I recently presented to business education teachers at the Georgia Business Education Association conference on the topic of Teaching Editing and Writing in a Digital World. I had two main messages: our devices influence how we write and edit. We are already using many of digital friendly writing techniques I discussed. We simply have to be more aware of them and show students how to implement them.

Here are specific writing and editing techniques I shared.(You can download the Powerpoint presentation which includes exercises and the Common Core standards. )

Create Copy for Digital Reading

  • Put the most important information first.
  • Keep sentences and paragraphs concise.
  • Use clear words to describe navigation and links.

Make Text Scan Friendly

  • Write strong, concise headlines.
  • Make headlines bold.
  • Use subheadlines to break up text.
  • Bold keywords.
  • Use bullet points and numbered lists.

Develop and Write Copy for Different Editorial Styles.

  • Blogs - editorial/opinion style writing
  • E-newsletters - Persuasive/marketing writing
  • Emails - Professional/business style writing
  • *Articles - “Just the Facts” informational writing

*The sub category to articles are feature articles which are lifestyle/creative pieces and reviews which are criticism writing.

I used The Yahoo Style Guide! as the bible for digital writing. To see these techniques in practice, I recommend that educators read our Passion for Learning blog and the blogs Buzzfeed, The Huffington Post and Mashable.

Got any questions or suggestions on how to teach students to write and edit digital content? Let us know here.