Sweating the Details

Popular self-help books tell us not to sweat the small stuff, but Helen Sword suggests that successful academic writers frequently ignore this advice. They sweat the details of their writing—thinking about elegance, concision, structure, voice, identity, clarity, accessibility, vocabulary, syntax, agency, audience, narrative, and “the big picture,” among others. This focus on the details reminds me of a #amwriting podcast episode I listened to recently. KJ Dell’Antonia and Jessica Lahey discussed when they knew a draft was finished enough to submit to an editor. Even if they were unsure about the ultimate direction of the piece and expected to make fairly significant revisions, the drafts they submitted were generally pretty polished.

One reason for this: in their experience, editors almost always dove right into line edits even if the authors were requesting more high-level, global feedback. I admit it—I am that editor. In one sense, it is an occupational hazard. Even when I am reading to get a general feel for a manuscript, if I encounter a sentence that trips me up, I can’t resist tinkering with it.

Another reason: As writers submitting pieces to newspapers and magazines, they sometimes found editors running those drafts almost immediately—with little, if any, opportunity to make changes to the manuscript before print. Most academic writers only wish they could be that lucky, watching their hard-wrought manuscripts make their way through the peer-review gauntlet. And yet, academic writers may want to be equally careful about the drafts they submit. First, a highly polished manuscript may be treated more favorably by reviewers. Second, like other industries, academic publishers are seeking ways to cut costs. They may do very limited copyediting on accepted manuscripts before sending them to production or ask authors to assume the cost of copyediting.

In this blog post, I offer some thoughts on how to write more clearly and concisely, reflecting on some of the more common changes I make as a copyeditor.

If you want to write clearly…

Define terms. As academics, we often write for an audience of specialists who generally speak the same disciplinary language. But if we want to broaden our audience, we should define terms and concepts that may be less well-known by people new to the field. Similarly, you will want to explain terms you introduce from other disciplines or employ in some way that deviates from the traditional usage.

Use terms consistently. While varying word choice makes writing more engaging, we need to be consistent in how we name and reference key concepts throughout a manuscript. Here, we want to attend to things like spelling, hyphenation, and usage. If you deviate from your pattern, explain why you have chosen to do so to your readers. An example I frequently encounter in my editing work is the representation of race/ethnicity in writing. Authors may choose to lowercase “white” when describing people of European ancestry while capitalizing other racial/ethnic designations. They may prefer “Black” to describe people with African ancestry but use “African American” when referencing work by other authors who chose a different approach. These are valid choices, and readers often appreciate understanding why you are making those choices.

Make sure antecedents are clear. I encounter a lot of assertions in manuscripts that begin something like this: “This suggests…” As a reader, I ask, “What does “this” refer to?” You can create greater clarity by using “this” as a modifier (e.g., This finding suggests…) if what this refers to is immediately antecedent to the sentence and can’t be confused with another finding. Better yet, restate the finding in a way that removes all doubt (e.g., The lack of teacher engagement suggests…).

Parse long, complex sentences to make them easier to read. I wrote a master’s thesis on Henry James. He was fond of sentences that went on for paragraphs (sometimes pages), and he had the skill to make them work. Most of us aren’t Henry James and, to be honest, probably fewer of us are fans of his writing. Even if your syntax is impeccable, readers may lose their way and your meaning in an overly long sentence. When you find a sentence stretching to 5 or 6 lines, consider how you might divide it into 2 or more shorter sentences.

If you want to write more concisely…

Avoid unnecessary repetition of words or phrases. If you have used the same word (or some form of that word) three times in the same sentence, consider whether the meaning still will be clear if you cut one instance. Alternately, find another word to replace at least one occurrence to add greater variety to your writing.

Remove prepositional phrases. Well, you can’t remove all prepositional phrases, but if you encounter a sentence with 2 or 3 in a row, consider how you might eliminate one or more of them.

Simplify verb forms. Why say “students are signaling” if “students signal” conveys the same message? In editing the draft of this blog, I found 4 instances of this construction. If I ran a find for the word “are,” I would probably find a few more occurrences that slipped by me.

Choose active voice. Active voice is a simpler verb form, meaning you can generally express your message in fewer words. Using active voice can also contribute to clarity by situating an actor as the subject of your sentence.

Taking time to attend to the details of writing is essential. However, it is equally important to know when to do so. Editing is best done when you have a reasonably well-developed draft. Some writers may find that focusing on these issues too early in the drafting process will stifle their ability to get words on the page. Others may feel overwhelmed by the prospect of taking this on at any stage. In those cases, hiring a professional copyeditor to sweat the details for you can be a wise investment.

Resources

Sword, H. (2017). Air & light & time & space. Harvard University Press.