Einstein once observed, “If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.” In the world of problem solving it is hard to overstate the importance of understanding the problem to be solved. Our natural tendency is …

Structure Remember to treat writing as a system. Make your logical argument flow, building words into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, paragraphs into sections, and sections into documents. Vary your constructions – they mark out the cadence of your writing. You can use cadence to convey your message. For example, a …

Having used the systems approach to develop a solid design for writing, the writer must then turn his or her attention to the implementation. In the systems world this is analogous to putting together the very best components to do the job of expression. Most readers will at once recognize …

In our last post we looked at making a high-level system design for a paper about a project, arguing that a proposed design change would make it impossible to complete a hypothetical project by its original due date. The design called for a four-paragraph structure that flowed as follows: P1 …