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5/20/2021
1
THEY CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW: WRITING STRATEGIES FOR YOU
AIA Webinar Series Stephen Kuntz
May 20, 2021
I can see clearly now, the rain is gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It's gonna be a bright (Bright), bright (Bright)
Sun-shiny day
It's gonna be a bright (Bright), bright (Bright)
Sun-shiny day
I think I can make it now, the pain is gone
All of the bad feelings have disappeared
Here is the rainbow I've been prayin' for
It's gonna be a bright (Bright), bright (Bright)
Sun-shiny day
Look all around, there's nothin' but blue skies
Look straight ahead, nothin' but blue skies
Johnny Nash, I Can See Clearly Now
GOALS
TO BEGIN TO BUILD
◦ AWARENESS: increase awareness of your writing
tendencies & habits
◦ INTENTION: prompt intention/action in regards
to your writing
◦ CONFIDENCE: build your writing confidence
Disclaimer: 1) heard this (you) before 2) can’t improve without writing
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STRUCTURE FOR THE SESSION
Principles not rules
Simple
Small
Mystification is simple;
clarity is the hardest thing of all.~ Julian Barnes, Flaubert’s Parrot
CLARITY
BEGINS AND ENDS
with you . . .
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Most of us don’t write clearly: why?
Trying to impress / sound smart
Don’t know exactly what we want to say
Don’t understand our audience and what they want,
need, expect
Don’t really want to be
YOU NEED TO BE CLEAR TO YOURSELF
What am I trying to communicate and why?
Personal Clarity
Fortune cookie test
Elevator pitch
One line test
. . . BUT CLARITY IS FOR THEM—
YOUR AUDIENCE
• Who are your readers (ideal?)?
• How do you want the readers to read ?
• What do they know? not know? need to know?
• Why are they reading this?
• What do you want your readers to think, feel, or do
because of what you’ve written?
• Are you making it easier or harder for your readers?
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YOUR AUDIENCE
• Writing for no one
(in particular)
• Writing for everyone
(in general)
• Writing for yourself
• Know your audience
• Write everything with
that audience in mind
• Assume your audience is
intelligent and worthy of
your time and respect
• “Create” an image of a
real audience
The problem The clarification
YOUR INTENDED AUDIENCE SHOULD AFFECT
YOUR WRITING CHOICES
Word Level
Sentence Level
Relational Level
WORD LEVEL
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NOMINALIZATION
WHAT IS IT?
Turn verbs into nouns:
Verb Noun
analyzed analysis
examined examination
studied investigation
EFFECT
Generally,
• increases length of sentence
• decreases clarity: don’t know
who, when, what
• reduces vividness
Following termination of activation of soil sampling
mode, the process resolution was achieved.
To conclude the process, we sampled the soil.
NOMINALIZATION
Don’t use unnecessary and frequent
nominalization (look for -tion endings)
Generally, use verbs that describe the
relationship between the nouns
Watch “Beware of nominalizations (AKA
zombie nouns)” by Helen Sword
http://ed.ted.com/lessons/beware-of-nominalizations-aka-zombie-nouns-helen-sword
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JARGON
WHAT IS IT ?
• Specialized, technical, or
abstract language used by
and for a particular group;
may suggest membership,
relationship, or belonging
to this group
EFFECT
Readers may
• Feel you are showing off
• Have a difficult time
processing
Assumes knowledge or
understanding
JARGON
Avoid
• near the beginning of a document
• several terms in close proximity
• unnecessary abstractions (see nominalizations) (“utilization”)
Use
• when it encourages belonging
• when it communicates
• after the reader has a clear sense of the context/purpose
Ask should I define it? how?
OTHER WORD LEVEL ISSUES TO CONSIDER
• Confused/conflated words:
complement / compliment
conscience/conscious
continual / continuous
affect/effect
• Connotative and Denotative value
• Clichés
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SENTENCE LEVEL
EXPLETIVES (“STRETCHERS”)(IT-ITIS)
WHAT IT IS?
“Syntactic expletives are
words that perform a
syntactic role but contribute
nothing to meaning. . . .
dummy pronouns.”
There are three people in
the room.
https://www.definitions.net/definition/syn
tactic+expletive
EFFECT
• Not a real subject
• Increases sentence length
• Decreases clarity
There are three people in the emergency waiting room. It
is important that all of them are attended to. There are
many reasons why they should be triaged carefully.
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EXPLETIVE USE
• Use intentionally with purpose
• Avoid using close together unintentionally
• Revise most of them out
Use FIND function to SEE them
PASSIVE VOICE
WHAT IS IT?
Writer puts the thing acted
on (object) in the position
of that which is acting
(subject);
(“to be” + past participle)
Opposite of active voice
EFFECT
Wordy: verb becomes longer
less direct – hides the agent
objective vs subjective feel
generally weakens writing
Active voice
John hit the ball.
Passive voice
The ball was hit by John.
Agentless passive
The ball was hit.
Look for: “by”
“to be” + past participle: was hit
Use FIND function to SEE them
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PASSIVE VOICE USE
DON’T
• Overuse
• Use unintentionally
• Use agentless passive if it
might confuse readers
USE
• to emphasize the action
• to emphasize the receiver
of the action
• when the agent is
unknown or unimportant
• intentionally / judiciously
Know why you are using the passive (intentional) and
be aware of the effect on your reader (awareness).
RELATIONAL LEVEL
paragraphing
and
idea presentation
that are coherence
ORDER
Why did you put the material in the order you did ?
Have an ordering principle: e.g. Chronological
Sequence
Organic/natural
Appropriate to your material, purpose, and audience
Be consistent
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TRANSITION USE
• Appropriate and effective
Relationships: Addition, Comparison, Emphasis,
Sequence, Generalizing, Summarizing
• Between paragraphs: point back, point forward
• From one idea/topic to another
• Variety
Comparison: similarly, likewise, by the same token,
in like manner, in the same way, in comparison
Transitions do not create relationship;
they confirm relationship.
TRANSITION PRINCIPLE
Clear writing leads to clear thinking. You don't know
what you know until you try to express it. Good writing is
partly a matter of character. Instead of doing what's
easy for you, do what's easy for your reader.
Michael A. Covington
(How to Write More Clearly, Think More Clearly, and Learn Complex Material More Easily)
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NOW WHAT? USE IT OR LOSE IT
◦ AWARENESS: have a look at your own writing
and see what you see now
◦ INTENTION: revise the writing and see how it
feels and reads
◦ CONFIDENCE: base your confidence on
something firm
FINAL WORDS TO THE WISE:
Generally don’t worry about these things while writing
Use them in the revision process
Why ?
• you may have habituated such tendencies
• you don’t want to slow down your writing process
Awareness leads to intentions;
Practiced intentions become behaviours.
THANK YOU
Feel free to contact me : [email protected]
• Follow-up questions (keep brief, please)
• Comments
• Issues, topics, or focus for future webinars on writing
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REFERENCES AND RECOMMENDATIONS
• A Short Guide to Writing about Science, David Porush
• Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace, Joseph Williams
• Successful Writing, Maxine Hairston
• Scientific English, Robert A. Day
• Thanks to my colleague Robert Desjardins, for his
PowerPoints, discussions, and years of relating about writing