no use to us. So you need to decide what the problem is unless you are sure that you require more information you will not go out and get it. The surest clue of facing lack of information is if you find yourself being repetitious, if you are repeating yourself a lot or you are writing in circles and not getting anywhere. Agar aapko lage ki aap ekhi baat baar baar repeat ka rahe hai yaa aap circles mein likh rahe hai, aapki baat ka koi maksad nahi ban rahe hai toh bohat likelihood yeh hai ke aap ke pahas information kam hai yaa aap ke pahas information hai wo sahi nahi hai, aapko aur information chahiye. After you have decided that you do not have enough information or the right kind of information, you will have to discover the cause of it. Akhir yeh aase kyu hai ke aap ke pahas information kam hai yaa sahi ke such information nahi hai kyunke aap toh zahere jab likh mein baat hai toh aap apmin tarab se khasi information jama karke hi ek kam ko karne baat hai. Toh kya yeh kis wajah se hai ke aapki information jo hai wo poori nahi baad hai. Is it because you have not researched your ideas thoroughly? Shahid aapne jo research ki wo kam thi, aapne ideas ko thik se research nahi kya, thik se expanding kya or is it because you have kept poor records? Shahid aapne information toh bohat lii, lekin aapne usko thik se record nahi kya, thik se usko likha nahi, kahin usko jama nahi kya aur isle baap ko yaad nahi aare hi wo information. Toh isle doh causes ho sakte hai lack of information ke poor research and poor records. If your lack of information is the result of poor research, then you will have to stop writing and do more information gathering. You will have to stop and do more research. Aapko lagta hai ki aapki research mein kuch kameethi toh aap usko poori karenge. And if you find yourself stopping at many points to do more research, then you might guess that you have a problem in defining your communication purpose. Agar aapko ye lagra hai ki aapko baar baar rukke ye feeling ho rahi hai ki research mein kameethi. Mujhe aur information chahaye. Mujhe aur research karne hai aur thir bhi jab aap aur research karlethe hai aur aap dhabara lik na shalu kar din toh phir aapko ye hi lagta hai ki abhi meri research mukamal nahi hai. Mujhe mazeeth topics ke par aur research karne hai. Toh phir iska wato bhi hai ki aapka jo communication purpose hai aapko abhi wo hi clear nahi hua hai. Toh isle bhetar ye ho ga ke pehle aap apna purpose apne aapko define kare. Aur phir aap research karna shalu kare phir aap information gathering karna shalu kare. If your lack of information is the result of poor records, then you will have to redo some of the research in order to refresh your memory. Ho sakta hai aapne research pehle kihi ho, lekin aapne records thikse nahi rakhe ho. Toh phir aapko wo research dubhara karne padegi, ta ke aapko yad aajaye ke aapne kya kya cheez hai, kya ke aapko information mili thi. Aur phir aap usko actually record karne, kehi note down karne. The lesson that you learn from this is very clear. Don't trust your memory at all. Don't trust yourself to remember anything. Always make a note of it or record it or write it down in some form or the other so that you have a permanent record of it and you can come back to it whenever you want. If it is important, whatever information you have, if it is important or it seems that it might be important, then write it down. Beshak aapko usfak yeh sure naho aap, yeh jo mai cheez, maine, mujhe information mili hai, yeh important hai, yeh nahi hai, lekin aapko andesha ho. Ke shail aage jaakyaatko yeh important lagye, yeh aage jaakyaatko kaam ki ho to usfak aap usko likh liye jaye. Now, regardless of what the cause was of your lack of information, whether it was poor records or poor research, when you discover that there was lack of information and that is why you have write as block, block, then you must stop writing. Agar aapko pata chal gaya, mujhe meri pass information kaam hai, aur iski wajase mujhe write as block ho raha hai, to feir aap usfak likh nahi bandh kar dijiye. Because continuing to write at this point will really accomplish nothing. It will only make you frustrated. There will be nothing positive coming out of it. Kyuke zahe raha hai jab aapko aapko ek write as block ho gaya hai, aapki writing waha block ho gaya hai. Ab aap kithni bhi koshish kar le, aap usko thikse kuch nahi likh sakte, jab tak aap rukke mujheid information kar ke dobara se likhna naa shuru kare. After you have resolved the lack of information, then you can begin writing again. The important skill to develop is the ability to notice that a lack of information is the source of writer's block that you are facing. Unless you are able to identify why you are facing writer's block, unless you are able to identify that it is because of lack of information, you will not be able to correct that lack. Remember that the clue I mentioned earlier, the clue is a lot of the times that you are repeating yourself and that is what tells you that you need more information. Another source of writer's block is the lack of a well defined purpose. A poorly defined purpose of your communication will inevitably make your writing more difficult and it may block it all together. Sometimes you will experience this as a lack of information. Often you will notice it as paragraphs, sections or entire reports or papers that will shift in the middle, the topic will shift in the middle of a paragraph or a section or a report or a paper and that shows that the purpose is not very well defined. For any case of poorly defined purpose the solution is very simple. You need to develop a three part purpose statement for the communication and develop an outline of topic sentences based on the purpose statement. Whatever your communication purpose is, note it down in three parts and then write the topic sentences of your paragraphs that are related to those purposes. This will make your paragraphs always match your communication purpose. Another reason for writer's block could be poorly analyzed audience or audience that has not been analyzed at all. At such times you will find yourself staring at the computer screen wondering who is going to read your report and what on earth they want from it. So you need to recognize that you need to analyze your audience better and that because your audience has not been analyzed properly you are facing writer's block. So once you recognize that then you need to answer these two important questions. Who is going to read your report and what do they want from it. When you answer these questions then you can analyze your audience properly. So the solution to poorly analyzed audience is to stop writing again and analyze your audience. Who they are, what do they want. Once you have done that you can overcome your writer's block and start writing again. Another reason why we face writer's block is lack of confidence. Lack of confidence in your abilities as a writer makes you feel that you are not good enough to write what you are writing. If you do not think that you can communicate effectively you will not be able to. If you can think about yourself The more you follow a writing process that works, the more positive you will be able to do it. If you feel that if you are thinking that this cannot work with me, then it will not work with you. So, until you have confidence in yourself, you will not be able to complete the tasks you are doing properly. Practice your systematic approaches of writing problems to solve this problem. The more you follow a writing process that works, the more positive feedback you will receive about your reports and papers. And consequently, the more confidence you will develop in your communication skills. So, basically lack of confidence is the solution to practice. The more you practice, the more improvement you will have in your writing. The more feedback you will get, the better your confidence will be. If you find that you are stuck, that you are facing a block, whatever you do, don't continue to write because that will accomplish nothing. Stop there. Think why you are facing this problem, what the problem is. Try to remedy that problem first and then continue writing. This way you will actually waste less time rather than if you sit and keep trying to write again and again without finding out what the real problem is. Writers also face organizational problems. Organizational problems are discovered during the editing phase. Finding and fixing these organizational problems is what makes editing important. That is why we put so much effort into editing. Because the time of editing, the problems in the organization can be done better. If organizational problems are not fixed, then readers experience organizational problems as complete breakdowns in communication. The meaning of communication is not understood if there are any problems in the organization. The problem is that while reading, there is a break or a gap. The readers don't understand the connections or links. This can have a significant consequence since your readers will have to puzzle out how the writer got from one point of information to another. And no reader appreciates doing that. What would happen is that many readers will not read on. If the readers feel that they are not getting connections or they are not understanding that the writer was writing and you are writing something else. What is the relationship between these things? How does it reach from here to here? Obviously they will have to stop and think a lot. They will have to make a relationship between them. What happens most is that when people come to this point, they stop reading. Writers also face punctuation problems. That is a very common problem that we encounter in writing. Accurate punctuation does not always ensure accurate communication. But accurate communication tremendously depends upon accurate punctuation. It is not necessary that if your punctuation is correct in your writing then the meaning of your writing is exactly right for the reader. But it is necessary that if your punctuation is bad or poor then the meaning of your communication can be changed and it can be difficult to understand. So, accurate communication does tremendously depend upon accurate punctuation. We are going to have a look at a punctuation test. I would like you to look at centres without looking at the correct version. Just look at the incorrect version and see how well you can punctuate it and then take a look at the corrected version. This test focuses on the most common punctuation problems in technical writing. Incorrectly, this sentence is written, Professor Bashir wrote the future of artificial intelligence. He has become well known as a result. I have read this sentence without any punctuation. But there was no punctuation in writing except that there is a full stop or period mark at the end. The correct version would be Professor Bashir wrote the future of artificial intelligence. He has become well known as a result. Now in this, the future of artificial intelligence, which is the name of a book or article, is in inverted commas. It is clear that this is a title of something in inverted commas. After that there is a semicolon and then there is the rest of the sentence. One of the misconceptions about punctuation and language use in general is that there are a thousand rules and ten thousand exceptions. This is not exactly accurate. There are some rules and there are of course some exemptions to those rules as well. But there are not enough exemptions or there are not so many rules that you cannot learn them and that you cannot remember them. The important thing about the test sentence that we just saw about Professor Bashir is the treatment of quotation marks in relation to other marks of punctuation. You need to remember basic rules that periods or full stops and commas are always placed inside the quotation marks. Semicolons, colons, dashes, etc. are placed inside the quotation marks if they are part of the material that is being quoted. If semicolons, colons, dashes are in your text and they are part of the quoted material then they will be placed inside the quotation marks. But if they are not part of the quoted material then they will be outside the quotation marks. The inverted commas outside of them you will write the colon, semicolons and dashes when they are not part of the quoted part. Another kind of problem that writers face is readability problems. Readability is a buzzword with which most of us are familiar. Much has been said about it and there are numerous formulas which supposedly test readability. Readability is the likelihood that a project audience will be able to read and comprehend a piece of documentation. If you have written a documentation, if it is readable, it is likely that the reader will be able to understand it easily. This is called readability. Readability is an extremely important aspect of writing in any technical field but particularly in the computer industry because it is a technical field and if the technical document is not readable then it will not make any sense at all. There is one problem however. No one has agreed yet on a readability formula that works. There are many formulas and there are many things which we base on readability and we say that if the text is like this then it is readable and if it is like this then it is not readable but there has been no formula which we can test and we can see that the text is readable and the text is not readable and it needs to be improved. One however popular and widely used formula is we are going to look at and we are also going to look at its strengths and weaknesses. This formula is called the Gunnings Fog Index. It is a simple formula and it is aimed at teaching the audience on a grade scale which is supposedly based on their reading abilities. It is a simple formula. We can apply it on a text to grade the audience on what their reading ability is and according to that reading ability the text is so simple. What you need to do is select a part of the text which is approximately 100 words long to the nearest period. Take a sentence or a text which is of 100 words long or a paragraph or a section which is of 100 words long or approximately. But remember that introductions, leads or conclusions should be taken because introductions, leads and conclusions usually exhibit slightly different communication techniques and so if you take any of these then the accuracy of this test will change. So try to take sections which are not introductions, leads or conclusions. Try to take 100 words chunk from a discussion section of any text. Then count the number of sentences in the selected text determine the average length of the sentences by dividing the number of words in the text by the number of sentences. First look at the sentences and sentences in the text and then divide the number of words in the text by the number of sentences in the text. Then count the number of words which have three or more syllables. Write down three or more syllables but the letters which are starting with capital letters or their three syllables are like this because they have a prefix or suffix or they have two letters combined and one word is made don't count them but count the single words of three or more syllables. After this, the average length which you have taken put the number of words in this number add the number of the average sentence length to the number of the three syllable words that you counted. After this, multiply the number of words by 0.04. The result that you will get is the fog index. If you place this number on a scale of 1 to 20 you will be able to have the approximate reading level required to understand the text. So, if you get the number of words the level at which your reading ability should be so that you can understand that particular text. If the text is difficult, then your reading ability should be more than that. Now, another type of problem that writers face is that with writing style. One's writing style is also an editing phase problem. This is also a problem that you will deal with when you are editing. At the draft phase, writers should be concerned about communicating the subject matter and not worry about style. Style becomes secondary but at the editing polishing phase, style becomes a way of enhancing the communication and of making it easier to read. You don't need to worry about the style at the drafting stage. But when you come to polish your communication when you are editing it, then you will see the style. Then you will examine it critically according to the style. Because you can improve your communication and it will be easier to read the audience based on the readability of your writing style. Style is determined by sentence structure. Although you may not think so, sentence structure is simple and easy to understand. Many students feel that it is very difficult to understand the sentence structure. But it is not that difficult. Now I will show you four basic sentences. If you use these four different types of sentences in your writing, then your writing style can be very good. The first basic type of sentence is the sentence which follows the subject verb order. These are called subject verb sentences. For example, if you say the programmer quit. The programmer is the subject and quit is the verb. There are no other words. A very basic subject verb order is followed. In the second type of sentence you have the subject verb object order. This is the next level. This subject verb object is present. For example, the programmer kicked the terminal. The programmer is your subject. Kicked is the verb. The terminal is the object. Now let us read one more level. Subject, linking verb, complement sentence. There are three things in it. Subject, linking verb and complement. There are three things in it. Subject, verb, object. Subject is verb but linking verb or complement. For example, the programmer felt sick. Here again the subject is the programmer. The linking verb is felt and sick is the complement. The fourth type of basic sentence follows the order of subject, verb, indirect object, object. That is the order. Subject, verb, indirect object, object. For example, the programmer gave the engineer a headache. The programmer gave verb the engineer a headache. By itself this is a lot of variety which writers can use in creating a varied and interesting style. So if you keep these four types of sentences in mind you can achieve a lot of variety in your writing and achieve a better style. When we add to this basic structure different ways of modifying sentences the possibilities become enormous. These are the four basic structures. We can play with them but if we add more things and modify the sentences we get a lot of variety. There are three basic ways in which you can modify sentences. You can use left branching or you can you put the modifier before the main part of the sentence. For example if you say when we add to this basic structure ways to modify sentences comma in the obligations and your main sentences the possibilities come enormous. The possibilities is the subject and become is the linking verb and enormous is the complement. You take the subject linking verb complement line and test it to when we add to this basic structure another way of modifiers is right branching or after the main part of the sentence. Ishi sentence ko duwara dette hain, right branch karke. Writers should vary sentence structure, allowing readers the opportunity to pause, digest what they have read and go on. Ab is example mein writers subject hain, should vary verb hain, sentence structure objekt hain aur iske baad aapne jo hain modifier lagaadia, allowing readers the opportunity to pause, digest what they have read and go on. The third way to add modifiers is mid branching or in the middle of the main parts of the sentence. For example, writers if they are wise and experienced, vary sentence structures. Ab isme ab dekhain, writers subject hain. If they are wise and experienced aapne modifier lagaadia, vary verb hain, sentence structure objekt hain. To jo aapne modifier lagaadia waapne beach mein lagaadia hain. Once you realize that it is the variety of sentence structures and lengths that make your writing style interesting, you will be a successful writer. However, you need to be careful that you do not overuse one style only. Kisi ek style ko leke hi aap mat use karein baad baad, aap different styles ko, different writing techniques ko, different sentence varieties ko lije, taak hai aapka writing style jo wo yo interesting bane. There are many other ways of varying sentences, of varying your writing style, but these 7 options, the 4 different types of sentences and the 3 ways of adding modifiers can be used to create about 46 different type of sentences. To aap in saath se leke, different combinations enke karke aap 46 kisamke sentences baan aasaktain aur ye khasi variety hain aapke writing style mein add karne ke liye. Now when you are editing your work, you need to realize that it is the final step in the process of writing, whether you are writing a report or a paper about computer technology. And editing is what ensures a successful communication. Almost everyone who writes does some sort of editing, but many do not edit systematically with a specific goal in mind. Bohat baar hota, edit to hum sab kartein, jobi hum de cheez liye, usko zoroor ek baar dektain koi na koi usme changes kartein, lekin systematically edit, bohat kam log kartein. Bohat baar yo hota hai ke jo hum logon ke dhmaag mein idea hota hai ke achee report ya achee paper aisa hona chahiye wo humare ek gutt reaction se hota hai apna kam dekke, hum uske baare mein koi system follow nahi kar rahe hota hai. And while this process of editing with gutt reaction may work for very seasoned writers, writers who have been doing it for a long time, it is time consuming to develop the skills that are required to make accurate gutt reaction criticisms of one's own work. Apne kam ke baare ko apne kam ko criticize karna, apne kam ko improve karna, sirf ek gutt feeling se ki ye thik lagra hai, yo ye thik nahi lagra, khasa expertise ka kam hai, bohat saalun ki practice ke baad ya ho sakta hai, itna asaan nahi hai ke aap sirf dekke andazah se apne kam ko thik kar le. Today we are going to look at some ways that writers can assess the quality of their work and the work of others without using just a gut feeling. Good editing divides the task of improving a document into a limited number of areas. Good editing means that you need to look at organizational logic, mechanical development of the topic, writer style and the quality of the manuscript. In chaat cheezon ko agar aap ek ek karke dekhe, tab aap achhi expert editing kar sakta hai apne reports ki. Let's have a look at organizational logic. The single most important issue in writing a report or a paper about computer technology for any audience is organizational logic. This is the first thing that a person needs to look for when editing a document. The ideas in a paper or a report should be interrelated. Jobi ideas hain, jobi logic aap istimal kar hain ek paper mein ya ek report mein wo ek bhusre ka saath interlinked honi chahiye, unki aapse mein relationships clear honi chahiye, jo organization hain wo clear honi chahiye. To jab aap ek paper ko edit karne baith hain, toh sab se pehle aap uski organization ko dekhe ki uski organization jo hain wo koi logical order follow kar rahi hai ya nahi. The information should form a sequence which should appear predictable to readers or even inevitable. Readers ko patte wey yandaza hona chahiye ki aap agla section jo hain wo kya kis cheez ko deal karega. Aur yeh cheez hain, yandaza jo hain wo, jo peechhe wo par raha hain, uski se hona chahiye. Ani text pistra honi chahiye ki unko agle sections ka andaza honi chahiye ki ab yeh logically yeh cheez follow karegi. A topic or an idea should anticipate topics and ideas which follow it. They should be no surprises in a document. They should be no areas of confusion which the readers have to puzzle out for themselves. Har cheez jo hain wo clear honi chahiye, koi cheez achanak se introduce nahi honi chahiye ek paper ki andar. The other thing that you look for is the mechanical development of the topic. How the writer develops the topic goes hand in hand with organizational logic. If the ideas are arranged in a logical order, the development of the topic becomes fairly easy. So, when editing a paper, keep in mind its effectivity. You may have to rewrite some portions to make those portions more effective. You need to examine the paragraphs individually. Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence, which gives the reader an idea of what the topic of the paragraph is and how it relates to the overall topic of the document. Jaisikya hum ne pehle bhi baat ki thi ki jo aapka topic sentences hain wo aapke main purpose statement ke saath ko relate karne chahiye. To isliye jab editing ke wak ab apne sarah topic sentences ko bhat gaur se dekhye. Aur yeh dekhyein ke jo topics hain kya wo main ideas se relate karne hain ya nahi. Aur peh rhiye dekhyein ke jo topic sentences ke niche information aapne paragraph ke andar likhi hai wo us topic sentence ke saath korespond kar rahi hai ya nahi kar rahi. So and also remember that the paragraph should develop that topic and that topic only. Ek paragraph me koi aur cheez nahi introduce ho nahi chahiye jo cheez hain wo us paragraph ke topic sentence jean cheez wo se deal kar rahi hai wo us paragraph me sarah unhi cheez wo ka zikar ho nahi chahiye, koi nahi cheez hain nahi introduce ho nahi chahiye. Also you need to see if there is transition between paragraphs, even between sentences. Transition is what links the ideas together. Aapne dekh nahi ke aapke paragraphs me aapke sentences me aapas me koi aise alfaaz hain jo unko ek dosa ke saath link kar rahi ya nahi. Agar transitional devices nahi hai to phir padne wale ko connections banana muskil laginge agar transitional devices hain to wo connections asaan ho jayenge. Transition can be accomplished in three ways. The writer might repeat an important word into adjoining paragraphs or sentences, koi word ya phrase jo ke zaroori hai usko dobarah repeat kiya jayi, agle sentence me ya kuch sentences baad ya agle paragraph me, pishale paragraph se ya pishale sentence se link dekhane ke liye. Or the structure of the paper can accomplish transition, jistana aapne paper ko structure kiya waha hai wo bhi aapki transition ko help krta hain, agar jo cheez hain, logically ek ke baad dosri cheez aaye to wo bhi transition hoti, agar cheez hoon ki aapas me, jo ideas ke aapas me logic nahi ho to wo transition clear nahi hoti, lakin agar logic hoto padne wale ko andaza ho jata ki aap logically ye iss cheez ka zikar hoega. And the third thing would be the transitional words and phrases used to establish links between ideas in an obvious way. The use of words such as finally, firstly, secondly, however etcetera are transitional words that we use to show the relationships, to show the ideas place in a paper. Also another aspect of looking at the mechanical development of the topic is that you need to examine the ending of the report of the paper. Is the ending written with an obvious purpose in mind? Abhidak to humne dekhah ke jo discussion thi usko humne dekhah ke uske jo topics hain wo main ideas se relate kare hain yaan nahi kare hain, transitions hain yaan nahi hain, topic sentences aur paragraphs ek dosa se match kare hain yaan nahi kare hain. Aapne ending ko bhi dekhna hain, ke ending jo hain wo main purpose ke saath match kare hain yaan nahi kare hain aur uske ending ka jo purpose hain wo kya hain. Also you need to see, will the ending leave the reader with a sense of fullness and completion? Will it leave the reader with a sense that you have satisfied their needs? Agar wo ending padke reader ko lage ke bus, yehi baat thi aage kya hain, toh phir jo reader hain usko aap confuse jo rahin hain, kuch completion ki feeling unko nahi mil rahin. Lekin agar aapki ending asi hain ke wo aapke main purpose ko round up kar rahin hain, toh phir aapki reader ko jo hain wo ek completeness aur fullness ki feeling hogi end mein. And finally, check the punctuation throughout the document. The punctuation should reflect the logical organization and the interrelationship of ideas throughout the document. It should be accurate and correct by presently accepted standards. If you do not know what currently accepted standards are for punctuation, buy a good handbook or a grammar book which tells you about punctuation because that will be a wise investment. All you need to do is just refer to it if you are not sure. Even if you have a good idea as to what society thinks is correct punctuation, get a handbook so that you can refer to it easily whenever you are unsure. Now coming to writer's style. Style is the writer's voice coming through the words and sentences to communicate directly to the readers. Style is invariably structure. How you arrange words and sentences in patterns which are natural sounding to you. Written style is a bit more formal than normal conversation, it is a bit more measured and more planned. When we are speaking, we do not plan that much but when we are writing, we plan a lot and once we write it, we cut it and write it again. We plan a lot and practice a lot. Conversation is more natural, it is more impromptu, there is very little planning. So, that is what is expected of it as well but with writing because we know that the writer has time to plan, the writer should have time to plan, the reader is also expecting a different style and a different type of style from the writing. In conversation we establish clarity by observing visual and oral clues from the other person as to whether we are being understood or not. When we are speaking we can see what we are talking to the reader or listen to it. We can establish whether we are understanding what we are saying or not. But when we are writing, we cannot see our audience, the readers. So, we have to first make an estimate whether we are understanding what we are writing or not. So, that is why we need to ensure that the paragraphs and sentences that we are writing will actually carry our thoughts to them effectively. We also need to keep in mind and question if the style conveys the effect that we intend to get across to the reader. If you wish to sell an idea or a product, for example, your style must be persuasive. If you wish to convey information only such as in a report to seniors, then this style should appear to be passively objective. So, keeping in mind the purpose of your documentation, you need to vary your style. Also you need to see if the style is monotonous or not. If the sentences are of nearly the same length and same structure, the style will be monotonous and boring. The last thing that a writer needs to examine when editing a document is the quality of the manuscript. A manuscript should be visually attractive. This means that it should not only be orderly, there should be obvious divisions and subdivisions in it as well. Manuscript should invite readership. The reader should look at the manuscript and the paper to see if it should be attractive. Have you ever seen a report or paper which has writing crowded on it out to the edges from the top to the bottom or side to side? Such a manuscript looks hard to read. But if there are breaks and pauses in it, the formatting will be as such that it looks easy to read. Then you will read the book more easily and it will be more attractive. The typing also should be clear. So, if you are reading the book, then you will be able to read the book more easily and it will be attractive. The typing also should be clear in a manuscript and the production should not be sloppy. Also, a report or paper must be sufficiently detailed and only the writer knows how much detail is sufficient. So, keep in mind the needs and add detail according to that need. There should be enough detail to satisfy the projected needs of the reader. If the writer has paid attention to logical organization and development of the topic, the document will be detailed and as short as it has to be. If the writer knows that the logical organization is fine and the topics I have developed are fine, then it cannot be that detail is given in the detail of the topic. Then there will be detail, manuscript or short. After this, once you have looked at the manuscript and the quality of the manuscript, then you need to proofread the manuscript as well. Proofreading is not the same as editing. You have to use the judgment in editing. You have to see what changes we have to make in sentences, structure, organization. Proofreading is just a quick checking for errors. You will do proofreading quickly. You will only see if there are any mistakes. You have to use your judgment in editing to make changes. You only have to make mistakes in proofreading. With this, we come to the end of today's lecture in which we learnt about the different writing problems that people face. We looked at writer's block and looked at the causes of writer's block, which could be lack of a well-defined purpose, poorly analyzed structure, lack of confidence, lack of information. We looked at organizational problems, punctuation problems, readability problems and problems with writing style, which we discussed could be due to lack of organizational logic or poor mechanical development of the topic or poor writer's style or poor quality of the manuscript. We also looked at how to correct all these problems. If you have any problems when you are writing, try to keep these things in mind, see how you can apply them to your writing and how you can effectively improve your writing. Until next time, Allah Hafiz.