Stylish Academic Writing

• takethedive

  2022-04-10
  PrefaceStylish academic writing can be serious, entertaining, straightforward, poetic, unpretentious, ornate, intimate, impersonal, and much in between. What the diverse authors profiled here have in common is a commitment to the ideals of communication, craft, and creativity. They take care to remain intelligible to educated readers both within and beyond their own discipline, they think hard about both how and what they write, and they resist intellectual conformity.Chapter 1: Rules of EngagementAt every turn, we found our desire to learn thwarted by gratuitous educational jargon and serpentine syntax.Note the passive verb construction (be seen), the disciplinary jargon (instantiate), the preposition- laden phrases (of textual effects, of citation, in their value, to a community), t...
• Byzaboo

  2016-04-02
  Pick up any guide to effectivewriting and what will you find? Probably some version of the advicethat Strunk and White offered more than half a century agoin their classic book The Elements of Style: always use clear, preciselanguage, even when expressing complex ideas; engage yourreader’s attention through examples, illustrations, and anecdotes;avoid opaque jargon; vary your vocabulary, sentence length, andframes of reference; favor active verbs and concrete nouns; writewith conviction, passion, and verve.
• .

  2014-09-04
  But why always assume the worst rather than aim for the best? How will you know you are doomed to failure unless you give something a try?
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  2014-09-04
  making the choice to change one’s writing style requires courage, especially for academics whose research careers are not yet well established.
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  2014-09-04
  The principle of choice, however, means that you don’t have to use concrete language if you don’t want to. Throughout this book, I present stylish writing as a series of considered decisions: no choice is intrinsically “right” or “wrong,” but each decision you make will trigger different consequences and invite different responses from readers.
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  2014-09-04
  I would like to add three further Cs: concreteness, choice, and courage. Concreteness is a verbal technique; choice, an intellectual right; courage, a frame of mind. Together, these principles offer a flexible framework on which writers from different disciplines can drape a rich variety of words and texts.
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  2014-09-01
  • Move 1: Establish that your par tic u lar area of research has some significance.• Move 2: Selectively summarize the relevant previous research.• Move 3: Show that the reported research is not complete.• Move 4: Turn the gap into the research space for the present article.
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  2014-09-01
  The Abstract Noun of Abstract Noun in Plural Collective Noun: An Adjective and Adjective Abstract Noun.
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  2014-09-01
  • Use this only when accompanied by a modifying noun (“This argument shows” rather than merely “This shows”). Writers often slip this into their sentences to avoid stating their ideas clearly (“Some have seen this as conclusive evidence that . . .”).• Use it only when its referent— that is, the noun it refers to— is crystal clear. For example, in the sentence “The woman threw the lamp through the window and broke it,” what did the woman break, the lamp or the window?• Avoid using that more than once in a single sentence or about three times per paragraph, except in a parallel construction or for stylistic effect. Sentences that rely on subordinate clauses that in turn contain other clauses that introduce new ideas that distract from the main argument that the author is trying to make ....
• .

  2014-09-01
  An effective fi rst paragraph need not be fl ashy, gimmicky, or even provocative. It must, however, make the reader want to keep reading.
• .

  2014-08-29
  ● Clarity, Coherence, Concision: Strive to produce sentences that are clear, coherent, and concise.● Short or Mixed- Length Sentences: Keep sentences short and simple, or vary your rhythm by alternating longer sentences with shorter ones.● Plain En glish: Avoid ornate, pompous, Latinate, or waffly prose.● Precision: Avoid vagueness and imprecision.● Active Verbs: Avoid passive verb constructions or use them sparingly; active verbs should predominate.● Telling a Story: Create a compelling narrative.
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  2014-09-04
  Lengthy parenthetical citations violate, or at least risk violating, two key principles of stylish writing. First, they slow the text’s momentum: how can you possibly tell a compelling research story if you have to stop and cough every few seconds?Second, much in the same way that discursive footnotes and endnotes lend themselves to eruptions of excessive erudition, parenthetical styles encourage extravagant but often meaningless name- dropping.