THE PURPOSE OF ACADEMIC WRITING IS TO TELL THE READER WHAT WE “SHOULD” DO

When we write academically, it is true that we intend to persuade our reader. However, successful persuasion is actually the result of telling the truth about what we have found, from a point of curiosity. Telling a reader that something is so, or telling the reader what to do or think, without telling the reader why, is just not very persuasive. As a reader, you probably recognize the fact that you would resent such a maneuver, and that you would be much more likely to become engaged if, upon reading what someone has written, you said to yourself: “That seems reasonable” and “I never thought about it that way, before.”

At that point, the job of the academic writer is done. As for compelling someone to action telling the reader what he or she (or all of us) should think or do, or should not think or do that is not our job. In writing, we trust readers to think or act according to their own judgment.

Old Rule: The purpose of academic writing is to tell the reader what we “should” do.

New Rule: The purpose of academic writing is to tell the reader what we have come to understand.