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Inverted Pyramid: Writing for Comprehension (nngroup.com)
14 points by kaycebasques on Feb 18, 2022 | hide | past | favorite | 3 comments


This is how we were taught at university on my (photo)journalism course, it's used by newspapers very effectively, e.g.

"Dad, 42, saved a four-year-old on Haberdashery High Street this afternoon by pulling him out of the way of an oncoming bus"

Who, what, where, when, how, why.

Dad, saves child, on the high street, this arvo, pulls him to safety, because he's a dad and that's someone's kid.

The first line and paragraph tells you everything you need to be drawn into the story.


Technical writer (and submitter) here. This is one of the cardinal rules of effective technical writing!


Do you have further resources on how to optimize for comprehension?

I find this topic incredibly interesting but lack access to good and sound strategies. Most of it are medium style "hacks" I despise.

My problem with my writing usually is, it's too scientific, too elaborate, and the best part usually comes at the end (inverted pyramid might help with this one).

Thanks!




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