Academic vs Encyclopedic Writing: what is your message?

6 October, 16:45-18:15.

What are you actually claiming, and how do you build a case for it? The slides cover thesis, argument and structure; finding and citing the sources that support them is next week.

The reason I’ve spent so long establishing [that writing helps you refine your thinking] is that it leads to another [point] that many people will find shocking. If writing down your ideas always makes them more precise and more complete, then no one who hasn’t written about a topic has fully formed ideas about it. And someone who never writes has no fully formed ideas about anything nontrivial.


Bring your topic and three references — see the sub-tasks. We work on your own questions in this class.

And something lighter

Tom Gauld cartoon: after months of editing, the finished novel consists of a single semicolon
Tom Gauld on the art of writing concisely — months of editing, and this is what is left.
Calvin and Hobbes strip: Calvin explains that the purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning, and inhibit clarity
Calvin and Hobbes, 11 February 1993 — Calvin has learned that the purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning, and inhibit clarity. Academia, here he comes.

What you have to hand in →