The Zen of Explanation
Clarity of Explanation: Your explanations and arguments will be much easier
to follow if stated in a precise, well organized and tightly linked fashion. The
three Zen maxims will guide your your efforts to achieve these qualities in your
writings and presentations.
- Precision: Never miss a chance to use a precise term in place of
a generality of similar length. For example my cat tells you much more
than an animal.
- Every fact must fit: Tie each new idea into the framework of your
explanation as you present it, but do so with the minimum disturbance to the
flow of your argument. The domino maxim below will help you achieve this goal.
If you can't tie a fact in without disturbing the flow then you know you're
introducing it at the wrong point in the argument.
- The Domino Maxim: Your sentences should fit together like dominos,
the end of one matching the beginning of the next. Achieving this does not
require repetition, but rather that you link each sentence to the one before
by putting the linking material at the head of the sentence and the new material
at its tail.
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This page was last updated by George Young
on November 28, 2007