Academic writing as if readers matter / Leonard Cassuto.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cassuto, Leonard, 1960- author.

Series:

Skills for scholars (Princeton University Press)

Skills for scholars

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Academic writing.

Authors and readers.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 208 pages.) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2024]

Summary:

"A guide to writing with the reader in mind. If you want people to read your writing, it has to be readable. In Academic Writing as if Readers Matter, Leonard Cassuto offers academic writers a direct, practical prescription for writing that will be read and understood: Take care of your reader. With a wealth of examples from the arts and sciences, this short, witty book provides invaluable advice to writers at all levels, in all fields, on how to write better for both specialized and broad audiences.Good academic writing depends on connecting with readers, earning their time and attention. Cassuto offers tips and advice on how to sharpen arguments and make complex ideas compelling. He addresses the workings of introductions and conclusions, transitions, signposts, paragraphs, and sentences-all the building blocks of academic writing. He also shows how storytelling and metaphor can make your prose more engaging than you thought possible. And he explains the proper use of that most dangerous of tools: jargon.This book can make any academic writer-including you-into a better writer. That means becoming a better communicator of the ideas and discoveries you want the world to grasp. For the sake of readers inside the academy and beyond it, Academic Writing as if Readers Matter shows how and why you have to make your writing connect with the people you're writing for"-- Provided by publisher.

"A short, punchy, prescriptive guide to academic style and writing well for scholars-from students to professors, and humanists to scientists-interested in or in need of becoming better writers"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction

The Primal Scene of Academic Writing

On Rules (and Rule-Breaking)

What about AI?

How to Read This Book

1. The Care and Feeding of the Academic Reader

Relationship Advice: The Clasp of the Hand

On Extended Metaphors

Writing as a Journey for Two

Why the Academic Reader Is a Different Animal Than the General Reader

Reading for Use

The Feeding of the Academic Reader

Writing for Use

Signposting, Quoting, and Other Important Do's and Don'ts

Obstacles

2. Everything Is a Story

The Argument Is a Story

Don't Write It from Beginning to End

Let's Start with the Title . . .

The Architecture of Arguments

Address Counterargument

How to Structure a Comparison

The Geometry of Argument

Taking Care of the Reader in Mid-Argument

Talk About What You're Not Talking About

The Literature Review

Create Conclusions, Not Concussions

Paragraphs

A Paragraph Is a Story

Beware of Upside-Down Paragraphs

Don't Bury Your Topic Sentences

Don't End a Paragraph with a Block Quotation

The Geometry of Paragraphs

In Praise of Short Paragraphs

Transitions between Paragraphs

Sentences

Don't Be Afraid to Write Simple Sentences

Vary Your Sentence Structure

On Recursion

Get Rhythm

Citations

When and How to Cite

What Should You Cite?

Footnotes or Endnotes?

The Basics of Visual Storytelling

Don't Do Anything Too Cute

Present the Full Picture First

Be Honest

Be Careful of the Details

How to Test whether You're Doing Everything Right

3. Jargon and Judgment

Most Difficulty Is Not Useful

Writing, Teaching

Jargon and Incivility

In Search of Good and Civil Jargon (Yes, It Is Out There)

The Unpleasures of the "Text"

The Abstract and the Concrete

New Pictures Tell Stories. Old Ones Don't.

Judgment Calls

Some Common Mistakes and What They Show Us

4. Why We Must: Because We're All in This Together

Useful Difficulty Revisited

Fearful Writing and the Search for the Goldilocks Solution

The Incredible Shrinking Audience

Politics and Academic Language

The General Public? How about the Field Next Door?

A Story to Close

Appendix: How to Use Artificial Intelligence

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Erscheint auch als Academic writing as if readers matter

ISBN:

9780691256610

0691256616

OCLC:

1455133188