Learning to write (again)
This blog addresses the elephant in the room for my PhD and about me – my writing style still needs to improve
Improving my writing capability remains the biggest challenge of my PhD. I now have a writing coach – hooray! My supervisors have decided to make a writing coach available to a number of our cohort, and I am thrilled to have this additional access to such expertise. My coach assures me it is quite normal for a PhD candidate to have something about their writing style that needs to be improved. Less normal is my particular problem however, namely my propensity to write-to-think in such volume and thereafter deem that enough -i.e., I am guilty of just writing for me.
My self-framing problem was the biggest revelation from the interventions my writing coach has begun to address. In other words, writing for the reader is a reality somewhat alien to me. Whilst this notion of write-to-think is pretty normal in academia, my perception that the reader can follow that basis of written thought is less the norm. The impact of this lack of empathy on my part is that my writing lacks the structure and sign-posts that a reader needs. Both of these features of good writing are required if the reader is to be comfortable on the journey toward sharing in whatever thought the author is trying to convey. That’s pretty obvious, right? My writing coach spotted this problem immediately. For me, however, it was like someone suddenly switching on the lights. Blinded by my own inner-processes and unaware of what others need in order to see what I see. I was presented with examples, many examples. I now have new devices and strategies to progress my writing into a more appealing journey to the reader.
So how is this for you? I am applying some of these strategies in writing this blog. The most obvious strategy I am applying is brevity. More subtle perhaps is each sentence offering a sign-post as to how it relates to the last. A similar device is being used at paragraph level. Each paragraph is introduced with a sign-post toward what is coming next, but also signalling if the level of abstraction is the same as the last paragraph; or if something new is being introduced. At a higher level still, the overall piece of writing is contextualised from the hook and introductory remarks. Do you see these features now? Did the reader journey feel more like it was addressed to you?
I will finish this blog here, because I have written what I wanted to convey.
…to be continued