Writing Tips: Keeping Things Clear, Part 2

What makes a sentence clear?  As we noted in our previous post, readers tend to respond well to statements that feature a clear, concrete actor and a simple, vivid action.   That’s because such sentences are like miniature stories – they’re easily imaginable.

One way to unleash the power of good, concrete verbs (or action words) in your sentences is to avoid turning them into long, ponderous, abstract nouns – that is, words indicating people, places and things.  Nouns that have been “converted” from being verbs often end in -tion, -ment, or -ance.

Consider this: Identification of the problem involved a set of inquiries with respect to the governance of the province by elected officials.

Ugh.  It’s like government-speak, right?  But drill down into some of those long nouns and you’ll find a vein of clear, vivid gold – in the form of action words (identify, inquire, govern). They identified the problem by inquiring how elected officials are governing the province.

Check out this entertaining TED video from Helen Sword on the dangers of “zombie nouns”: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/beware-of-nominalizations-aka-zombie-nouns-helen-sword

Here are some additional tips for creating a class schedule that won’t keep you up at night:

• Reduce your course load. Really! Lots of students do this. Reducing your course load is an especially wise strategy if you are just starting university – you need time to adjust.
• Make sure you have enough time between classes, especially if you are on the north/main campus as running across campus for an exam is never fun!
• Aim to balance courses that you consider (or expect to be) hard with those that come more easily to you – just remember that easy doesn’t necessarily mean less work.
• And, ask yourself: am I excited about the term? If there is a class you are dreading, think about whether this is the best time to take it.

While most students completed their fall/winter class schedules months ago, many are still ‘shopping’ or ‘juggling’ courses, or generally worrying about the fall term. If you are feeling stuck with a bad schedule:

• First, speak with a faculty student advisor – always a good idea.
• Consider alternative schedules – what are the pros and cons?
• Take what you need to take, and shuffle any electives.
• And, don’t take more than two courses with labs per term – a lab is essentially another course.

Try to fix it now, so your fall term starts off on the right foot.

Writing Tips: Keeping Things Clear, Part 1

Academic essays and reports are serious documents.  But while it’s good to keep your writing formal, it’s also important to make it crisp and clear – that is, to avoid crafting sentences that are unnecessarily vague, wordy or pompous.

What makes a sentence clear?  For one thing, readers tend to respond well to statements that feature a clear, concrete actor and a simple, vivid action.   That’s because such sentences are like miniature stories – they’re easily imaginable.

One way to keep the actor clear is to place it at the front of the statement: that is, to avoid the passive voice unless it’s absolutely necessary.  

Consider this: These findings have been challenged, and a number of alternative hypotheses have been suggested, by Smith (2010).

Heavy, thick, murky – right?  Now consider this: Smith (2010) challenged these findings.  She suggested several other hypotheses, including….

See how the second version comes to life? 

Check out this video from Brian Wasko for a helpful discussion of the passive voice:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_YddWkps-A