Essay Writing
A really interesting editorial I came across in a professor's reader I'm working on. The article is a little old (from 2002) but I know things haven't changed much, if at all, since it was written. I distinctly remember this writing style as it was taught (drilled) into us in school and I, for one, never really liked it.
Taught to Remove All Thought
I understand the need to teach students to be able to critically come up with ideas and arguments, and I understand the need to teach people how to effectively organize their thoughts and ideas so we don't get a random, haphazard, jumble of thoughts and ideas tossed around or dumped in an inelegant heap (unlike one or two people I can think of...). But at the same time, the academic writing structure is so rigid and unyielding that I find at times that I regress into it and have to break myself of some old habits (the "do not repeat words" habit is one I find particularly hard to break, and I have to remind myself that it's okay to do so. Which is odd, because I also have a subconscious habit of repeating certain words or sometimes even whole phrases when I write, dunno why. It irks me to no end at times. Still, I try to keep some form of thesaurus handy because of the desire to not to repeat words. If that seems confusing to you, try being me!)
Still, while there is a big difference between creative writing and academic writing, maybe it wouldn't hurt to have the academic writing take a page or two out of the creative writing handbook.
Taught to Remove All Thought
I understand the need to teach students to be able to critically come up with ideas and arguments, and I understand the need to teach people how to effectively organize their thoughts and ideas so we don't get a random, haphazard, jumble of thoughts and ideas tossed around or dumped in an inelegant heap (unlike one or two people I can think of...). But at the same time, the academic writing structure is so rigid and unyielding that I find at times that I regress into it and have to break myself of some old habits (the "do not repeat words" habit is one I find particularly hard to break, and I have to remind myself that it's okay to do so. Which is odd, because I also have a subconscious habit of repeating certain words or sometimes even whole phrases when I write, dunno why. It irks me to no end at times. Still, I try to keep some form of thesaurus handy because of the desire to not to repeat words. If that seems confusing to you, try being me!)
Still, while there is a big difference between creative writing and academic writing, maybe it wouldn't hurt to have the academic writing take a page or two out of the creative writing handbook.