Back in 2017 a professor told me my essays were too vague, and it changed how I write emails now

I was in a community college writing class in Portland, and she wrote 'be more specific' on three of my papers in a row. So I started forcing myself to include one concrete example or number in every paragraph, and now I do the same thing when I email clients about tree removal estimates. Has anyone else had one piece of criticism that stuck with them way longer than they expected?

2 comments

2 Comments

barbaraw163d ago

Had a buddy from welding class who got told his project plans were too cluttered. He started stripping everything down to just the essentials, and now his garden shed designs are some of the cleanest in the shop. That one comment about clean lines really stuck with him for years.

terrywilson3d ago

Thats something I've been thinking about lately with how people talk about AI. We keep asking the big questions but forget the small specifics. Your professor basically taught you that generalities are the enemy of good communication. But heres the twist - I wonder if that advice would work the same today with how much we skim read on screens. Sometimes my eyes glaze over when someone sends me a text with three bullet points of specific numbers. Maybe the real skill is knowing when to be specific and when to let people fill in the blanks. Your tree removal clients probably need different details than your professor needed in those essays.