Peanuts reprinted by permission of United Feature Syndicate.

Good writing is clear thinking made visible.

AMBROSE BIERCE, Write it Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults (1937)

A writer needs three qualities: creativity, originality, clarity and a good short term memory.

DESMOND J. HIGHAM, More Commandments of Good Writing (1992)

Writing helps you to learn. Writing is not simply a task to be done once research or other preparation is completed it can be an integral part of the work process. Baker explains it well [13]:

In writing, you clarify your own thoughts, and strengthen your conviction. Indeed, you probably grasp your thoughts for the first time. Writing is a way of thinking. Writing actually creates thought, and generates your ability to think: you discover thoughts you hardly knew you had, and come to know what you know. You learn as you write.

Writing brings out gaps in your understanding, by forcing you to focus on steps in your thinking that you might otherwise skip. (In this respect, writing is similar to explaining your ideas to a colleague.) Writing down partial research results as your work progresses can reveal structure and suggest further areas of development. Zinsser has written a delightful book that explores the idea of writing to learn [303].

Good writing reflects clear thinking. It is very hard for a woolly thinker to produce clear prose. Clear thinking leads to good organization, a vital ingredient of technical writing. A well-organized piece...