Your voice is your personality showing through your writing. It tells the reader how confident you are about your topic and how much you care. It can tell if you are being professional or laid back.

Part of voice is knowing your audience. Are you presenting research and need to sound like you know your stuff? Are you addressing peers who want to be entertained?

Your voice needs to match the occasion. If you are writing dialog, would the person say, “It’s not gonna happen,” as opposed to, “It is not going to happen,” or “I should say with utmost certainty that it will not occur.”

You can make your voice more interesting by adding descriptive language. “It was good” is not a strong voice. It will not engage your reader to keep reading. If you are bored writing, then your reader is probably bored reading. Challenge yourself and push yourself to engage with your writing so that your readers will be engaged as well.

Answer the questions below. If you get the answer right, it will turn green. A red answer means try again!