Category: writing tips

Of Fallacies, Biases, and Justices: The Terms of Our Time

Of Fallacies, Biases, and Justices: The Terms of Our Time

Debra W Kahn (@debrawk.bsky.social)

It’s political season again in the U.S., and to make an understatement, it’s been a doozy. Speaking of statements (political or otherwise), I think now is a good time to reconsider the logical fallacies we all learned to avoid during our entry-level English composition classes.

No, I will not lecture you like your high-school English teacher would. (And yes, I was one once.) But I would like to lecture Justice Alito. Not only about fallacies but also about biases. More on that later.

Mistakes and Shortcuts

In case you don’t remember, logical fallacies are arguments that make a mistake in logic or fail to “satisfy the criteria of a cogent argument” (Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Mistakes in deductive logic, the “form” of logic praised by Aristotle, are formal fallacies. Failures to make or prove a reasonable argument, whether through deductive or inductive reasoning, are informal fallacies. That might be a distinction without a difference, but historians care. (Please remember I was an English major for a reason.)

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6 Strategies for Writing Compelling Headings

6 Strategies for Writing Compelling Headings

Debra W Kahn (@debrawk.bsky.social)

I hate to admit that I still have stumbling blocks after decades of writing experience, but, ummm, I do. It’s writing headings. There! I wrote it down—in a public blog post.

If you have the same struggle, I can share some advice and tips with you. No need to go heading-less!

Headings are important because they serve as guideposts to our written content. When effective, they help our readers locate and conceptualize the information they seek from our organizations. (Remember when I wrote about scannability?) Effective headings are especially important in online content, where they continue to feed web search engines, even Google’s.  

Note that Google Search’s March 2024 core update attempts to assess a piece of content’s quality so that our search results contain fewer meaningless clickbait. This puts more pressure on content creators to develop original, helpful online content – including meaningful first- and second-level headings.

Those are strong motivators, right? So why is writing a good heading sooo hard?

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Your Website Content: Audit Tips

Your Website Content: Audit Tips

Debra W Kahn (@debrawk.bsky.social)

If your web content is your public face, especially if it’s your sales engine, you should be auditing it at least once a year. 

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Adapting Content for a New Audience – My Journey in 4 Steps

Adapting Content for a New Audience – My Journey in 4 Steps

Debra W Kahn (@debrawk.bsky.social)

Recasting existing content for use by a different audience or in a different context empowers you as a writer – as a marketer – and/or as a consultant. And it is a great way to reuse evergreen content.

I discovered this myself when I rewrote four existing blog posts – aimed at fellow bloggers – as a single blog post aimed at project managers.

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Creating Online Content for Your Customers: Accuracy

Creating Online Content for Your Customers: Accuracy

Debra W Kahn (@debrawk.bsky.social)

The better part of valor might be discretion. (Western society certainly has been debating that since the 17th century.) But I am here to tell you that the better part of quality content is an accuracy check. That’s because inaccuracies in your content can derail your customers’ trust in you, your content, and – by association – your business.

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