7. Eliminate jargon Avoid it at all costs if your audience will not understand it. It will be like a foreign language to them, and your point is to make your writing clearer - not more complicated.

8. Avoid fragments and one word sentences A fragment. Is an incomplete sentence. No subject or no verb. Really. A complete sentence has both a subject and a verb and contains at least two words. "She walked" is a sentence because it meets all three criteria.

9. Proofread your writing You know to use your spelling and grammar checkers. But you should also go over your writing yourself -- spell checker cannot distinguish between "to" and "too" or "their" and "there." It can't tell you if you said "and" where you meant "an." If possible, get somebody else to read it before handing it in. Two sets of eyeballs are better than none.

10. Avoid repetition and redundancy!

Use these tips every time you write and you will avoid ten common mistakes that cloud your writing.

Writer. Third, take into consideration persona you will assume when writing piece. Think about tone you want to use and image you want to present to your audience. From what perspective are you writing? What impression do you want to give your readers? For example, if you get a new job, you will want to announce it to your friends, your clients - and your current supervisor. You wouldn't think of using same tone in all three letters, would you? You might sound enthusiastic and informal with your friends and enthusiastic and polite with your clients. Depending on your relationship with your current supervisor, you will probably be official and reticent with her or him.

Subject (or message). How should you say it? The length or purpose of piece lends itself to your subject. It's very hard to fit a full-length board report on a post card; at same time, you wouldn't want to write a memo about your travels in jungle during your summer vacation. Note that this same as your purpose: your subject or message is content itself; ask yourself what piece is about and decide what is most appropriate format for it to take.

Good writers routinely analyze four elements of PAWS. Using it to prepare your writing, whether it's a personal email, formal business report, or your best selling novel, will improve your writing and get your argument across clearly.