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

Congratulations to Michael Wong! U of A’s top undergraduate student convocated this June and exemplifies the qualities of a ‘strategic learner.’ Wong says he was driven by ‘true motivation’ – enjoying the process of learning: ‘The good grades are nice, but they were never my end goal. It really comes down to being interested in the things I’m studying. I never let myself feel like school work was a chore.’ Read more at http://tinyurl.com/mgmtfvp

How can we challenge our own self-handicapping?

Writing about motivation in elite youth athletes, Larry Lauer, PhD, of the Michigan Youth Sports Institute, describes several strategies for addressing self-handicapping. With self-awareness being an important first step, Lauer’s strategies are adapted here for the university setting:

• Use the right kind of self-talk: Avoid comparing yourself too much to the “competition,” negatively or positively. In university, an overconfident “I’m so much smarter than everyone else” is just as likely as a negative “dumbest in the class” thought to derail your optimal exam performance. Focus on what you can do.
• Know how your mind races: Many athletes and students describe how their minds race when they think about an exam or race, often worrying about the “what if” scenarios or what could be. Make lists of the things you can control and those you can’t. Then think about what you can do to enhance the things you do control – you’ll never be able to control the others, only prepare for them as best you can.
• Develop and Rehearse “proxy thoughts” to keep it real: Negative thoughts can cause your exam stress to skyrocket and impede your ability to focus. Develop alternative positive (and realistic) messages to replace the negative ones – I am prepared, focused, etc.
• Use rhythm and routines to your advantage: not having a predictable routine makes focusing on exams all the more difficult. Find a routine that works for you, and stick to it!

Check out Lauer’s complete article here: http://www.podiumsportsjournal.com/2011/08/25/overcoming-a-tough-competitor-self-handicapping/.

Why do we self-handicap?

Put simply, self-handicappers are their own worst enemies. They select alternatives that impair future performance (Berglas & Jones, 1978), and that specifically impact performance that they value in some way (Zuckerman, Keiffer, & Knee, 1998). Self-handicapping helps us avoid failure, or concerns about failure and success, and often does so with excuses that can be hard to dispute and challenging to unravel.

For instance, when a student is called upon to provide evidence of an ability about which they are uncertain, the student may choose to come up with a number of ways to avoid the situation and preserve their self-esteem. They may prepare a number of excuses as to why they cannot perform the task or why they cannot attend the class or meeting, they may become physically ill with flu-like symptoms, or they may invent a crisis that takes them away from having to deal with the situation. Or they may prepare a credible lie to avoid the truth.

Here are some behaviours students may engage in: 

• procrastination
• drug or alcohol use
• lack of sleep due to cramming for an exam
• over-involvement with friends who have problems
• family crisis (the problem was there before but now is really a problem even though nothing has really changed)
• cleaning their living space before the exam to avoid studying
• long term anxiety that causes the student to seek help at the last minute

Focusing on why we want to avoid a situation and valuing one’s own ongoing effort – rather than external perspectives and demands – can help minimize these self-sabotaging behaviours.