Essay 1 The End to All Boring Books PDF

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Rami Abdi Professor Barlow English 1A 24 January 2019

The End to All Boring Books When finding an enjoyable book to read, what makes us reach for something off the New York Times bestsellers list rather than a school textbook? From a general perspective, while they are usually aimed at different audiences, both focus on teaching or informing the reader about something new. Learning as much as possible to improve our lives should have us reaching for the textbook eager to learn information that scientists, philosophers, and historians have amassed over centuries; however, we find ourselves rather picking up the latest edition of The Hunger Games instead which teaches us as little about our world as some tv series off of Netflix would. What has happened is that the way many scholars now write academic papers are boring, just spitting one fact after another onto a piece of paper expecting the readers to make it interesting on their own. But the truth is, the author should invigorate readers to make them inclined to turn over each page with awe and excitement; but they dull the lessons they teach by distancing themselves from their work by referring to themselves in third person perspective instead of engaging the readers. To better get their attention, academic writers should look to the advice Helen Sword gives: directly engage the reader, carefully craft your sentences, and write a title tempting enough to make the reader want to pick up the book in the first place. Academic writers should write in a way that makes the reader feel as if you are talking to them through the pages. Rather than doing this, many academic writers talk about themselves from a third person perspective to distance themselves from their work which Helen Sword

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points out: “PhD students across the disciplines were taught that personality should never intrude upon scholarly writing….Some let their research stand in as a kind of proxy for the absent I” (36). To improve on this, scholars need to write in a personal tone, when possible, to build a connection with the reader. This does not mean saying pronouns such as I, you, and we in every sentence possible, but to instead use it when the latter would distance yourself from the readers or their research. An example of this rule in play is instead of referring to author(s) as “The Researchers” or referring to their work as what is presenting the information by saying things such as “This study concludes,” what can be said instead is “we” or “our research team found out”. By speaking for themselves from a first person point of view, Sword explains, “their sentences would immediately become more energetic, more persuasive, and easier to understand” (37). Speaking in a first person point of view will allow you to engage your readers and create an atmosphere where they feel as if you are talking to them directly. If your sentences are not written in such a way that each has a clear intent and are easy to follow, then your article has already lost the foundation needed to hook the reader. Academic writers assume that they must use extraneous words and phrases for their work to win the respect of their peers, but instead, this clutters up the sentence to the point that readers are barely able to make out who is doing what, or what the subject is even doing. The use of abstract language is not exactly the enemy here, but writers should make sure to not use it excessively. Sword goes into more detail about this: “All scholarly endeavors involve abstract thinking, of course, which we naturally express via abstract language. The problems occur when we allow abstract nouns to take over and multiply, even in sentences that describe the actions and attributes of concrete entities such as people, places, and things”(53). The way scholars allow this to happen is when they put too many abstract nouns and verbs into one sentence. An example of when this occurs

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is, “According to de Man, the robustness of this incoherence, the failure of the sublime to secure an exit from skepticism through philosophical argument, indicates that Kant’s analysis relies on rhetorical sleight of hand”(53). The author here has written the passage in such a complex and confusing manner using abstract language that jumbles with reader's mind in a way that makes it difficult to visualize any part of the sentence. Abstract language is useful, but in excess, it can make you lose the reader. Titles are the first thing the reader will read and, if they are not interesting enough to get them to pick up the book, it will be the only thing they will read. The title gives the reader insight on your purpose for writing the book or article, and it is used to target a certain audience. The problem is that many scholars use titles that seem uninviting and boring. They are made only to target other peers in their general field, instead attempting to get the general public to take interest in learning about what they are studying or researching. Many academics write more of an informative title because they are worried that if they use an engaging one their work might not gain their peers respect, but this does not have to be the case. To counteract this, Sword explains a concept that uses a mixture of both an informative and engaging title, “...the simplest way to generate an engaging and informative title is to join together two disparate phrases (one catchy, the other descriptive) using a colon, semicolon, or question mark”(68). Using this “engaging:informative” title structure can help you target your peers while making it seem interesting enough for the general public. This is not the only strategy that can be implemented to create both an informative and engaging title- it is possible to also use a question, an argument, metaphor, or even an analogy. With the right title, you can be able to target both academics and others from the general public.

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Writing an article or book that can both appeal to academics and the general public alike is challenging, but the rewards for doing so are plenty. With one article, you can influence nonacademics to takes some interest in your field while also keeping it informative enough to win the respect of your peers. All you have to do is hook the reader with a great title, keep the information interesting with the type of language you use to present it, and write your sentences in a clear, easily understood way.

Works Cited Sword, Helen. Stylish Academic Writing. Harvard University Press, 2012....