Stylish academic writing introduction harvard university. Helen sword associate professor of academic practice, the university of auckland, new zealand. Studies in higher education writing higher education. Your paper will share your thoughts and findings and justify your answer with logic and evidence. Professor sword is associate director of the centre for academic development at the university of auckland, where she received a 2007 teaching excellence award for innovation in teaching. Roig 2011 is an excellent resource for ethical issues in writing. Helen sword is the author of stylish academic writing 4. Nominalizations are zombie nouns the new york times.
Helen sword is a scholar, awardwinning teacher, and poet who has published widely on modernist literature, higher education pedagogy, digital poetics, and academic writing, including 5 singleauthored books from major university presses. She has drawn from a massive array of academic articles more than a thousand and given particular attention to authors known for writing readable material helen swords book contains much wisdom stylish academic writing contains superb counsel for academics who want to write with greater clarity and skill. Aug 24, 2017 the second book in my list of volumes ive been reading which focus on academic writing is stylish academic writing by helen sword. Some academic writing, such as scientific reports, has a given structure. In an academic writing assignment, you will start by asking a good question, then find and analyze answers to it, and choose your own best answers to discuss in your paper. The bible on style in academic writing is the american medical associations ama manual of style. Stylish academic writing directory of open access journals. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. The road to academic success is paved with stylish academic writing treat academic writing not as a set of inviolable rules but as a series of stylistic choices, writes helen sword, who has found that a conversational yet authoritative tone coupled with attention. May 20, 20 steven pinker harvard college professor and johnstone family professor, department of psychology, harvard university. Helen sword rips the veil off one of the worst kept secrets in all of academia.
She has a series of three books, of which i had bought two, the first one being stylish academic writing. Stylish academic writing showcases a range of scholars from the sciences, humanities, and social sciences who write with vividness and panache. Born and raised in southern california, she received her phd in comparative literature from princeton. Helen sword may be stating the obvious that there is a massive gap between what. Structure is also important in academic writing it helps to make your ideas clear, guides the readers comprehension and can strengthen your arguments. Individual chapters take up specific elements of style, such as titles and headings, chapter openings, and structure, and close with examples of transferable techniques that any writer can master. In a world where everyone calls for more interdisciplinary research and cooperation, writing in a way that everyone not only those from the same discipline can. If more of us take swords advice to heart, perhaps over time, we can help our governments renew their commitments to the humanities, and to a way of living that puts human beings first rather than putting first, say, corporate profits, easily quantifiable utility. Stylish academic writing harvard university press, 2012, helen sword masochistically analyzed the literary style in a sample of 500 scholarly articles and found that a healthy minority in every. Helen sword at the university of auckland wrote stylish academic writing with the intention to give scholars tips on how to improve their writing rather than focus on why so much academic writing is well, bad. In stylish academic writing harvard uni versity press, 2012, helen sword masochistically analyzed the literary style in a sample of 500 schol arly articles and found that a healthy minority in ev ery field were written with grace and verve. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read stylish academic writing. In the chronicle of higher education, read an interview with helen sword. Stylish academic writing contains superb counsel for academics who want to write with greater clarity and skill.
Her books include engendering inspiration 1995, ghostwriting modernism 2002, the writers diet 2007, pacific rim modernisms coedited 2009, and stylish academic writing forthcoming from harvard university press. It is simply taken for granted that this is what we do around here. Stylish academic writing has renewed my commitment to writing well. Pdf on jan 1, 2014, viviane sergi and others published helen sword 2012, stylish academic writing, harvard, ma. Helen is the author of the book that you now have in your hands i hope, the namesake for the panel, stylish academic writing.
You can find out if your own writing is flabby or fit, by running a few samples of your work through the writers diet test. Stylish academic writing steven pinker office of faculty. Second, i discuss reasons why, despite such criticism, academics persevere with their writing. So the goal of academic writing is not to show off everything that you know. Sword writes with flair and mild humour, reading it in two days. Stylish academic writing by helen sword avramovic working. Stylish academic writing by helen sword reference books. Helen sword s new book, stylish academic writing, is published by harvard university press. Review essay crossdisciplinary approaches to style stylish academic writing helen sword cambridge.
Elegant data and ideas deserve elegant expression, argues helen sword in this lively guide to academic writing. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading stylish academic writing. H sword, stylish academic writing, 2012 library access. Chatting about stylish academic writing helen sword. Third, i outline a number of approaches to the how of academic writing as a daily practice. What makes sword s stylish academic writing different is that she has data to back up her claims. Aiming to be useful to writers in almost any discipline, sword defines stylish academic writing in the broadest terms. Her other recent publications include stylish academic writing. Sword, who teaches at the university of auckland, in new zealand, uses extensive research. Whether youve loved the book or not, if you give your honest and detailed thoughts then people will find new books that are right for them. Academic writing, like university teaching, is what sociologist paul trowler calls a recurrent practice, one of the many routine tasks that most academics perform habitually and in an unconsidered way, with little thought as to how or why things might be done differently. While i was working on stylish academic writing and its companion book, the writers diet, i kept hearing stories from colleagues and graduate students about writingrelated dilemmas that. Faculty and students can consult the large literature on professional writing and ethical authorship practices. Apr 02, 2012 sword has produced a sleek and, yes, nicely written guide based on the principle that elegant ideas deserve elegant expression.
Helen sword teaches at the university of auckland and has published widely on academic writing, higher education pedagogy, modernist literature and digital poetics. Stylish academic writing helen sword office of faculty. Literary historian gillian beer lays that misconception fi rmly to rest. In her introduction, she explains the various parts of her process. Other readers will always be interested in your opinion of the books youve read. Recently i sent out an email message to colleagues and listservs across the disciplines, posing the following two questions. T he experience of reading helen swords stylish academic writing and steven. Stylish academic writing helen sword harvard university press. Instead of moralistic fingerpointing or evasive blameshifting, perhaps we should try to. For scholars frustrated with disciplinary conventions, and for specialists who want to. The road to academic success is paved with stylish. Information about the openaccess article stylish academic writing in doaj. Apr 03, 20 in what should be a party, it is a dirge, not a eulogy.
Stylish academic writing helen sword my reading notes. Helen sword on seven secrets of stylish academic writing. Why and how academics write graham francis badley, 2020. That was the case when i first read helen sword s stylish academic writing. Helen sword elegant data and ideas deserve elegant expression, argues helen sword in this lively guide to academic writing. She received her phd in comparative literature from princeton and now teaches at the university of auckland. Modernisms coedited 2009, and stylish academic writing forthcoming from harvard university press. The thinking persons guide to writing in the 21st century steven pinker new york. Sword has produced a sleek and, yes, nicely written guide based on the principle.
If more of us take sword s advice to heart, perhaps over time, we can help our governments renew their commitments to the humanities, and to a way of living that puts human beings first rather than putting first, say, corporate profits, easily quantifiable utility. Academic writers often assume that abstract thought demands abstract language. Helen sword is professor and director of the centre for learning and research in higher education at the university of auckland. Use the online writersdiet test to identify paunchy prose, then follow the nononsense advice in the book to strengthen and tone your verbal muscles. Stylish academic writing by helen sword stylish academic writing by helen sword is a book for those academics and students who would like to enhance their academic writing skills. Suitable for scholars frustrated with disciplinary conventions, and for specialists who want to write for a larger audience but are unsure where to begin, it presents practical pointers that show how to make articles and books a pleasure to read and to write. Sword why does so much academic writing lack passion and panache, a sense of humour, a sense of style. Stylish academic writing kindle edition by sword, helen. Stylish academic writing by helen sword is a book for those academics and students who would like to enhance their academic writing skills. Stylish academic writing by helen sword 9780674064485.
Sword is an education researcher whose work gains authority from a carefully. General books on academic writing provide general guidance. Her latest book is stylish academic writing harvard university press 2012. The second book in my list of volumes ive been reading which focus on academic writing is stylish academic writing by helen sword. Steven pinker harvard college professor and johnstone family professor, department of psychology, harvard university. In this essay, i look first at several ways in which academic writing may be regarded as, for example, obscure and turgid. In what should be a party, it is a dirge, not a eulogy. Faculty and student guidelines for using ithenticate. In the opening paragraph of darwins plots, a study of. Stylish academic writing saw changed the way i view academic writing. In the wall street journal, read helen sword s argument that stylish academic writing doesnt have to be an oxymoron. May 20, 20 helen sword associate professor of academic practice, the university of auckland, new zealand. Seven secrets of stylish academic writing the conversation.
Pdf helen sword 2012, stylish academic writing, harvard. Stylish academic writing ebook written by helen sword. Aug 29, 20 stylish academic writing has renewed my commitment to writing well. A paragraph from the same, printed above, came back to me as i read stylish academic writing saw, which quotes from numerous papers that are at least as unappetizing to the reader as my chosen example. Sword has produced a sleek and, yes, nicely written guide based on the principle that elegant ideas deserve elegant expression. Pdf chatting about stylish academic writing helen sword. In a world where everyone calls for more interdisciplinary research and cooperation, writing in a way that everyone not only those from the same discipline can understand is of immense importance. Rather, it is an enthusiastic appeal directed at individuals who think they need to follow certain rules in order to be productive academic writers.
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