Writing Fundamentals: Part 4

Office of Graduate Studies Author

12/19/2016 Added

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Part 4 of a 10-part Research Writing Fundamentals workshop presented by Dr. Rick Lombardo

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[00:00:01.704]Let's take a look if readability is so important how do
[00:00:04.569]readers read and respond to what it is you write?
[00:00:08.505]Whatever it is, a dissertation, a journal article.
[00:00:13.658]Level of response and I'm going to give you related
[00:00:16.042]writing features.
[00:00:17.651]The first thing a reader does is glance.
[00:00:21.181]Very quickly.
[00:00:25.400]Your related writing feature is visual appeal, design.
[00:00:30.102]A CD for example, if you don't have enough light space
[00:00:32.477]in there, and it's not nicely organized, they're going
[00:00:36.505]to lose interest in reading it.
[00:00:39.434]So visual appeal, design do you have headings, sub-headings?
[00:00:45.125]Scan, for what?
[00:00:47.830]Structure and organization.
[00:00:50.837]Headings and sub-headings give them that kind of structure
[00:00:54.157]and organization.
[00:00:55.641]What's the reader doing when he or she is going through
[00:00:58.776]these first two steps?
[00:01:01.386]What is he or she doing?
[00:01:05.396]Anyone?
[00:01:06.685](student mumbles)
[00:01:08.284]Is it worth my time, is this going to be readable,
[00:01:11.271]is it going to be too hard for me to read this?
[00:01:14.553]Now every one of these steps depends on the step before.
[00:01:18.072]So the third step is, read.
[00:01:24.181]I'm going to start reading and that has to do
[00:01:27.142]with readability and style.
[00:01:29.661]And I'm going to focus on readability fairly soon here.
[00:01:35.037]The next step is understand.
[00:01:38.078]Understand what?
[00:01:39.305]Accuracy, depth, and range of ideas.
[00:01:44.220]Is there accuracy, did they put enough details
[00:01:46.552]in the methods section?
[00:01:52.647]Finally act convinced, the professionalism, the tone.
[00:01:57.421]And my question to you is here, what is your purpose
[00:02:02.711]in writing a dissertation?
[00:02:05.141]What is your purpose in writing a journal article
[00:02:07.394]for publication?
[00:02:10.946]What is your purpose, besides to inform?
[00:02:13.651](student mumbles)
[00:02:15.318]Contribute to knowledge, inform, what else?
[00:02:17.861](student mumbles)
[00:02:18.932]Express what?
[00:02:20.675](student mumbles)
[00:02:22.336]Express yourself, yes, and your work.
[00:02:25.633]But the fundamental reason for writing is to convince
[00:02:28.868]your reader that your research question, your hypotheses,
[00:02:38.775]your methods, your conclusion, and your discussion
[00:02:43.988]are valid.
[00:02:47.831]That really is the most important thing you're doing
[00:02:50.407]when you send your article to a publisher to be published
[00:02:56.154]in a journal article.
[00:02:57.896]If your stuff isn't convincing, they'll turn you down.
[00:03:02.747]So the logic is important in what it is you write.
[00:03:05.895]The same with the dissertation.
[00:03:08.680]Introduce yourself to the person next to you and exchange
[00:03:12.038]papers and what I'd like you to do, let's take about
[00:03:15.610]five minutes.
[00:03:17.181]Here are the features.
[00:03:19.304]Look at the first couple of pages, and see if those
[00:03:22.069]are evident.
[00:03:23.724](upbeat music)
[00:03:26.503](students chattering)
[00:03:32.855]Okay let's stop in the interest of time.
[00:03:35.591]I hope that helped you start getting a more critical eye
[00:03:38.393]about your own writing.
[00:03:41.512]That's the beginning step.
[00:03:43.942]Why did I have you do this?
[00:03:46.247]Because it's the reader that counts, it's not rules
[00:03:49.828]about punctuation and anything else, it's the reader
[00:03:52.534]that makes the difference.
[00:03:54.328]If the reader understands what you're writing,
[00:03:56.214]then you're good.
[00:03:58.326]So again, writing is not to impress, it's to communicate.
[00:04:01.845]Communicate clearly and logically to the reader.
[00:04:05.432]So the reader reads your writing very easily.
[00:04:10.007]Okay, so let's talk about exactly what readability is.
[00:04:16.148]Readability is writing with the reader in mind at all times.
[00:04:21.686]At all times.
[00:04:25.817]Use a format that guides the reader.
[00:04:29.732]Use a format that guides the reader.
[00:04:35.235]We'll talk about the format of a paragraph.
[00:04:39.461]But the format, we saw the overview of writing,
[00:04:42.696]how it went from general to specific, and then back
[00:04:45.556]to specific to general, that's a format that's easy
[00:04:48.087]to follow.
[00:04:50.279]Draw and hold reader's attention.
[00:04:54.456]We saw a paragraph about magma and volcanic ash,
[00:04:57.944]that didn't draw and hold your attention, you went
[00:05:00.904]to the Caribbean.
[00:05:02.712]Even the person who was reading it went to the Caribbean.
[00:05:06.327]Because it was exceedingly boring.
[00:05:09.844]He was on the beach while he was reading it,
[00:05:10.677]drinking margaritas and listening to Bob Marley music.
[00:05:17.688]Again, might be clear to you, it must must underline,
[00:05:22.662]be clear to the reader.
[00:05:26.946]So this is the exciting thing about this workshop.
[00:05:30.310]We're not talking about content here, you're all bright
[00:05:32.839]people you all know what you want your content
[00:05:37.093]to say right, to be.
[00:05:39.240]What you want in the content.
[00:05:41.734]That's not the question, we're talking about how clearly
[00:05:45.510]you say it, it's the quality of the content that you write.
[00:05:51.013]You don't make the reader work hard to unscramble
[00:05:54.113]your meaning like that Vice Chancellor (indistinct).
[00:05:58.455]Remember, you couldn't unscramble it even though it was
[00:06:01.799]a brief email, I still can't unscramble it, I don't know
[00:06:04.818]what it's saying, it might as well be
[00:06:06.662]in a different language.
[00:06:08.727]Yes?
[00:06:10.714]So she didn't focus on the reader, she just asked herself
[00:06:14.930]do I understand this.
[00:06:17.473]She wasted her time.
[00:06:23.463]Finally you are the guide, clear writing equals
[00:06:27.446]clear thinking.
[00:06:29.605]Okay and finally you are the guide, you must give
[00:06:30.438]reader's mind clear, precise directions.
[00:06:43.839]You are the guide, that's what you do.
[00:06:47.252]You help facilitate the reader's understanding.
[00:06:51.859]That's all you do when you write.
[00:06:54.148]If you get away from that goal, you're going to struggle
[00:06:56.387]to write.
[00:06:57.968]If you're going by the myths, I want to write to impress,
[00:07:00.359]you're going to struggle to write.
[00:07:04.466]This simplifies writing for you, this paradigm shift.
[00:07:08.946]I promise you that.
[00:07:11.761]So what do readers do in a simplified way?
[00:07:15.824]Readers don't just read, they interpret.

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Writing Fundamentals: Part 4

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