Comments on Writing
Becoming a Writer
Smoke cleared up my writing. If not for cigar smoke, I would write the way my college professors taught me. My professors, like yours, taught me to write truthfully. My professors, like yours, encouraged me to be useful. But my professors, probably like yours, did not teach me to express my ideas clearly. I had to learn clear writing on the job. I wrote this book so you can write clearly before you start your job. Or, if you already have a job requiring writing, to make you a better writer. As for the cigar smoke, I’ll come back to that.
My job is to influence people. On your job, you too may need to influence people. As community workers, we want to assist residents and local businesses. As justice advocates, we want to create change. As government policy analysts, we want to improve government services. As consultants, we want our clients to do better. As teachers, we want to guide our students. As researchers, we want others to use our ideas. In these, and many more cases, we want our writing to help improve the safety and well-being of others. There are numerous ways we exert influence. This book is about one of them: writing.
Writing is one of the most powerful ways to communicate, be it on paper or on a tiny screen. One reason is that it lasts. Speeches and conversations get forgotten. If remembered, they may be misremembered. Writing is stable. People can recall, retrieve, and spread written ideas.
When I left school in 1977, I knew how to be truthful and wanted to be useful. I thought I knew how to write. The University of Michigan’s Master’s in Public Policy program was superb. My professors were smart, rigorous, demanding, and funny. They had an immense influence on my life. My courses in economics, policy, decision-making, and political science gave me the sharp tools that I have wielded since. Almost everything I write uses these tools. But as I discovered later, I had not learned to write clearly.
You might not consider yourself a writer, but it is likely you will become one. Your choice will not be whether to write or not because most professional jobs require writing. Your choice is to write clearly or unclearly. If you want to be successful, you will choose clarity. By successful, I mean creating beneficial changes to some bit of the world.
Purpose of This Book
If you are like me, you have discovered that much of what you are reading is frustrating. I dislike reading articles and books written by academic researchers. Most of them make exciting topics boring. Many make simple ideas convoluted. When I was younger, I thought I was stupid because I had so much difficulty reading academic articles and books. Years after I left student life I had a revelation; I am not the brightest pebble on the beach, but I am not a dimwit. The problem is the authors of tortured academic texts. They produce muddles.
You have probably read many muddled narratives. Your professors have assigned unclear books and articles, and you read them. I did. You might have suspected your professor was feeding you bullshit, but you read it. I did. In time, you may have even developed a taste for it. I did. You probably became successful at reproducing it. I did. You may have received high grades by imitating the murky prose of the things assigned in your classes. Me too.
In a far tiny corner of philosophy, there is a debate about bullshit. One side of this debate asserts that bullshit is the intentional lack of interest in the difference between truth and falsity. Harry Frankfurt (2005), in his short book, On Bullshit, claims that the bullshitter does not care if what he says is true or false. He only cares about getting his way. In contrast, a liar knows the difference but chooses the falsehood. G.A. Cohen (2002), asserts that bullshit is writing that a reader cannot translate into something understandable. The writer might think her statements are true, but the reader cannot interpret what the writer had in mind. If a reader can translate the gobbledygook into a clear message, then the writing is not bullshit.
Much bad professional writing seems to be gobbledygook. But not all. Later, I rewrite examples of obfucationalized academic discourse. If my translations are valid, then the examples are not bullshit, of Cohen’s sort. Much academic writing is not bullshit of the Cohen or Frankfurt varieties. It is just tortured writing. This book shows you how to avoid writing like a standard academic, even if you become an academic, standard or otherwise. By the time you complete this book, you will have the tools to write with sweet clarity.
But make no mistake, this book is a start, not an end. You will have to practice the techniques I discuss to make clarity a habit. Once it is a habit, then you are ready to consider style and art, but let’s put off that discussion until the last chapter.
Is This Book for You?
Any person studying any social science should find this book useful. I teach doctoral students, master’s students, and advanced undergraduates, so these are the people I have foremost in mind as my readers. A few of my students want to become academics. Others want to go into some policing or correctional agency. A good number of these want to work for a federal law enforcement agency. Some students want to work for a business. Others aspire to work with community groups, treatment organizations, or victim support groups. And others have no strong sense of where they want to work. If you are like any of these students, then I am writing for you.
Clear Writing and a Police Career
A friend told me this story of how writing influenced the direction of his career.
I assume that someday you will have a job that requires you to write. I assume that you will be asked to write about something that will have serious consequences for people in your organization and the people your organization serves. That is, if someone reads your work and follows your advice, then others may benefit. Taxpayers may get more for their tax money. Governments may treat their citizens more fairly or less harshly. People may not become victims of crime. Businesses may be better able to thrive. Those who have suffered may have a greater chance of leading safe, productive, and meaningful lives. If your writing contributes to any of these or other tangible outcomes, then you are a success.
You will not be a success if your readers struggle to understand your writing. If you cannot make your ideas clear, then even if you have a great idea it is unlikely anyone will pay attention. Worse, if your writing is not clear, and someone misinterprets it, then you can harm people.
Clear writing is clear writing. The principles of clear academic writing are not any different from the principles of clear police writing, clear community group writing, clear business writing, or clear policymaker writing.
What This Book Is Not About
No book on a topic can address all of it unless the topic is tiny or trivial. Writing is neither, so I imposed boundaries. If the topics that come next are what you want, then stop reading and find a book that addresses them.
It’s Not about How to Conduct Research
I assume you have taken, or will take, a course in research. By research, I mean anything related to improving your understanding of your topic. This can include: bibliographic inquiries and literature reviews; data gathering and analysis; interviews and observations; legal and procedural inquiries; and consulting with experts and practitioners. I assume you know something about your topic or you are prepared to learn what you need before writing about it.
Writing nonfiction is entangled with research. I experience this entanglement daily. The process of writing reveals facts I need to pin down, so my writing pushes my research just as much as my research pushes my writing. Drawing a line between research and writing is artificial but necessary. I will touch upon research from time to time, but if you want solid advice on research, you need to read something else.
It’s Not about How to Form Logical Arguments
Much writing involves putting things in a logical order, without gaps. I have an entire chapter devoted to ordering ideas. Nevertheless, I assume you have a reasonably good foundation in ordering your thoughts. I do not cover deductive logic: statements of the form, “If A and B then C; Here is A and B; Therefore, we have C.” Nor do I address invalid arguments due to faulty premises or misapplied principles of logic. This too is a practical, although artificial, distinction. In this book, I assume that many of your mistakes of logic are due to forgetfulness more than they are due to ignorance. If this is true, then clear writing is the best way for you to prevent logic errors. Complex writing hides logical errors from you and your reader. If you write in a clear way, you will detect and correct most of your errors before your readers see them.
It’s Not about How to Use Correct Grammar, Punctuation, or Spelling
There are many grammar books. I am not adding to that list. I assume your teachers have taught you basic English grammar. If you know you are weak in this area, or if you have a problem that troubles you (e.g., when should I use a semicolon), look it up. If you cannot spell a word, look it up. If you cannot tell the difference between a past participle and a subatomic particle, you are in good company, but look it up. I have included a list of useful books on writing at the back of this book. Some deal with grammar. The internet has numerous sites devoted to grammar.
The easiest way to avoid grammar mistakes is to write simple sentences that do not require a great deal of punctuation. Simple sentences also help you detect obvious mistakes early. Simple, clear words reduce the number of spelling mistakes you will make, and help eliminate your using the wrong word.
It’s Not about Formatting Citations
As I explain in the next chapter, you have a moral obligation to acknowledge where you found ideas and facts that you did not invent or discover. There are many ways to do this, and there are many books to show you how. Mercifully, citation and bibliographic software automate much of the tedium. Further, the organization you work for, or the journal you write for, may demand you follow a style sheet. Follow it.
It’s Not about How to Market Your Ideas
I assume that aside from term papers, your goal in writing is to help someone else make better decisions. For that, someone must read your stuff. But how do these someones find your stuff so they can benefit from reading it? The answer to this question is marketing. I do touch on it from time to time, but mostly, I do not. You will have to find out how to market your writing elsewhere. Several of the books I recommend in Further Reading address marketing your writing.
It’s Not about How to Write Term Papers
You can use this book to help you write your university courses’ assignments. I hope you do. Still, that is not my primary goal. Although I assume you are a student, I wrote this book to assist you in your future (or present) role as a professional something or other. I assume in your role as a professional something or other, you will have to write. In your job, you will have the opportunity to use your writing to help people. You will also have the ability to harm people, too. You will help few people if you cannot be clear. You may harm people with bad writing. In short, this book is to help prepare you for writing that has consequences.
Clarity from Cigar Smoke and ...
