How To Add Emphasis To Important Portions Of Your Writing
Need to add emphasis to certain portions of your writing? There are two ways to approach this: draw attention to it using formatting or emphasize it by putting them in a prominent place.
The first approach, formatting, is definitely effective. If you bold, use a bigger font or capitalize a section, then it will get noticed. However, it’s usually bad practice and is completely unacceptable in most formal writing assignments. If really necessary, you can emphasize using either italics or underscore – they’re less imposing and are often acceptable even in formal work.
The second approach, however, should be your default. It’s not quite as simple as highlighting text and pushing a button on the Microsoft Word menu, but it’s the best way to draw attention to specific ideas.
In every sentence, the strongest positions are always the start and the end. Same with paragraphs – the first and last sentences always have the chance to make the most impact. As such, the information you’re looking to highlight should appear in those particular spots.
If your medium allows it (i.e. you’re not writing a formal newspaper), you can use one-sentence paragraphs to really drive the point home. Newspapers use this to great effect. Similarly, you can employ writing techniques that help emphasize points, such as lists and headings.
Word of caution: don’t sacrifice correctness for the sake of singling out a passage. Make sure to use a tested grammar software to check for mechanical errors and fix them.