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Today's Writing Tip from Rosemary Camilleri

Using Numbers to Support Your Argument


by Rosemary Camilleri, Ph.D.

Compare these two versions of the same financial data:

  1. Durables spending dropped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $486 billion from $501 billion in January, while spending on nondurables went up moderately to a rate of $1.17 trillion last month from $1.16 trillion in January.

  2. In January 2006, the seasonally adjusted rate at which Americans bought durables was $501 billion; in February, it dropped to $486 billion. Yet in the same period, spending on nondurables rose from an annualized $1.16 trillion to $1.17 trillion.
The b version is easier for most people to decode. Yet the a version represents the accepted style in newspapers. (Check a financial page and see.)

When you compare numbers, your readers will grasp them better if the time range precedes the numbers and if each comparison runs from older to newer. (Of course, if you have multiple comparisons, display them in a table or chart.)

The b version could well begin with a topic sentence that states the important result. One such sentence might be, “The US is spending less on durable goods.” The content of that topic sentence will depend on what most concerns the readers.

--Rosemary

Copyright 2007 Rosemary Camilleri, Ph.D.

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Last updated 2/25/08

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