A blogger friend left a comment on my last post asking for a little help with academic writing. Since my respnse grew fairly long, I am posting it here. Although academic writing has its own rules, it is still about communication, and basic writing principles apply.
First, all writers need to separate the beginning generative process from the revision process. Give yourself room to explore and discover what you want to say. Writing, as Donald Murray says, is a thinking process. You clarify your thoughts as you write and, in the process, find out what you did not know you knew. The initial fresh work needs a developing space free of harsh, critical voices. Think of yourself as an adult (your conscious awareness) encouraging a child (your inner creative self) to share a secret or learn a new skill. You want to use strategies and attitudes that provide a welcoming environment to fresh writing. The writing will mature naturally as you work with it over time. So a few points in that direction. (You may already be doing some of these.)
Begin with small steps. You might start with brainstorming a list of points you want to connect to the topic. Maybe your list will include questions you want to answer as you write. A lot of writing is about anticipating a reader’s questions and answering them as you go along, whether or not the questions appear in the final piece. (In revision, too, it’s good to ask “What questions do I ask? Do I answer? Would a reader have other questions?”)
Experiment with your writing approach. No need to hold yourself to writing your paper in a linear way, from beginning to pre-determined end. Allow yourself to jump in and write about a concept that interests you. You can write in pieces, like blocks in a quilt that you piece together later. You may have an idea of how it will all fit together when you start, or the pattern may emerge as you write.
You might list topic points you plan to explore on 3X5 cards. You can move them around, see new connections, jot down on cards a phrase to be fleshed out or a reference to include, pick which to write today. Don’t worry about the transitions between points until the next phase, when you revise and polish. Transitions – connecting things in a logical flow – are usually the hardest part of writing.
Expect yourself to write several drafts, refining as you go. Writing is thinking and clarifying – a natural process of the human mind. “If writing can be compared to a tree,” writes author Elizabeth Cooke, “then revision is its process of leafing out.” Revision is work, to be sure, but eminently do-able. It is gratifying to see your thoughts take shape in stages as you progress.
Here is a really important point: Communication is about creating connection with a reader. The best writers write with a reader(s) in mind. Not a critical professor who is going to give you a grade, but someone who would be a warm and welcoming person(s) for your ideas. Someone (alive or dead) who could respond to you with, “I like what you’re saying. Tell me more. . . What do you think about . . .?” Just as they might in conversation. It could be someone who sparks a lively conversation, “I don’t know about that; you’re going to have to convince me.” The point is that the person you write to, the voice you keep with you, needs to be someone warm, welcoming, trustworthy for you. You might even think of writing your paper as a letter to this person (a ploy used by more than one great writer).
For practial and insightful revision help I highly recommend Donald M. Murray’s book The Craft of Revision, 5th ed., a slender volume also used as a college text. Murray was a Pultizer prize-winning auhor who also won awards as a teacher of writing. The book is laid out in a way that will allow you to easily find help specifics. In my estimation one of the best books on writing ever. (Along with his book Write to Learn.)
One specific suggestion is to write to both sides of the brain. Be aware of using analogy, story or anecdote to illustrate what you explain. Such an approach more naturally speaks to the whole person, rather than the flat “disembodied brain” approach of abstract thought alone. Readers, even academic ones, are people with physical, mental, and emotional lives that unfold in a physical world. Drawing on that common experience in the world through analogy and so forth creates a stronger connection and leads to a better understanding of the abstractions you present. ‘Abdu’l-Baha did this all the time in His talks in the U.S. and Europe.
Here is where reading other good science writers can help, especially those who write simply for intelligent readers, not necessarily specialists. Books like The Tipping Point, magazines like Scientific American Mind or National Geographic science articles, provide examples of reader-friendly nonfiction writing. (You may have your own favorites.) It can be well worth your time to look at these with a writer’s eye and note how such writers explain and illustrate. See also the writings of Shoghi Effendi, who makes good use of illustrative quotes from Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha to balance his own explanatory passages.
Lastly, I always recommend a writer’s group. It’s great to check on how well you are communicating what you intend to convey. I realize this could be more problematical in an academic millieu for various reasons. Both time and trustworthiness can be issues. But if you can connect with one or more people, who also know something of the domain in which you write, you can help one another with intelligent feedback. Perhaps you could share portions of papers in progress, rather than whole works. Read them aloud and each ask for feedback on what is clear, what is confusing. Even in academic writing, answering “What do you remember? What stays with you?” is authentic and useful reader feedback.
I hope this helps. These few points can also help you avoid a particular pitfall of academic writing -- “vampire writing”– my term for writing that has the life-blood sucked right out of it. It usually includes an abudance of passive verbs, convoluted sentences, and foggy thinking. Whatever the rules of academic writing, the best of it is not bloodless at all. Although each discipline has its specific defined terms, understandable language is more likely to carry vigorous thinking and fresh insights than language laden with jargon. As Donald Murray reminds us, "Information delivered in the beautiful subject-verb-object English sentence is a weapon of great power." **
For myself, when I write I strive for clarity – another word for truth– of both mind and heart. Everything else is secondary. Revision is the process of gradually discovering and disclosing deeper, clearer truth – always a learning process.
** From What a Writing Life has Given Me, keynote address at Writers Day 2002.
First, all writers need to separate the beginning generative process from the revision process. Give yourself room to explore and discover what you want to say. Writing, as Donald Murray says, is a thinking process. You clarify your thoughts as you write and, in the process, find out what you did not know you knew. The initial fresh work needs a developing space free of harsh, critical voices. Think of yourself as an adult (your conscious awareness) encouraging a child (your inner creative self) to share a secret or learn a new skill. You want to use strategies and attitudes that provide a welcoming environment to fresh writing. The writing will mature naturally as you work with it over time. So a few points in that direction. (You may already be doing some of these.)
Begin with small steps. You might start with brainstorming a list of points you want to connect to the topic. Maybe your list will include questions you want to answer as you write. A lot of writing is about anticipating a reader’s questions and answering them as you go along, whether or not the questions appear in the final piece. (In revision, too, it’s good to ask “What questions do I ask? Do I answer? Would a reader have other questions?”)
Experiment with your writing approach. No need to hold yourself to writing your paper in a linear way, from beginning to pre-determined end. Allow yourself to jump in and write about a concept that interests you. You can write in pieces, like blocks in a quilt that you piece together later. You may have an idea of how it will all fit together when you start, or the pattern may emerge as you write.
You might list topic points you plan to explore on 3X5 cards. You can move them around, see new connections, jot down on cards a phrase to be fleshed out or a reference to include, pick which to write today. Don’t worry about the transitions between points until the next phase, when you revise and polish. Transitions – connecting things in a logical flow – are usually the hardest part of writing.
Expect yourself to write several drafts, refining as you go. Writing is thinking and clarifying – a natural process of the human mind. “If writing can be compared to a tree,” writes author Elizabeth Cooke, “then revision is its process of leafing out.” Revision is work, to be sure, but eminently do-able. It is gratifying to see your thoughts take shape in stages as you progress.
Here is a really important point: Communication is about creating connection with a reader. The best writers write with a reader(s) in mind. Not a critical professor who is going to give you a grade, but someone who would be a warm and welcoming person(s) for your ideas. Someone (alive or dead) who could respond to you with, “I like what you’re saying. Tell me more. . . What do you think about . . .?” Just as they might in conversation. It could be someone who sparks a lively conversation, “I don’t know about that; you’re going to have to convince me.” The point is that the person you write to, the voice you keep with you, needs to be someone warm, welcoming, trustworthy for you. You might even think of writing your paper as a letter to this person (a ploy used by more than one great writer).
For practial and insightful revision help I highly recommend Donald M. Murray’s book The Craft of Revision, 5th ed., a slender volume also used as a college text. Murray was a Pultizer prize-winning auhor who also won awards as a teacher of writing. The book is laid out in a way that will allow you to easily find help specifics. In my estimation one of the best books on writing ever. (Along with his book Write to Learn.)
One specific suggestion is to write to both sides of the brain. Be aware of using analogy, story or anecdote to illustrate what you explain. Such an approach more naturally speaks to the whole person, rather than the flat “disembodied brain” approach of abstract thought alone. Readers, even academic ones, are people with physical, mental, and emotional lives that unfold in a physical world. Drawing on that common experience in the world through analogy and so forth creates a stronger connection and leads to a better understanding of the abstractions you present. ‘Abdu’l-Baha did this all the time in His talks in the U.S. and Europe.
Here is where reading other good science writers can help, especially those who write simply for intelligent readers, not necessarily specialists. Books like The Tipping Point, magazines like Scientific American Mind or National Geographic science articles, provide examples of reader-friendly nonfiction writing. (You may have your own favorites.) It can be well worth your time to look at these with a writer’s eye and note how such writers explain and illustrate. See also the writings of Shoghi Effendi, who makes good use of illustrative quotes from Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha to balance his own explanatory passages.
Lastly, I always recommend a writer’s group. It’s great to check on how well you are communicating what you intend to convey. I realize this could be more problematical in an academic millieu for various reasons. Both time and trustworthiness can be issues. But if you can connect with one or more people, who also know something of the domain in which you write, you can help one another with intelligent feedback. Perhaps you could share portions of papers in progress, rather than whole works. Read them aloud and each ask for feedback on what is clear, what is confusing. Even in academic writing, answering “What do you remember? What stays with you?” is authentic and useful reader feedback.
I hope this helps. These few points can also help you avoid a particular pitfall of academic writing -- “vampire writing”– my term for writing that has the life-blood sucked right out of it. It usually includes an abudance of passive verbs, convoluted sentences, and foggy thinking. Whatever the rules of academic writing, the best of it is not bloodless at all. Although each discipline has its specific defined terms, understandable language is more likely to carry vigorous thinking and fresh insights than language laden with jargon. As Donald Murray reminds us, "Information delivered in the beautiful subject-verb-object English sentence is a weapon of great power." **
For myself, when I write I strive for clarity – another word for truth– of both mind and heart. Everything else is secondary. Revision is the process of gradually discovering and disclosing deeper, clearer truth – always a learning process.
** From What a Writing Life has Given Me, keynote address at Writers Day 2002.
1 comments:
Thanks Druzelle, this was really helpful and will definitely be included in the next edition of "READ IT."
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