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May 07, 2006

Response to a Student Paper

One of my favorite students this semester remarked in their final paper that they enjoyed the last speech assignment the most because they could write in their own style and cover a topic they cared about. All semester I had been encouraging my students to speak on topics they had a passion for. It helps make their delivery more interesting and decreases the nerves. And many of them realized that, if their final analyses are anything to go by. However, one of this student's comments took me back to my own undergraduate career, and because this person is a smart, creative and talented individual, I really wanted to be sure they understood that "academic" does not have to mean "boring".

So I sent them an email. Which I am posting here in all its long-winded glory. Because I think this stuff is important.

Student,

Something you said in your Manuscript Self-Analysis paper triggered a reaction in me that I wanted to share with you. You said, "I HATE WRITING LIKE I AM A 60 YEAR OLD ENGLISH PROFESSOR." I can completely identify with that remark, and I wanted to let you know that academic writing doesn't have to be boring. It can be interesting and reflect your own style. Unfortunately, not enough academics recognize this. No one has told them it can be interesting, and they fall into the trap of assuming that learned work must somehow be obfuscatory.

I figured it out by myself my junior year of college, when I realized that I either had to start writing papers that interested me or fail several classes. So for a race and ethnic relations class I wrote "The Civil Rights Movement in A-Minor." I compared each of the groups involved in the movement and each of the major actions/conflicts with a style of music from the time period or earlier. I received an A on the paper and a "See Me" from the professor. I approached her after class, afraid that she would tell me to go back to the stifling approach I thought academic work needed to follow. Instead, she wanted to argue with me that one of the groups I covered would actually have been better represented by a different type of music. Approaching the topic that way not only sparked my imagination, it stimulated hers as well.

After that, my writing changed dramatically. I started suiting the style to the topic. I was helped in this by a Macarthur Fellowship-winning instructor who also believed academic writing should be interesting to read. He challenged us to write shorter papers to be sure we could get to the point. He required us to write one paper using the most interesting verbs we could think of and absolutely no adverbs. He even insisted one paper be written in words of one and two syllables only. It drove some of my classmates crazy, but I loved it. It made my writing stronger and more vigorous. I took even more risks with my writing, creating one paper as a letter to the author of the book we were exploring, including questions to him as well as comments about his conclusions, and turning my final project for that class into a story.

I took those lessons with me when I graduated and used them both in my professional life and each time I returned to academia. They have served me well. Last spring, the head of the School of Music, who was a member of my thesis committee, remarked that he wished the graduate students in his program understood that academic writing didn't have to be dull. He wanted to show my exit project to them as an example of what it could be.

All this is a very long-winded way to say that you don't have to write like a 60 year-old English professor on topics you don't care for. Write like you. Your analyses are very interesting and well-written. You have a great written "voice." It's similar to your speaking voice and works well for you. And you can always find a way to make topics interesting to yourself. It may take more creativity, but you obviously have that in spades. Just be sure you support your arguments and that you follow the rules of spelling, grammar and punctuation. The good professors will most likely be thrilled to get a paper that is out of the ordinary.

Sally

Posted by sally at May 7, 2006 11:57 AM

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