User:Timothee Flutre/Notebook/Postdoc/2012/10/09

Project name

Main project page Previous entry      Next entry

Expert writing (academic and professional) (Notes from The Little Red Schoolhouse at the University of Chicago.) Interferences between what the writer wants and what the reader wants. Readers tend to see the world in terms of actions, and thus they look for verbs. But writers store/remember the important concepts of their field as nouns, not verbs. Readers tend to understand the world in terms of characters (someone/something capable of acting), and they expect to find them in subjects. Diagnostics when reading a text: underline verbs and ask if they correspond to significant actions; underline subjects and ask if they correspond to significant characters. Principles of clear writing: express as verbs (rather than nominalizations) the actions one want the readers to focus on; express as subjects the characters one wants the readers to focus on, and be consistent. Tips: Subjects create focus, so choose them according to the readers, but also choose those that are valued by the readers. Possible to use passive verbs when they allow a character to be the subject. Possible to use nominalizations when they are also perceived by the readers as characters. Structuring long sentences: easier to read when the subject+verb ("core") are together and at (close to) the beginning write long sentences with ("connectors/orientors" + "core" + "other") repeated N times Information flow: readers need some old, simple information in every sentence the old information should come before the new, complex information which is at the end (stress position) Introduction: must provide information (for readers who don't know) and motivation (for readers who don't care) statis -> concession -> destabilizing condition (but) -> consequences: all this helps persuade the reader that we're going to address an important problem filling a gap is good, but changing a previous belief is usually better manifest problem (we have a problem to solve) versus critical problem (actually, we have a different problem) -> gives the impression that the writer is doing critical thinking (not only informing, but criticizing)