My editing advice column, Ask Dr. Editor, is now available through UniversityAffairs.ca. This Ask Dr. Editor column describes the political significance of the non-specific pronouns “he,” “she,” and “they”: “The politics of pronouns: The singular “they” and your power to choose as an academic writer.” Have a question you want me to answer? Contact me!
Category Archives: Plain and Simple Language
#AskDrEditor: Being understood outside your discipline
My editing advice column, Ask Dr. Editor, is now available through UniversityAffairs.ca. The ninth Ask Dr. Editor column provides concrete steps to help you ensure that readers outside your discipline will understand your key words & concepts: “Being understood outside your discipline: how to immerse yourself in the linguistic world in which your readers live,Continue reading “#AskDrEditor: Being understood outside your discipline”
#AskDrEditor: Borrowing fresh eyes for your academic writing
My editing advice column, Ask Dr. Editor, is now available through UniversityAffairs.ca. The seventh Ask Dr. Editor column describes how to use three of my favourite free online algorithms to support your editing processes: “Borrowing Fresh Eyes for Your Academic Writing.” Have a question you want me to answer? Contact me!
#AskDrEditor: Your Reader is a Little Bit Drunk
My editing advice column, Ask Dr. Editor, is now available through UniversityAffairs.ca. The second Ask Dr. Editor question comes from a faculty member who isn’t sure how to advise her trainees as they write their job application materials. Have a question you want me to answer? Contact me!
#AskDrEditor: Getting “is” right
My editing advice column, Ask Dr. Editor, is now available through UniversityAffairs.ca. The first Ask Dr. Editor question comes from a researcher who can’t figure out how to conjugate a verb in a tricky sentence in the lay summary of her grant application. New articles will be posted monthly. Have a question you want meContinue reading “#AskDrEditor: Getting “is” right”
Words to watch for: zombie nouns
“The proliferation of nominalizations in a discursive formation may be an indication of a tendency toward pomposity and abstraction.” In her New York Times essay, the academic and writer Helen Sword terms “nominalizations” — that is, nouns that contains within them shorter verbs, adjectives, or other nouns — “zombie nouns” because they “cannibalize active verbs,Continue reading “Words to watch for: zombie nouns”
Bring clarity by objectifying your language
The mental movie of a mouse cowering the corner of a cage that has another mouse in it gets chunked into ‘social avoidance.’ You can’t blame the neuroscientist for thinking this way. She’s seen the movie thousands of times; she doesn’t need to hit the PLAY button in her visual memory and watch the crittersContinue reading “Bring clarity by objectifying your language”
Cut “is”
This is a writing problem that is easy to correct. (10 words) This writing problem is easy to correct. (7 words) When editing your draft, search for the word “is.” In the two sentences above, searching for “is” and rephrasing the sentence enabled the writer to cut 30% of the original word count without losingContinue reading “Cut “is””