It’s the Audience, Stupid!
Writing for Reader Expectations
Research and Writing Bootcamp, Social Sciences and Humanities
Dr. Heather Blain VorhiesFall 2013
Tollbooth Syndrome
“But when our readers are people in the working world, people who need to be informed or convinced or persuaded of the rightness of our perceptions, we need to send them persuasive instructions for how to put all this information together.” (George Gopen 155)
Writing for an American Audience
Reader Expectations
Argument and information will be organized in a
hierarchy Each paragraph will treat one controlling idea The main subject and main verb will be towards
the front of the sentence (when possible) The writer will present his or her argument
immediately The Army Way of Writing: Tell me what
you’re going to tell me, tell me, and then tell me what you told me
Reader Expectations
Glossing is often called reverse outlining. Use it for reading and for critiquing your
writing and others’. Annotate a reading paragraph by paragraph,
looking for: What is the purpose of this paragraph in the
text? (What does the paragraph do for the article?)
What is the main idea of this paragraph?
Glossing
Think of 5 questions your reader will need
answered in order to understand your research. Write these 5 questions.
Answer these questions (1-2 sentences).
An Exercise (Donald Murray)
Graduate-Level Writing
Transitioning from Student to Scholar
As graduate writers and scholars, your job is
not to report. Rather, your job is to convince fellow scholars
that your approach is viable and reasonable. Your writing will instruct your reader how to
interpret the information. What sentences in the introduction of our
sample do more than “inform”?
Graduate-Level Writing Does Not
Report
Engaging in “Scholarly
Conversation”Scholars build upon each other’s work
What is the problem? Why is this a
problem for the field and discipline?
What is the history of the problem?
Where should we go in the future?
Sample text
Template Sentences
Template sentences help establish the relationship between ideas
These are sentence patterns that recur over and over again in academic writing
“There is a growing concern that X may have an impact on X.” (Popper)
“Studies of X have indicated ______. It is not clear, however, that this conclusion applies to ______.” (Graff and Birkenstein)
Why does your work matter? Write a
paragraph (3-4 sentences) that explains the importance of your most current research interest. Why does this research matter to your
discipline? Why does this research matter to other
disciplines? Why does this research matter outside of the
university?
An Exercise
A Few Good Resources
Campus Resources
Writing Fellows: one-on-one writing consultations for graduate students www.gradwritingfellows.umd.edu
Hvorhies.wordpress.com
Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Cente
r Website University of North Carolina Writing Center We
bsite Helen Sword’s The Writer’s Diet
Web Resources
Print Resources
The Sense of Structure: Writing From the Reader’s Perspective (George D. Gopen)
Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace (Joseph Williams and Joseph Bizup)
Understanding Style: Practical Ways to Improve Your Writing (Joe Glaser)
Rewriting: How to Do Things with Texts (Joseph Harris)