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  • Hayot Academic Writing

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    Iryna Liashenko
    23 vizualizări25 pagini
    The main ideas in writing the research papers

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    The main ideas in writing the research papers

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    23 vizualizări25 pagini

    Hayot Academic Writing

    Încărcat de

    Iryna Liashenko
    The main ideas in writing the research papers

    Drepturi de autor:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Descărcați ca PDF sau citiți online pe Scribd
    Indicator pentru conținut neadecvat
    din 25
    Academic Writing, I Love You, Really, I Do. Eric Hayot Act I. Cut Your Hair Everybody likes the other fellow’s prose plain’ 1 do not believe that professors enforce a standard of dull writing on ‘graduate students to be cruel. They demand dreariness because they think that drearinessis in the students’ best interests. Professors be- Fieve that a dull writing style is an academic survival sill because they ‘think that is what editors want. ... What we have here isa chain of misinformation and misunderstanding.* ‘Too many graduate students aim for seriousness rather than clarity. Often, dissertations sound like prose under general anesthetic. ‘What might be the point of writing something which only a handful of people can understand? Of course it may be that we are like physicists at the cutting edge. But I really doubt it. We are writing ultimately about people’s lives. What can it mean if only 20 people in the world understand what we are saying? It meens that we are 1. Jacques Baru, Simple and Dic A Rhetoric for Wats (New Yor, 291), B37: hevater abbreviate 2. Preis Nelvoa Lrsedel, "Dancing with Fefesors: The Touble with Academic Prose” “Somathing i the Sel Legoie ae Recs inhe Now West Neve York, 200) p34 berestter abbreviate DP. 3. William Germano, os Disetason 0 Bok (Chicago 205) p. 75 bene shbrevisted ied doh ‘sty Tete Coo om pase eoosinon ANA ene 3 54 Bric Hayor / Academic Writing cither so bad at writing that we can’t communicate, or so fall of ourselves that we don’t want to communicate.* Editors do not admire labby writing, But Linguistic flab abounds. Ina book intended to reach a wide range of readers, endnotes and footnotes alike risk communicating at besta scholarly pretentious- nnes5—“Let me show you how erudite [am"—and at worsta sort of fussy didacticism: “This text is fer too difficult to understand on your ‘owns please allow me to explain it to you.”* Don’t use complex language or jargon when simple words will make your point equally well” Ihave seen academic colleagues become so enchanted by zombie nouns like heteronormativity and interpellation that they forget how ordinary people speak* Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrolltes represent- ing absolutely nothing, Al they do is show you've been to college? Researchers in disciplines outside the humanities do not suffer as badly as their arts-based cohorts from the spilled sewaze of excessive ‘marginalia, (SA, p. 142] 4, Chrigopher Grey and Aranda Sila, "Writing Dire” Organon 8 no. 3 (2006): 48 5. Tonathin Benet and Samuel Garvie, “Improving Academic Weng." Tanking Piles 20 June 997) 9. 6. Helen Sword, ils Academic Wiig (Camteidge, Mas, 201), pass bereater sbbneviated SA. 7._ Joan Bolles, Wriég Your Divrtatonn Fifer Anuteea Daye A Get String, Revs and Finishing You Decal Tess New York 1998) p22. 8. Sword, "Zombie Nouns" NewYork Time, 23 Jly 24, opinionstorlogsytimescomy 2orioyiafrombie-neun 9. Kur Vonnegut 4 Mas without» Coast ed Danie Simon (New York, 2007.23 auc Havor is Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature and Head of Comparative Literature at Pennsylvania State University, He isthe author of (Chinese Dreams (2004), The Hypothetical Mandarin (2009), On Literary Worlds (2012), and, most recently, of The Blements of Academic Style: Writing forthe Heonanities (2014). Critical Inquiry / Autumn 2014 | want to lay it dow asan axiom that the best toneis the tonecalled plain, ‘unaffected, umadomed. It does not talk downi or jazz ups... it doesnot try to dazzle or cajoe the idilfecent it takes no posture ofcozinesior sophisica- tion. (Sp. 1] ‘Your audience will not appreciate your showing how well you can use jargon” Unfortunately, most deconstructivists are better thinkers than writ- ‘Many authors, academic and otherwise, mistake irony fo: style. {°B,” p.76) But let's not forget that the body has to be in shape, and for most of us, that means losing little weight. In the 19900; many authors defended nonsensical constructions like “The author of the camera is dead” by saying that anyone who had read Barthes and Foucault would understand. Pethapsso, but anyone ‘unfamiliar with those seminal authors would return tke book fora fall refund, [°B,” p. 76] Some authors tise repetition deliberately to make sure their readers will not miss the point. But readers do not miss the implicit conde- scensfon. It is as ifthe author were saying: “In case you missed this on the first round, here itis again. I didn’t quite trust youto catch my ‘meaning the first time,” If we thought more like carpenters, academic writers could find a route out of the trap of ego and vanity. [“DP,” p. 341] ‘Trying to add style i like adding a toupee. ACt frst glance the formerly bald man looks young and even handsome, But at second glance— 10, Jenifer Crew, "Caught inthe MdaleThe Humanities" in Revisig Your Dirtatons ‘Advise ftom Leading Blt, ed. Beth Dey (Berkeley, 2007), p18. 1. SeottNortn, “Bringing ons Own Voie t the Tab,” ia Revising You Disertation sepheseate abrevisted "8" 12. William P.Sser,"You'e the Author Now” In Revising Your Dieta, p32, 413, Olive Holmes, "Tesisto Books What to Get il of and What to D> wi What I Left,” in The Thais andthe Book Grid fr Bt Tine Acodmic Aurore Heanor Harm el (Tozoate 2003). 58 s 6 Bric Hayor / Acudemie Writing and with a toupee there's always a second glance—he doesn't look quite right = ‘The arrogance most likely to suffuse the dissertation isoF the latter ind [the arrogance of those who don't know they're being arro- gant]—brassy, and without that virtuosity which sometimes accom panies conscious exploitation (for in the hands ofa genius arrogance ‘may have an élar that compels admiration). ‘The prose style is simple but stylish, and there is no disfiguring jargon (the 1980s spawned articles full of vapid expressions like ideological hermeneutics, ‘dialectical negotiation’, and ‘the dialogics of desire Do not be tempted to emulate!)* Writers of dissertations are expected to undertake a caricature of {earned discourse whose sententiousness intimidates them (perhaps it revolts them as well) and whose artificiality of form and rhetoric arouses hostility in anyone who has read real books and responded to” ‘that naturalness of structure in prose which is characteristic of the ‘world beyond the seminar room, [*D.” p. 12}, While you're polishing your prose, imagine what Adorno or Lacan might have said if they had been graced with the gifts of direct and easy expression. [F, p. 19] ‘The dissertation system must have laid at ts door an enormous squandering of creativity, youth time, and money each year upon. the execution of prose works that do not communicate signifi- cantly and are therefore dysfunctional. [*D,” p. 1] ‘There’sno point in makingan elegant transition you won'the able to use? Footnotes are not there to host secondary or tertiary d'scussions, no matter how tempting this may seem. They are also not there to act as 14. Wiliam Zinse, On Weng Wel The Clase Guide Weng Noon (New York, 2006) p 8 1._ Robert Plant Armstrong, "Ue Disetaion’s Deny Sing” in The Theis the Book, pak beceater abbresated "D 16. Richard Marggrat Turley, Writing Ess A Guide for Saude ia Eelsh andthe Humanities (London, 2000),D-6 17. Bole, Wig Vou Diseration i eon Mites 0 Day, pa Grit Inquiry / Auten 2014 « dumping ground for anything not quite good enough to make it into your main text, You have to learn to let go! Bad dissertation writing inevitably reminds me of the sort of play in which young actors in gray wigs and heavy makeup play characters forty years older. [F, p. 18] ‘The assumption seems to be that writing and readirg should in- volve suffering and that writing is not good enough unless it causes little suffering. Ihave begun to characterize this psyche as sado-masochistics propelled at some level by our pleasure in caus- ing suffering (as writers) and pleasure in experiencing suffering (as readers). Don't hedge your prose with little timidities. Good writing is lean and. confident" It is good to be alert to the smallest sign of deviation fiom plainness. [5,p-n9] ‘Whenever jargon shows its shiny face... . the demon of academic hu- bris inevitably lurks in the shadows nearby. [SA, p. 123} Many scholarly authors in the humanities fel that there is no avoid- ing academic jargon and endless dense sentences if they are to be taken seriously in their field. This isa shame because ence yon start ‘writing that way its extremely difficult to change.* Stylish academic writers spend time and energy on thei sentences so their readers won’t have to! [S4, p. 62] Academic writers are bad writers for three reasons. First, they. want to sound smart... Instead of using good words like smart, they choose sophisticated or erudite. ... Second, acatemic writers never learned to write well. Their role models during graduate 18, Turley, Writing says pp. 9-99. 19, Grey and Sinlai, "Whiting Diesen” pag 20. Zine On Writing Wel p70. 21, Creme, "Caught nthe Mil. 7 8 Eric layot / Academic Writing school were probably bad writers. ... Finally, most academics don't spend enough time writing to become good writers. ‘What one sees in professors, repeatedly, is exactly the manner that anyone would adopt after a couple of sad evenings sidelined under the crepe-paper streamers in the gym, sitting on a folding chair while everyone else danced. ["DP,” p.336] Revenge of the Nerds Too did not star atthe dances in high school. I was once a member of the Snow Court, a sort of winter-themed, pseudo-hemecoming ap- pendage to a dance called, inevitably, the Snow Ball, though to be honest about that—rny membership on the court, I mean—I know that a large group of my classmates had decided to sabotage the entire Snow. aristocracy concept by voting in the most ridiculous membership pos- Ie, The number of saboteurs was not large enough,

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