A professional writer knows the tools of the trade. He or she is able to construct sentences well, spell words correctly, and punctuate properly to enable readers to understand the ideas he or she is trying to convey. Readers appreciate this level of attention to detail. It makes them more likely to trust that the writer is competent and applying due diligence in researching matters of fact, opinion, meaning, and context. Clear thinking is hard work.
Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.” Do not allow mental laziness to limit your writing abilities. Adopting a professional writing strategy such as the Professional Strategy Triangle will separate you from the amateurs. Writing well is hard work, but it will pay off handsomely regardless of your career path.
Fuzzy thinking always results in fuzzy writing, but clear thinking leads to clear writing. The act of plagiarism involves using another person’s words without attribution and without enclosing those words in quotation marks. Plagiarism may also be defined as the act of taking the ideas or expression of ideas of another person and representing them as one’s own.
“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr