Today: a concept I sometimes use when I give feedback.
Either too much or too little.
The words are simple. But what do they mean?
Here’s an example of a text written for a broad audience:
Microbes in your intestines ferment indigestible carbohydrates (such as dietary fibers). In the process, they generate by-products that are important for your digestion, such as short-chain fatty acids and succinate. These seem to help prevent obesity.
The terms I want to discuss are short-chain fatty acids and succinate.
The target audience is not familiar with these compounds. That’s alright, you can use unfamiliar terms every now and then. But when you do, you have to explain them.
Wat kinds of compounds are these? What is their function? How are they different from each other? Which information is relevant, depends on the rest of the story.
If you need these terms, this text offers too little.
Another option is to remove the two compounds from the text. Without an explanation they mean very little to your audience. Succinate, pummilate, mulliprate – very similar effects.
In this case, the text contains too much.
So, decide whether an unfamiliar term is important enough to spend more time and space explaining it. If not, remove it.
Regards,
Arnaud