Wednesday, May 1
Red Rock Eater News Service: [RRE]learning how to write
* Graduate students often write badly at first because they are trying to
imitate the prose they encounter in seminars. After all, don't academic
writers use a lot of big words? Yes and no. Many academics are posers
or show-offs, of course, and others just can't write. But good academic
writing is really no different from regular writing. Start with the
English language and work up to the big words from there. The big
words do have a purpose. Some serve as flags that a community can use
to identify its distinctive approach to research. Others are closely
identified with particular authors and their ideas. Sometimes a community
chooses a word in order to contrast their position with some other
position. Collect these words one at a time. As you gradually become a
member of a community you will learn the significance that its words hold.
