Notes on Academic Writing

My degree is in literature. I don't use that a whole lot in my regular job, but it did give me a pretty good grounding for understanding writing and the writing process in a practical sense. I had to do a lot of academic writing after all. I also worked as a writing tutor while I was at the University, helping fellow students with their papers for classes. I learned a lot from that about the assumptions students have and how much actually sinks in. During that time and since I have occasionally caught myself pondering the writing process. So, here are some thoughts on academic writing from a guy who spent a lot of time staring at it.

First thing to consider about academic writing, the first and most important principle to understand is something of a mantra: "No one cares what you think." It's a bit harsh, I know, but this is important. A lot of new students just don't get the difference between writing down their opinion (like what I'm doing here) and constructing a solid academic paper based on research. So, I tell people to keep in mind the principle "no one cares what you think." No one wants to hear your opinion on the Reformation when you are College Freshman, really, even if they ask for it they don't want to hear it. The point of your classes is not to share what your opinion is, it's to learn what the prevailing opinions and data are. That's why you're there. To learn from the professor and your own research. So, when writing an academic paper, keep in mind "no one cares what you think." This will save you a lot of strain in writing a nice thoughtful opinion paper, when what the professor wants is a paper with research and cited sources and quotes and all that other good stuff that is not your opinion. Once you have letters after your name and a diploma on the wall and have spent years doing research, then they will care what you think. Today, though, they don't want to hear it.

The second thing to understand is that spell check is your friend, but he's not a very trustworthy friend. Spell check is great. I have spell check turned on right now, but don't let spell check replace your brain. Spell check doesn't understand the words it's just matching letters and known phrases, that's all. Use it to weed out misspellings, but don't trust it to get everything right. Use your eyes and ears to make sure spell check won't make you look stupid. Because you don't want your opening line: "The Reformation was an important period in the history of western society." to come out: "The Restoration wall and impotent Paris in the hi story for western sobriety." Read out loud everything before you're ready to turn it in. Catch stupid mistakes and odd replacements by spell check. If you have difficulties with something like this due to dyslexia or any other problems, then get a friend or family member to read over it for you. This is the sort of thing that can mean the difference between a B paper and an A paper.

Third thing to keep in mind is planning. You've got to plan any paper over 2 pages long, and you should even plan papers under 2 pages long. Planning is important, how you do it isn't. Plan the way that works for you, don't try to force yourself into someone else's idea of how to plan. It won't work. Some people use coded note cards and outlines. Some people use non-linear brainstorming techniques. Again, it doesn't matter, the point is to understand your paper and what you want to write about before you write about it. If you don't know what you're going to write about and how you're going to write about it before you go in, your going to waste a lot of time and only through pure luck and supreme effort will your paper manage to make any kind of sense. By the same token, do not spend so much time planning that you never get your paper done. Your plan should be specific enough to get you from start to finish but vague enough that if you choose to take a few side trips on the way you can.

Fourth thing is drafting. Drafts are important even when not required by your professor. Ernest Hemingway is quoted as saying "the first draft of anything is shit."
So, unless you're a better writer than Hemingway, draft. That's not to say that you need to have formal drafts with numbers and well thought out notes and so forth. Have informal drafts. Write the paper, and then read it over a second time in the word processor making corrections as you read. There you are now on your second draft. You've probably already bumped your paper up by half a grade. Printing the paper out and reading it aloud while scribbling notes in the margin will help too. If you don't like doing drafts, well I know how you feel. Really, I do. I hate drafting, but I do it anyway, because it improves the paper.

The fifth and final pointer I'll share with you is another mantra: "Writing isn't hard." Half of you reading this probably just started whining that it is hard for you for whatever reason you've convinced yourself makes writing hard. You're not special. Writing is not especially more difficult for you. You have the basics. You can understand the language, you have a pretty good idea how most words are spelled, and know where to look up the rest, and you can put those word into an at worst semi-coherent sentence. There you go you're writing. It's not hard. Writing well is hard, but writing itself is not hard. What makes writing hard is your insistence that it's difficult. So, instead of complaining about how hard it is to get your thoughts on paper, just get your thoughts on paper. They don't have to be pure gold, but once you've got the words down and in, at worst, a semi-coherent structure of a paper, then you can go back and edit, which brings us back around to the fourth pointer. You don't have to be perfect and you won't be perfect on your first try. Arguably, your first try will be absolutely awful. Be okay with that. Be okay with the first words you put down being complete garbage. Fix it later. Just get it down.

That's what I've learned from working with students and being a student myself. I can't guarantee anything regarding improving your grades if you listen to me, but I'd put good money on it. Be thoughtful in what you write for your classes. Remember that you're not there to tell everyone what you think. Remember that spell check is fallible. Remember planning. Remember drafting, and remember not to undermine yourself. Repeat the mantras to yourself: "No one cares what I think." and "Writing isn't hard." Use them to keep you writing instead of worrying and keep that writing focused on relevant research rather than your personal opinion. It all just comes down to thinking through what you do and how you do it. These are ways to do that. Strategies to help you perform better in class and, hopefully, cut some of the stress out of the writing process.