Lecture 1 (1).pptx

Principles of Effective Writing BU 3073: Week 1 Miss Amanda Paananen r words Today’s Agenda What makes good writing? Reduce dead weight words and phrases Follow: subject + verb + object (SVO) Use strong verbs and avoid turning verbs into nouns Eliminate negatives; use positive constructions in...

Principles of Effective Writing BU 3073: Week 1 Miss Amanda Paananen r words Today’s Agenda What makes good writing? Reduce dead weight words and phrases Follow: subject + verb + object (SVO) Use strong verbs and avoid turning verbs into nouns Eliminate negatives; use positive constructions instead Let’s Talk Writing What makes good writing? • • Good writing communicates an idea clearly and effectively. Good writing is elegant and stylish. OK But What about…? • • • • • Inborn talent? Years of English and humanities classes? An artistic nature? The influence of alcohol and drugs? Divine inspiration? CLEAR, EFFECTIVE WRITING CAN BE LEARNED! Good writers: • Have something to say. • Use logical and clear thinking. • Employ a few simple, learnable rules of style (the tools we’ll learn in this class). Take home message: Writing to inform is a craft, not an art. • • • • • • • • • Read, pay attention, and imitate. Let go of “academic” writing habits (deprogramming step!) Talk about your research before trying to write about it. Develop a thesaurus habit. Search for the right word rather than settling for any old word. Respect your audience—try not to bore them! Stop waiting for “inspiration.” Accept that writing is hard for everyone. Revise. Nobody gets it perfect on the first try. Learn how to cut ruthlessly. Never become too attached to your words. Clear writing starts with clear thinking Once you know what you’re trying to say, then pay attention to your words! Today’s lesson: Strip your sentences to just the words that tell. Yikes! This was the first sentence of a recent scientific article in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (Introduction section): “Adoptive cell transfer (ACT) immunotherapy is based on the ex vivo selection of tumor-reactive lymphocytes, and their activation and numerical expression before reinfusion to the autologous tumor-bearing host.” And here’s the final sentence from the same article… “Current studies in our laboratory are focused on the logistical aspects of generating autologous-cell based patient treatments, the genetic modification of lymphocytes with T-cell receptor genes and cytokine genes to change their specificity or improve their persistence, and the administration of antigen specific vaccines to augment the function of transferred cells.” This is academic writing at its finest: boring, unreadable, written to obscure rather than to inform!! Reduce dead weight words and phrases Get rid of jargon and repetition Example “I would like to assert that the author should be considered to be a buffoon.” VS “The author is a buffoon.” This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC Example #2 “The expected prevalence of mental retardation, based on the assumption of a normal distribution of intelligence in the population, is stated to be theoretically about 2.5%. VS “The expected prevalence of mental retardation, if intelligence is normally distributed, is 2.5%.” Use strong verbs and avoid turning verbs into nouns A sentence uses one main verb to convey its central action; without that verb the sentence would collapse. The verb is the engine that drives the sentence. Dull, lifeless verbs slow the sentence down. Action verbs reflect the action they were chosen to describe, and help bring the reader into the story. Examples: “This paper provides a review of the basic tenets of cancer biology study design, using as examples studies that illustrate the methodologic challenges and or that demonstrate successful solutions to the difficulties inherent in biological research.” “This paper reviews cancer biology study design, using examples that illustrate specific challenges and solutions.” Hunt down and cast out all unneeded words that might slow your reader. Very, really, quite, basically, generally These words seldom add anything useful. Try the sentence without them and see if it improves. Watch out for the verb “to be” Often “there are” is extra weight. There are many students who like writing. Many students like writing. Cut Dead Weight Phrases in the event that in the nature of it has been estimated that it seems that the point I am trying to make what I mean to say is it may be argued that Dead Weight Phrases for the most part for the purpose of in a manner of speaking in a very real sense in my opinion in the case of in the final analysis Clunky phrase • • • • • • • Equivalent All three of the the three Fewer in number fewer Give rise to cause In all cases always In a position to can In close proximity to near In order to to Clunky phrase • • • • • Equivalent A majority of most A number of many Are of the same opinion agree At the present moment now Less frequently occurring rare Wordy in spite of the fact that in the event that new innovations one and the same period of four days personal opinion shorter/longer in length Pointed although if innovations the same four days opinion shorter/longer Follow: subject + verb + object (Active Voice!) For Example “She is loved” She = Past participle of a transitive verb: to shoot (direct object). Is = Form of “to be” Loved = Past participle of a transitive verb: to love (direct object). The passive voice…. In passive-voice sentences, the subject is acted upon; the subject doesn’t act. Passive verb = a form of the verb “to be” + the past participle of the main verb The main verb must be a transitive verb (that is, take an object). For Example President Kennedy was shot in 1963. President Kennedy = The direct object of the verb. He’s not the subject since he’s not the one doing the shooting. Was = Form of “to be” Shot = Past participle of a transitive verb: to shoot (direct object). In the passive voice, the agent missing For example: “Mistakes were made.” Nobody is responsible. Examples (to show responsibility) "Cigarette ads were designed to appeal especially to children." vs. "We designed the cigarette ads to appeal especially to children.” Compare: “Loud music came from speakers embedded in the walls, and the entire arena moved as the hungry crowd got to its feet.” With: “Loud music exploded from speakers embedded in the walls, and the entire arena shook as the hungry crowd leaped to its feet.” Weak Verbs How to create strong action verbs Provide a review of review Offer confirmation of Make a decision Shows a peak confirm decide peaks Eliminate negatives; Use positive constructions instead He was not often on time > He usually came late. She did not think that studying writing was a sensible use of one’s time. > She thought studying writing was a waste of time. For Example Not honest dishonest Not important trifling Does not have lacks Did not remember forgot Did not pay attention to ignored Did not have much confidence distrusted Did not succeed failed