Every good writing teacher will always tell you to keep the audience in mind when writing. The readers, after all, are the ones who will have the final say on whether your paper is written well or done poorly (even if it did pass your software’s grammar check with flying colors).
Alienating your writing audience isn’t overly hard. Insult them a little in between discussing your material and you’re usually good to go. If you’d like to add a bit more sophistication to your alienating ways, though, here are two approaches that can ruin the experience for your readers.
- Use an inappropriate writing strategy. When you’re writing a review, throw in a fictional narrative spanning entire paragraphs; when writing a descriptive essay, drop every opinion you have on the topic; and when you’re writing an analytical report of a book, spend five paragraphs on the summary. Basically, approach the writing in a manner inappropriate for the medium. That always works.
- Use inappropriate tone. Your words, arguments and general attitude sets the tone for your writing. That means, if you’re writing a formal argumentative essay, use emotional arguments, slang language and a generally negative attitude. When a paper is informal, on the other hand, use pedantic and stuffy language, with plenty of jargon and technical terms. Catch the drift?
