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Here’s why academics should write for the public

theconversation.com · 1,152 words · saved by 1 readers

Jonathan Wai does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. The Conversation UK receives funding from these organisations View the full list There’s been much discussion about the needless complexity of academic writing. In a widely read article in The Chronicle of Higher Education last year, Steven Pinker, professor of psychology at Harvard and author of several acclaimed books including The Sense of Style, analyzed why academic writing is “turgid, soggy, wooden, bloated, clumsy, obscure, unpleasant to read, and impossible to understand.” More recently, Jeff Camhi, professor emeritus of biology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, discovered how much academic authors struggle when trying to write for a lay audience. He suggested writing programs should “develop a night course in creative nonfiction writing, specifically fo

Should professors engage with the lay public? Illinois Springfield , CC BY-NC-ND https://theconversation.com/heres-why-academics-should-write-for-the-public-50874 https://theconversation.com/heres-why-academics-should-write-for-the-public-50874 Link copied Share article Share article Copy link Email Bluesky Facebook WhatsApp Messenger LinkedIn X (Twitter) Print article There’s been much discussion about the needless complexity of academic writing. In a widely read article in The Chronicle of Higher Education last year, Steven Pinker , professor of psychology at Harvard and author of several ac

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