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THEY CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW: WRITING STRATEGIES FOR YOU

AIA Webinar Series Stephen Kuntz

May 20, 2021

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone

I can see all obstacles in my way

Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind

It's gonna be a bright (Bright), bright (Bright)

Sun-shiny day

It's gonna be a bright (Bright), bright (Bright)

Sun-shiny day

I think I can make it now, the pain is gone

All of the bad feelings have disappeared

Here is the rainbow I've been prayin' for

It's gonna be a bright (Bright), bright (Bright)

Sun-shiny day

Look all around, there's nothin' but blue skies

Look straight ahead, nothin' but blue skies

Johnny Nash, I Can See Clearly Now

GOALS

TO BEGIN TO BUILD

◦ AWARENESS: increase awareness of your writing

tendencies & habits

◦ INTENTION: prompt intention/action in regards

to your writing

◦ CONFIDENCE: build your writing confidence

Disclaimer: 1) heard this (you) before 2) can’t improve without writing

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STRUCTURE FOR THE SESSION

Principles not rules

Simple

Small

Mystification is simple;

clarity is the hardest thing of all.~ Julian Barnes, Flaubert’s Parrot

CLARITY

BEGINS AND ENDS

with you . . .

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Most of us don’t write clearly: why?

Trying to impress / sound smart

Don’t know exactly what we want to say

Don’t understand our audience and what they want,

need, expect

Don’t really want to be

YOU NEED TO BE CLEAR TO YOURSELF

What am I trying to communicate and why?

Personal Clarity

Fortune cookie test

Elevator pitch

One line test

. . . BUT CLARITY IS FOR THEM—

YOUR AUDIENCE

• Who are your readers (ideal?)?

• How do you want the readers to read ?

• What do they know? not know? need to know?

• Why are they reading this?

• What do you want your readers to think, feel, or do

because of what you’ve written?

• Are you making it easier or harder for your readers?

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YOUR AUDIENCE

• Writing for no one

(in particular)

• Writing for everyone

(in general)

• Writing for yourself

• Know your audience

• Write everything with

that audience in mind

• Assume your audience is

intelligent and worthy of

your time and respect

• “Create” an image of a

real audience

The problem The clarification

YOUR INTENDED AUDIENCE SHOULD AFFECT

YOUR WRITING CHOICES

Word Level

Sentence Level

Relational Level

WORD LEVEL

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NOMINALIZATION

WHAT IS IT?

Turn verbs into nouns:

Verb Noun

analyzed analysis

examined examination

studied investigation

EFFECT

Generally,

• increases length of sentence

• decreases clarity: don’t know

who, when, what

• reduces vividness

Following termination of activation of soil sampling

mode, the process resolution was achieved.

To conclude the process, we sampled the soil.

NOMINALIZATION

Don’t use unnecessary and frequent

nominalization (look for -tion endings)

Generally, use verbs that describe the

relationship between the nouns

Watch “Beware of nominalizations (AKA

zombie nouns)” by Helen Sword

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/beware-of-nominalizations-aka-zombie-nouns-helen-sword

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JARGON

WHAT IS IT ?

• Specialized, technical, or

abstract language used by

and for a particular group;

may suggest membership,

relationship, or belonging

to this group

EFFECT

Readers may

• Feel you are showing off

• Have a difficult time

processing

Assumes knowledge or

understanding

JARGON

Avoid

• near the beginning of a document

• several terms in close proximity

• unnecessary abstractions (see nominalizations) (“utilization”)

Use

• when it encourages belonging

• when it communicates

• after the reader has a clear sense of the context/purpose

Ask should I define it? how?

OTHER WORD LEVEL ISSUES TO CONSIDER

• Confused/conflated words:

complement / compliment

conscience/conscious

continual / continuous

affect/effect

• Connotative and Denotative value

• Clichés

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SENTENCE LEVEL

EXPLETIVES (“STRETCHERS”)(IT-ITIS)

WHAT IT IS?

“Syntactic expletives are

words that perform a

syntactic role but contribute

nothing to meaning. . . .

dummy pronouns.”

There are three people in

the room.

https://www.definitions.net/definition/syn

tactic+expletive

EFFECT

• Not a real subject

• Increases sentence length

• Decreases clarity

There are three people in the emergency waiting room. It

is important that all of them are attended to. There are

many reasons why they should be triaged carefully.

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EXPLETIVE USE

• Use intentionally with purpose

• Avoid using close together unintentionally

• Revise most of them out

Use FIND function to SEE them

PASSIVE VOICE

WHAT IS IT?

Writer puts the thing acted

on (object) in the position

of that which is acting

(subject);

(“to be” + past participle)

Opposite of active voice

EFFECT

Wordy: verb becomes longer

less direct – hides the agent

objective vs subjective feel

generally weakens writing

Active voice

John hit the ball.

Passive voice

The ball was hit by John.

Agentless passive

The ball was hit.

Look for: “by”

“to be” + past participle: was hit

Use FIND function to SEE them

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PASSIVE VOICE USE

DON’T

• Overuse

• Use unintentionally

• Use agentless passive if it

might confuse readers

USE

• to emphasize the action

• to emphasize the receiver

of the action

• when the agent is

unknown or unimportant

• intentionally / judiciously

Know why you are using the passive (intentional) and

be aware of the effect on your reader (awareness).

RELATIONAL LEVEL

paragraphing

and

idea presentation

that are coherence

ORDER

Why did you put the material in the order you did ?

Have an ordering principle: e.g. Chronological

Sequence

Organic/natural

Appropriate to your material, purpose, and audience

Be consistent

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TRANSITION USE

• Appropriate and effective

Relationships: Addition, Comparison, Emphasis,

Sequence, Generalizing, Summarizing

• Between paragraphs: point back, point forward

• From one idea/topic to another

• Variety

Comparison: similarly, likewise, by the same token,

in like manner, in the same way, in comparison

Transitions do not create relationship;

they confirm relationship.

TRANSITION PRINCIPLE

Clear writing leads to clear thinking. You don't know

what you know until you try to express it. Good writing is

partly a matter of character. Instead of doing what's

easy for you, do what's easy for your reader.

Michael A. Covington

(How to Write More Clearly, Think More Clearly, and Learn Complex Material More Easily)

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NOW WHAT? USE IT OR LOSE IT

◦ AWARENESS: have a look at your own writing

and see what you see now

◦ INTENTION: revise the writing and see how it

feels and reads

◦ CONFIDENCE: base your confidence on

something firm

FINAL WORDS TO THE WISE:

Generally don’t worry about these things while writing

Use them in the revision process

Why ?

• you may have habituated such tendencies

• you don’t want to slow down your writing process

Awareness leads to intentions;

Practiced intentions become behaviours.

THANK YOU

Feel free to contact me : skuntz@ualberta.ca

• Follow-up questions (keep brief, please)

• Comments

• Issues, topics, or focus for future webinars on writing

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REFERENCES AND RECOMMENDATIONS

• A Short Guide to Writing about Science, David Porush

• Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace, Joseph Williams

• Successful Writing, Maxine Hairston

• Scientific English, Robert A. Day

• Thanks to my colleague Robert Desjardins, for his

PowerPoints, discussions, and years of relating about writing