Voice and structure
The target voice is research-led advisory writing: a senior practitioner explaining a finding to a peer, with the claim stated first and the evidence doing the persuading. Authoritative without being loud, plain without being thin, specific wherever it can be.
The voice
| Quality | What it looks like on the page |
|---|---|
| Claim first | The sentence a reader most needs comes first in the page, the section and the paragraph. |
| Evidence carries the weight | A figure arrives with its unit, source and date. Assumptions are stated before the arithmetic that depends on them. |
| Calibrated confidence | Sourced facts are flat. Forecasts and judgments take "could", "may" or "tends to". |
| Plain vocabulary | The word a client would use in a meeting, and the specific thing instead of its category. |
| Honest limits | Each argument admits what still has to be true for it to work. |
| People as subjects | Companies, buyers, teams and investors do things. Abstractions rarely do. |
Address the reader as "you" when the page is about their situation, and use "we" for the company's own work, research and position.
Structural moves to use
- Open on the gap. State what is commonly believed or what has been achieved, pivot with "But", "Yet" or "However", and name the more useful question.
- Headings make a claim or ask a plain question, in sentence case.
- Sections follow a steady arc. The problem with a number in it, why it persists, what changes it, who is already doing it, and what still has to be true.
- Walk through the evidence. State the assumption, show the arithmetic, land on the gap.
- Bold lead-in, then elaboration. A list item begins with a bold sentence that makes a complete claim, and the following sentences support it. A bare label is acceptable for one to three words.
- Name names. A named company, product, outcome and year does more than a statement about "leading organizations".
- State the evidence base up front (how many interviews, which period, which sample), which tells the reader what the claims rest on.
- End on the next decision. Close on the open question or the choice that now faces the reader. A slogan is not a close.
Sentence craft
Subject and finite verb. Every sentence in body copy has one. That covers paragraphs, card descriptions, list items, hero sub-lines and FAQ answers.
Length. Aim for roughly 15 to 30 words, with a ceiling near 40. A sentence that has collected a list of three items and two further clauses should be split at the clause boundary into two complete sentences, never chopped into fragments. Never stack more than two sentences in a row under eight words.
Connectors do the logical work, and they vary. "Because" for a reason, "while" and "although" for a contrast, "when", "once" and "if" for a condition, "but" and "yet" for a turn, and "which" for a consequence or comment, at most once a paragraph. Putting the condition first often removes the need for a connector: "When one-pagers and decks come from the same argument, a conversation picks up where the reading stopped."
Let the verb carry the cause. Verbs such as keeps, lets, gives, means, makes and puts connect an action to its effect without a splice. "Nurture email keeps you familiar between deals" needs nothing added.
Vary openers. No more than two consecutive sentences should begin with the same word.
Read it aloud once. If it sounds like a list of statements or a slogan stack, rewrite it as continuous prose.