Five Ways to Create Flow in Your Writing
At the Writing Center, we often
talk about the flow in writing. While
it’s a small word, flow incorporates
many parts of writing, which can make it difficult to define and complicated to
achieve. Creating flow involves using logical connections between ideas,
strong topic sentences to start paragraphs, transitions to
link sentences, concise wording, and a varied sentence structure.
One commonality between these
parts of writing is that they make the reader’s job easier. And, that’s
essentially what flow is: Techniques and characteristics of good writing that
make the writing easy for the reader to navigate and understand. In this way,
good flow is a lot like a good road trip.
Logical connections
If I was writing a paper about the
advantages of online education, I might first discuss how online education can
be useful to people who are working adults, as well as people who live in rural areas. But what if I then talked about how students are more engaged when
they live on campus?
Wait, what?
Topic sentences
Transitions
Transitions create flow by linking ideas and sentences. Writers can create transitions in a couple of ways: (1) using words like additionally or however to begin sentences and (2) repeating key terms or phrases between sentences. Transitions are like bridges between roads. They help guide the reader between sentences, showing the reader how to
easily get from one sentence to the next, just like a bridge can bring you from one side of the road to the other safely and easily.
Clear, concise wording.
Clear and concise wording also creates flow. Take this sentence: Online education, which means education in an online format where you are not face-to-face with your teacher or classmates, can help a student become more proficient in their area of expertise or field, which in turn can also help a student show leadership skills and receive a promotion or recognition for his/her good work at their job.
Whew, that’s a long one. Note all the phrases and ideas stacked on top of one another that the reader must navigate. Instead, I could have easily said: Online education helps students become proficient in their field, which can result in recognition for students in the form of a promotion. Much clearer! This sentence has the same meaning as my previous sentence, but is more concise and easier to follow. Using concise and precise wording is like creating a direct route in a road trip. Instead of taking your reader through all the winding back roads and causing car sickness, you’re taking the reader on the most direct route to your ideas.
Varied wording and sentence structure
Avoiding repetition creates flow by getting readers interested in your ideas and in the way you talk about your ideas. Think taking a long road trip through flat, rural countryside. Without variety in scenery, the drive can become boring pretty quickly. Variety in scenery—like variety in sentence structure—makes the journey more interesting.Take these sentences, for example: Online education is beneficial for many students. Online education benefits many students in rural areas. Online education benefits many students working full-time jobs. My sentence structure is the same in each sentence (a simple subject + verb construction), and I repeat the words online education, benefit, and many students. Here’s another version that varies the sentence structure and wording, and thus is more engaging: Online education is beneficial for many students. In particular, students in rural areas and those working full-time jobs can find online education convenient and useful.
As you write, remember to use logical
connections; topic sentences; transitions; clear, concise writing; and varied wording
and sentence structure. If you can master these aspects, then you’re on your
way to creating flow in your writing!
Editor's Note: In 2016, we expanded Beth's discussion of flow in academic writing. Our Instructors and Editors expanded on each one of these strategies in a full-length blog post. So, if you'd like more insight and instruction on any of these five categories, check out our Writing Center Greatest Hits Update: 5 Flow. Follow this link to access the expanded, in-depth discussion on increasing your writing's flow today!
Writing Instructor and Coordinator of Webinar Writing Instruction Beth Oyler writes about literature in her spare time and enjoys contemplating the possibilities writing creates.
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Hi Beth,
ReplyDeleteI just got this email from you. I will read this info concerning flow. I am on the 60 version and frankly almost about to give up. I just want this prospectus to go through and I have never in years of paper writing ever been through all of this.
I appreciate your insight but I would like, as I am running out of funds, to finalize this prospectus and get on with the literature review.
Thank you for corresponding with me so that I can achieve that.
Russ
Hi, Russ, thanks for the note! I hope my feedback is helpful for you, and I encourage you to e-mail us at writingsupport@waldenu.edu. I'd be happy to chat more specifically about your writing and help you move forward with your draft, okay? Thank you! -Beth
ReplyDeleteHello Beth,
ReplyDeleteI have been on the prospectus so long that a middle school student had gone to high school, college, and headed to medical school. How is the best way to write a Background Literature? write what lit says about the topic, or what researches that had used the intervention being proposed did?
Thank you
Very helpful and simple advice...thanks alot...i want to try :)
ReplyDeleteWe hope you will give these tips a try, Ayatollah. Let us know how it goes!
ReplyDeleteI like how you gave examples and pictures.
ReplyDeleteWonderful! Thanks for reading and for your comments.
DeleteThis article is creative and helpful. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks to all of our commentors. 'Creating Flow' is one of the topics we get asked about the most here in the Walden U Writing Center. Keep your eyes open this summer for an entire series of blog posts dedicated to that fickle art of Flow :)
ReplyDeleteI am writing my prospectus now and looking for a good Sample. Also, I just saw in the writing center that they do not review Prospectus or any parts of the dissertation? Now I'm freaking out. LOL. Help. Maggie
ReplyDeleteHi there! Thanks so much for your comment. :) You can find a few examples of successful prospectus documents here (http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/doctoralcapstoneresources/phdpppa/prospectus).
DeleteYou're right that the Writing Center does not review prospectus or dissertation documents; however, there are a number of resources available to students at this stage in their program!
See this page (http://academicanswers.waldenu.edu/faq/73271) to learn about these resources.
Thank you! This was very helpful!
ReplyDeleteYou are so welcome, Jane. I'm so glad to hear that this was helpful. Thank YOU for your kind note. :) Have a great week!
DeleteThat is amazing tips!
ReplyDeleteAny idea to write summarize from passages ?
Mostly, it's not logical (that what my native speaker friend told me).
Thanks
tazzy_cmu@hotmail.com
Hello, Worawit!
DeleteGlad you found these tips helpful! Here is a link to our page on summarizing: http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/evidence/summary
You might also want to review the information on paraphrasing linked on the sidebar of that page!
Thank you for sharing like this information. This is the most easy way of learning. This helps me to get some idea regarding this and helps me to bring a creative thought.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Robin! We are glad you find our blog useful!
DeleteWe're glad our blog post was helpful for you, Gregor Renk!
ReplyDeleteGreat, this one is really helpful for me
ReplyDeleteSo glad to know that, Anndy!
DeleteThanks a lot, this was so much helpful for me.
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear that, Alexa!
DeleteDo you have to be a Walden student to use the writing center helps.
ReplyDeleteYou do not need to be a Walden student to access our website - academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter - but some of the resources are restricted to Walden students.
DeleteI just want this prospectus to go through and I have never in years of paper writing ever been through all of this.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate all five awesome steps
Most people writing a prospectus have never written one before! Your effort is going to pay off. Keep going! We're here to support you!
DeleteThank you for the five ways to create flow. I will apply them to my writing!
ReplyDeleteWe hope they are helpful! Thanks for commenting!
DeleteWonderful writing tips
ReplyDeleteThanx for sharing such a great idea I will learn it so that I am able to write better essays and paragraphs and so that I am able to finish my assignments on time as well.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you found this post helpfu, Dravid! Thanks for commenting!
DeleteI will try to your tips.
ReplyDelete