Alina Vamanu, blog post #8

I had a wonderful time reading Goedde's "Lorraine's Story" this week. In college I was an English major (and an Italian minor) and I have always loved reading fiction, so I found this article particularly interesting and refreshing.

I would argue that many of the suggestions Lorraine's tutor makes are perfectly applicable to academic papers as well, not just to creative essays. Of course, the two genres differ in many ways, but I believe that academic writers would derive great benefits from an enhanced awareness of the ways in which creative writers use language to bring a scene to life. For instance, academic papers often run the risk of sounding too abstract. Dry, jargon-filled paragraphs leave few traces in readers' memories. In contrast, the tutor in the article urges Lorraine to start her paper by telling a story in vivid, concrete language. Of course, this strategy will not work for all academic papers (although it works beautifully for many!), but academic writers still have a great deal to learn from this suggestion: using concrete, easy-to-grasp vocabulary makes academic writing more compelling. I always find myself encouraging students to move beyond jargon and articulate their thoughts in words they understand. To wrap up this brief reflection, I would argue that abstract, jargon-filled language is not just difficult to read and assimilate (although it is!). It also prevents understanding. Indeed, it may be a symptom of a lack of adequate understanding of the topic under discussion. And that often comes to light when one attempts to explain one's argument in simple, concrete terms.

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