Just Say It

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Authors often ask me what structural changes they “can” make, as if they need my permission to stretch the (perceived or real) confines of traditional academic writing.

While there are, undoubtedly, myriad expectations and conventions within academic writing, at the end of the day only one mandate really matters: don’t lose your reader.

If you want to bring in an example at the end of the chapter that doesn’t relate tightly to the topic but that adds important context or perspective, go for it. If you want to move backward, rather than forward, in time, no problem. If you want to add in your personal experience, sure thing.

In all of these cases, however, the success of the effort comes from explaining to the reader what you are doing and why you are doing it (i.e., its contribution to the argument).

Sometimes authors seem hesitant to articulate explicitly the shifts in direction of the argument. They assume that the narrative arc should be self-evident. In reality, the twists and turns in the narrative only become clear if the author explains them, which is why I remind authors to “just say it” (and I smile when echoes of Nike ads play in my mind).

Keep writing (and revising!)—

Katherine

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