One of the criticisms of my work is that my writing style isn't academic enough. I was a journalist for many years so I had to write for the lowest common denominator. My subject is really interesting and I enjoy writing which may mean I get carried away with my ideas and become less academic in style. But I don't really know how to change this. I hate reading work which is full of long obscure words and convoluted sentences and usually give up because I don't undestand the content. My supervisor says my work is well-written and easy to understand but that could be a nice way of saying it is too simplistic. I am booked on to an academic writing course soon but would appreciate any suggestions on how to improve academic style without becoming pretentious and difficult to read.

What sort of field are you in? You may get different answers from science/humanties/arts students on this one.

Good academic writing needn't (shouldn't!) be hard to read. I think the main difference is tone. I'll add more depending on what your area is?

I'm surprised to hear this as a criticism - are you sure it is meant as such? A lot of academic writing is clearly written with a total disregard as to whether it can be easily understood - it's so much more important to be seen as clever. I have had to try and be a little more formal and dry than I would normally - but I spent many years working on educational materials for primary schools and my style often relfects that - I really do try to be as clear as possible. People seem to appreciate it - I've given presentations which I thought might be too, er, child-like in parts but were then well-recieved.

Don't worry about being too simple - I really don't think you can be! But perhaps you just need to be more formal and less chatty?

There is a calvin and hobbes cartoon which describes this perfectly :) Google calvin and hobbes writing. its funny! And sadly its also kind of accurate...

Personally I prefer to see things written clearly and concisely. Nothing annoys me more than having to trawl through 3 paragraphs for something that could have been said in two sentences. However, by saying it isnt academic enough....they might mean precise enough....I had that problem when I started writing my thesis. It does really depend on your field I guess. Are you giving all the necessary information to support your statement (without being convoluted)? Even though its great that you can write for the lowest common denominator, this might mean you are omitting vital information that people in your field expect to see. For example....even though your examiners will know this stuff....they still want to know that you know it :)

this is from Bhabha, a theorist, and was sent to me on Facebook as an instance of 'academese'. there may well be people here who enjoy reading such stuff...but for now...here's some academese for us to enjoy...

"If, for a while, the ruse of desire is calculable for the uses Of discipline soon the repetition of guilt, justification, pseudo-scientific theories, superstition, spurious authorities, and classifications can be seen as the desperate effort to 'normalize' formally the disturbance of a discourse of splitting that violates the rational, enlightened claims of its enunciatory modality."

Nice, no?

Yep, I agree, good academic writing needn't be difficult to understand nor should it be pretentious. It really annoys me when I read an article where the author has gone out of their way to use highfalutin language combined with 100 word sentences in order to put forward a simple point.

I try to follow the rule of making an academic point as clearly and simply as I can, and in the shortest possible way i.e. cutting the 'flab' from the text. Although, I don't always succeed.

I generally interpret 'journalistic' writing as subjective and 'academic' writing as objective logic with evidential support - so I don't think your supervisor is necessarily saying your work is simplistic, but probably that your work is grounded in too much subjectivity. To prevent this, rather than thinking about changing your writing style per se, pretend that you are defending your work in a court of law, and everything you say must be backed up with evidence, and that all counter-arguments are refuted i.e. 'defend' your work at all times. This should help prevent your work from becoming less informal and too opinionated.


"lowest common denominator"...was that the Daily Mail then? :p

Bhabha is a bit of a monster though; when once questioned on his unintelligible writing style, he basically said that if the reader didn't understand it then they weren't sufficiently bright....
I think the simple reading principle works to an extent, as long as your writing isn't incredibly dull as a result. I once had a lecturer give me the very patronising advice 'don't use a big word where a small one will do' to which I responded I would do as he told, as long as I hadn't already used said short word sixteen times that paragraph.

I'm in humanities/arts. I don't write for the lowest common denominator now! My writing is very different to when I was a journalist but I think some of the comments made are valid. Yes, maybe it's too chatty. I've tried to back every argument up with relevant evidence. But I think perhaps it is the tone which is coming across as less academic rather than the actual content. So I think I need to tighten everything up so that there is no superfluous waffle.

Love the Calvin and Hobbes reference Avalon 68. I used to read them all the time.

Oh dear, it's funny to hear that. The criticism I get is completely the opposite. Apparently, my writing is too academic! Sometimes I think it's all such bollocks. Horses for Courses, as they say. :-)

From what I know about it (which is limited I admit) most readability scales say no more than 30 words a sentence and keep the number of syllables in each word to a minimum (egs of this scale - Flesch/Fog/Flesch-Kincaid).

So I would say keep the sentences short and the individual words short.

As far as I'm concerned, academics aren't another beast to "the lowest common denominator" and I personally believe that academic articles should be written in language which is as accessible as possible to everyone. What's the point of research if, at some point, it's not going to reach that "lowest common denominator"?

Good luck

A

Whilst it's not always the easiest thing to do, I'd try and find a couple of academics whose writing style you like, decide what it is that you find likeable and the ways in which it differs from or is similar to other academics in your field, and then try to emulate it. Whilst you don't want to lose your voice in your writing, that might help you get some tips on how to change your style.

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i now have the calvin and hobbes cartoon pinned next to my desk for inspiration :)