How Significant Is the Style of Your Academic or Scientific Writing?
Well, according to this blog post, writing style is very important indeed if you want to produce academic or scientific work that is both interesting and accessible: http://bit.ly/1Z57qPO. The author compares what scholars consider good writing with the peer-reviewed articles that are actually published in the sciences, social sciences and humanities.
Scholarly opinion on the qualities of ‘stylish academic writing’ appears to remain relatively consistent across disciplines, with ‘stylish academic writers’ conveying ‘complex ideas in lively, well-crafted prose that engages readers, tells stories, expresses conviction, employs concrete examples and avoids gratuitous jargon.’ This is hardly breaking news given that such a style is recommended in many a guide to successful writing, but is it a common style in scholarly publication? A stylistic analysis of 1,000 peer-reviewed journal articles in 10 different fields was performed to answer this question, with the focus narrowing in on particular aspects of the articles examined: the use of personal pronouns, nominalisations, an engaging and informative title and an opening hook of some kind. There is, of course, a subjective element to such assessments – a title or opening paragraph that is engaging for one reader simply may not be for another – but the results are certainly interesting, with some predictable and others rather surprising.
Across journals and fields, the author discovered ‘abstract, convoluted, jargon-ridden sentences that befuddle readers,’ but also skilful stylistic writers who achieve ‘a conversational yet authoritative voice’ and construct their arguments in prose that is ‘verb-driven, concrete’ and free from clutter. ‘Attention-getting titles, compelling openings, case studies, anecdotes, illustrations, examples’ and ‘stories’ are techniques that effectively engage readers and can be applied in many disciplines, and writing that is passionate, humorous, playful and lyrical, conveying a sense of personality and scholarly pleasure, is always appealing. The implication is that academics and scientists who ‘produce anything other than “safe”, impersonal prose’ are not ‘doomed to be discounted or rejected by their peers’ – they may, in fact, be widely read, admired and emulated.
If you are reflecting on your own writing with these thoughts in mind, you might want to follow the link (at the bottom of the post) leading to the Writer’s Diet Test to discover how ‘flabby or fit’ your prose is. I have not yet tried the test, but I suspect that it is probably a good idea to heed the author’s advice by bringing along both ‘a sense of humour and a large grain of salt!’
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