Helen Sword’s Stylish Academic Writing (2012) is the literature review of thousands of articles and books across multiple disciplines to both, discover the techniques and conventions academics use to communicate their work, and propose techniques to enhance the attractiveness of a text and to simplify the usual complexity of dense academic texts. To achieve an effective stylish work, the author breaks down her proposal into techniques that tackle a specific problem associated with academic writing. Sword’s research could benefit the academic community and by teaching academics on how to communicate their research to other peers, she could potentially enhance the advancement in scientific, humanistic inquiries.
Outline
Rhetorical Outline
Proposition: there is a disparity between what writers consider a clear piece of writing and what authors end up publishing. Sword proposes multiple solutions and advice that will help academic writers to create works that are more effective, engaging, and easy to read and follow. Each one of those solutions tackle specific problems affecting the clarity and accessibility of academic works.
Audience: the direct audience is the specialized readers who may be other peers in the academic field interested in improving their own writing skills for their future papers. But it also addresses a non-specialized audience like undergraduate or high school students who are simple interested in learning more about the subject.
Genre: Academic writing (linguistics scholarly monograph).
Motive of the Author: One of Sword’s studies discovered that one of the reasons behind the gap between the expectations and reality of academic texts is that most writing guides do not consider PhD academics as a viable market. So probably the author saw in them a potentially interested audience and an unexplored field to pioneer.
Motive of the Reader: To learn how to write scholarly texts that are accessible and easy to understand for both, specialized and non-specialized audiences. To learn how to explain complex concepts in an understandable and clear way. To gain a better understanding of the features and disadvantages of writing techniques.
Author’s Goal: Sword strives not just to expose the reason why academics write the way they do, but to actually propose a plan that may lead to improvement. She begins by explaining the problem (academics do not write clearly), and then she explains her study findings to elaborate on her proposition. Sword urges her audience to start a “stylistic revolution” challenging the status quo and breaking the vicious circle.
Plan: Sword conducts a four-part research. First, ask seventy academics to tell her what they consider to be the characteristics of “stylish academic writing”. Second, scrutinize books and articles and compare their properties to the survey done in step one. Third, collect a data set to obtain examples of well written texts and use them to answer concrete questions about style. And fourth, analyze writing guides to determine their coherence with the reality of intellectual works.
Rhetorical Strategies: the book addresses two different audiences, one that is specialized and one that is not. In order to convey her purpose to the non-specialized audience she illustrates and explains her propositions through colloquial and creative language. But at the same time, she emphasizes on the statistical and systematic analysis setting the foundations to her arguments. In order to exemplify an abstract argument, Sword cites excerpts from the books and articles she used to collect information.
Rhetorical devices such as antithesis and descriptive language are employed to explain and justify her research methods. The use of metaphors helps to explain concepts or findings with much palpable ideas.
Keywords: writing techniques, effective writing, writing style, jargon.
Logical Outline
Chapter 1: Rules of Engagement
(Given) Everyone knows the features of clear academic writing.
(Given) Academics know the characteristics of effective writing.
(Given) Authors produce complex and ambiguous works.
(Given) No one likes reading complicated texts.
(Thus) The gap between the readers’ expectations of an academic text and the reality may be shortened.
(Who) Academic authors, faculty members, scholars etc.
(How) Using writing techniques that lead scholars to stop producing obscure articles/books.
(For example) Limiting the use of concrete nouns, avoiding jargon, writing with creative flair, etc.
(Why) Interesting, simple and effective academic papers are more likely increase the impact an academic article may have in the world.
Function: explanatory proposition, four premises, three reasons with one evidence
Keywords: concise writing, stylish academic writing.
Chapter 2: Of Being Disciplined
(Given) An author’s motive may differ greatly from other authors, even within the same academic discipline
(Thus) Academics could employ the writing techniques used by scholars from different disciplines
(What) Writing techniques from different kinds of disciplines and genre
(That is) Using writing conventions usually employed in a given discipline to enhance the effectiveness of an academic paper from a totally different field
(Why) Incorporating writing features from different disciplines can empower the strength and clearness of an academic paper
(For example 1) Scientists using first-person pronouns to give more personality to their work
(For example 2) Philosophers using concrete, straight-to-the-point nouns to avoid losing their reader’s attention
Function: explanatory proposition with one premise, two reasons, one amplification and two evidences
Keywords: interdisciplinary academic writing.
Chapter 3: A Guide to the Style Guides
(Given) Humans tend to copy what others do
(Given) Most writing guides on the market are not for PhD academics or scholars
(Given) PhD academics learn how to write by imitating the work of those who they consider are “successful writers”
(Thus) Academics are condemned to repeat the same mistakes their predecessors did unless they learn how to write
(How) Authors use ineffective writing techniques simply because others have done it before
(For example 1) Scientific authors overusing jargon to make the readers think he/she is knowledgeable in the topic
(Some would argue that) If a group of people stopped replicating the mistake of others, a revolution may happen.
(However) This only happens when a part of the chain learns how to do things differently and better
Function: one explanatory proposition with three premises, one reason, evidence, and a refutation
Keywords: disciplinary writing conventions.
Chapter 4: Voice and Echo
(Given) Academics wish to convince people that their ideas are valid.
(Given) Academics need an audience that is interested in their findings and work.
(Thus) Academics can decide which voice strategy they will use to convey their message
(What) The extent to which a voice approach may help or hurt conveying the author’s goal depends on the his/her motives and topic
(That is) A voice approach may be beneficial for some writing purposes, but for others, it may be detrimental
(How 1) Not using personal pronouns and using passive or agentless constructions
(That is) It gives a sense of strong authority and vast knowledge in the subject
(How 2) Mixed mode (Personal pronouns with an impersonal voice)
(Some would argue that) Not choosing one mode may result in inconsistency
(How 3) Using personal pronouns to refer to themselves
(That is) It makes the sentences much clearer and stronger
(Some would argue that) The author may lose credibility for presenting himself as a person prone to mistakes
(However) Authors who employ this technique write more concretely
Function: Two premises with an explanatory proposition, four reasons, two amplifications, two counterarguments and one refutation
Keywords: academic writing voice
Chapter 5: Smart Sentencing
(Given) All disciplines involve abstract thinking
(Given) Humans naturally express themselves with abstract language
(Thus) Authors can craft energetic sentences to explain abstract concepts with concrete and tangible ideas.
(Why) Concrete ideas prevent losing reader’s attention
(How 1) Using concrete nouns and active verbs
(That is) Readers can understand the concepts’ objects, actions and relationships.
(How 2) Keeping nouns and verbs close
(That is) So that readers, understand who did what
(How 3) Avoid clutter by using prepositions, adverbs, and adjectives carefully, always trying to be specific
Function: two premises, one explanatory proposition, four reasons and two amplifications
Keywords: concrete language, crafting sentences
Chapter 6: Tempting Titles
(Given) Giving a good first impression may catch the attention of an audience
(Thus) Titles can catch the attention of the audience and inform the readers on the content of the work
(Why 1) The audience can easily get an idea of the topic discussed in the academic article/book.
(Why 2) Titles can quickly catch the reader’s attention
(Why 3) Titles give the reader an important first impression.
(Some would argue that) A catchy title might be regarded by other academic colleagues as unscholarly
(However) Engaging titles make scholarly research accessible and more appealing to bigger audiences.
(How) To create a title join a catchy and descriptive phrase using a colon, semicolon, or question mark.
(For example 1) “The First Strawberries in India: Cultural Portability in Victorian Greater Britain”
(For example 2) “#$%^^*!?: Modernism and Dirty Words”
Function: one explanatory proposition with one premise, four reasons, one counter argument, one refutation, and two evidences
Keywords: catchy titles
Chapter 7: Hooks and Sinkers
(Given) Keeping the audience’s attention in the first couple of pages is critical to encourage them to continue reading
(Given) Every discipline has its own opening conventions
(Thus) Authors keep their audiences interested through an opening hook
(How 1) Attention getting question technique
(For example) “Many ecological studies are inspired by Hutchinson’s simple question: why are there so many kinds of animals?”
(How 2) Including anecdotes
(For example) Anecdotes drawn from the research
(How 3) Scene setting descriptions
(That is) It gives relevant background knowledge to the reader so that they can easily grasp the content
Function: two premises and one justificatory proposition with three reasons, two evidences and one amplification
Keywords: conventions for introductions in academic writing
Chapter 8: The Story Net
(Given) Authors do not want readers to throw their articles away after the first couple of pages
(Given) Humans have a tendency to use stories since ancient times to make sense of the world
(Thus) The best strategy to maintain the reader’s interest is to tell them a story
(What) “A story is a narrative of events arranged in their time sequence” (Sword, 2012, p. 91).
(Why) To ensure that the entire author’s message gets transmitted by keeping the reader’s interest
(Where) The setting could vary
(For example) From a lab, to an island
(For example) Galápagos islands where Darwin developed his evolutionary theory
(How) Maintaining a neutral perspective throughout the development of the story to simply inform the readers
(That is) A story tells you what happened as opposed to a plot, which tells why something happened
Function: two premises, one explanatory proposition with four reasons, two evidences, and one amplification.
Keywords: narrative academic writing
Chapter 9: Show and tell
(Given) Readers
(Thus) Authors can better illustrate their arguments not just by explicitly talking about it, but by showing it to the readers
(Why) The “show and tell” technique turns abstract ideas into concrete ideas
(How)
Readers may not understand quite well
(How) Convey information by means of details
(How) Instead of simply stating fact, the author should illustrate with examples
(Why) Making a point by telling stories enriches the main message
(How) Showing carries the reader through difficult abstract concepts by means of a story
Function: one explanatory proposition
Keywords: examples, message, abstract concepts, facts
Chapter 10: Jargonitis
(Given) Disciplines have their own specialized language
(Thus) Jargon should only be used to ease communication, rather than to sound pretentious
(What) Specialized vocabulary to express complex technical concepts
(Who) Academic writers from multiple disciplines
(How) Providing the reader with relevant and comprehensive background to understand jargon
(Why) The ultimate purpose of Academic Writing is communication of knowledge, not power demonstration
Function: one premise, one justificatory proposition
Keywords: jargon
Chapter 11: Structural Designs
(Given) Writing is an architectural endeavor because of the planning required to articulate arguments properly.
(Thus) “The key to producing a well-structured book, article, or thesis is carefully considering craftsmanship”
(What) Hybrid structures
(That is) Fusing the rigorous and conventional structures
(For example) Parallel sequencing in the titled sections to include keywords readers may use to skim the text.
(However) Structural deficiencies become more critical as the author deviates from generic norms
Function: one premise, one explanatory proposition
Keywords: writing structure, hybrid writing structures
Chapter 12: Points of Reference
(Given) The purpose of writing academic articles is to communicate new knowledge product of research
(Given) Researchers build their studies upon others’ findings
(Thus) Academics must give credit when it’s due using the citation style that best fit their writing purposes
(What) Researchers must support the premises of their papers referencing the source
(Why) To support the validity of arguments
(For example) APA Style
(For example) MLA Style
(For example) Chicago Style
Function: two premises, and one justificatory proposition with evidence
Keyword: Citation Style, Referencing
Chapter 13: The Big Picture
(Given) Complicated concepts can always be explained with accessible language
(Thus) Authors should use persuasive, concrete and clear thesis and argument
(Why) To convey the message in the less complicated way
(Why) Show the reader its significance
(How) Using a personal tone
(Thar is) Using personal pronouns to let the reader know who did what
(How) Staying focused to avoid confusing the reader by deviating from the main point
Function: one premise and one justificatory proposition
Keywords: abstract
Chapter 14: The Creative Touch
(Given) Authors want their to make a difference in the world
(Thus) Scholars must convey their passion through undisciplined thinking techniques
(How) Being creative by integrating writing styles from other disciplines
(That is) Their passion for the subject they are writing is transmitted by guiding the audience step by step to illustrate the origins and reasons for that passion.
(Why) To make their works stand out
Function: one premise and one justificatory proposition
Keywords: undisciplined writing