WRITING TIPS FOR IT PROFESSIONALSAdvice for Writing Paragraphs

This cheat sheet offers guidelines for IT professionals
seeking to improve technical writing skills.

Place your most important point in the beginning ofthe paragraph.

General Recommendations

Split long paragraphs into several short ones foreasier reading and skimming.

Determine your writing objectives.
Understand what your readers want to see in yourtext and how they want to see it.
Keep your message or document as short and simple
as possible to achieve the goals of both parties.
Use terminology and tone appropriate for theaudience.

Avoid one-sentence paragraphs unless you want toplace spotlight on the paragraph.
Delete paragraphs that don’t significantly contributeto the flow or meaning of your text.
Make sure the sentences in the paragraph support
the paragraph’s objective.

Include at least one paragraph between twoheadings for an introduction or transition.
Use the word processor's style management features
for consistent formatting of headings and other text.
Craft captions that guide readers to the conclusions
you want them to reach about the chart or figure.
Place lengthy technical excerpts such as large codefragments into an appendix.
Refer to every figure and appendix section from yourmain text.

Tips for Email Messages

Make sure the headers and footers include the rightnotices (copyright, confidential, page number, etc.).

Try to keep your message shorter than 3 paragraphs.

Formatting Guidelines

Enable spelling and grammar-checking tools.

Lead with the strongest statement to grab attention.

Don’t plagiarize. Err on the side of caution. When indoubt, attribute anyway.

Assume the recipient will read only the first 2sentences.

Err on the side of simplicity when selecting a visual
style for your document or message.

Carefully read your text before finalizing it.

Use the Subject line to get your main point across.

Seek others’ feedback on the structure, look, words,
and content of your writing.

Keep the message personally-relevant to the reader.

Craft your text with the understanding that somereaders will merely skim it.

Use italics or boldface, not both, when emphasizing.
Know the difference between em dashes andhyphens, and use them accordingly.
Avoid breaking short lists or paragraphs across pages.

Improve your writing skills through deliberate efforts.

Don’t respond in the heat of the moment. Take time
to reflect.

Recognize that these tips are just guidelines. There
are always exceptions.

Be specific about what action you’d like the reader totake or which conclusion the reader should reach.

Keep font size and typeface consistent throughout
your document.

Advice for Writing Sentences

Consider whether email is the best medium for yourmessage.

Avoid unnecessary capitalization.

Tips for Longer Reports

Tips for Text Chats

Use a consistent, generally-accepted style forcapitalizing words in a title.

Skip the period after your message if you want.

Delete words whose absence doesn’t significantly
deter from the meaning of the sentence.
Keep your sentences short.
Be consistent regarding the Oxford comma.
Avoid passive voice, which often leads to ambiguity
and confusion.
When feeling the need to use a semicolon,
parenthesis or an em dash, consider breaking thethought into separate sentences.
Maintain structural and stylistic parallelism acrossyour headings and list elements.
Know the difference between such as and like anduse them accordingly.

Pick a title that’ll catch the reader’s attention while
also setting their expectations.
Create a strong executive summary that stands on its
own even if the reader ignores the rest of the report.
Split the report into multiple sections to logicallygroup and separate contents.
Strive for a simple structure, avoiding deep nesting ofheadings and lists.

Insert a single space, not 2, between sentences.

Crop and size screenshots to ensure readability.

Use emoticons to add non-verbal clues that might
exist in a verbal chat.
Avoid emoticons and abbreviations that the recipient
might not understand.
Watch out for the errors introduced by autocorrect.

Training to Improve Your Writing
Lenny Zeltser, the author of this cheat sheet, createda writing course for cybersecurity professionals,
which you can take from SANS Institute.

Created by Lenny Zeltser, who’s been writing as an information technology and security consultant, product manager, author and instructor for many years. This cheat sheet, version 1.1, is released
under the Creative Commons v3 “Attribution” License. For additional information security and technology tips and cheat sheets, visit zeltser.com/cheat-sheets.