Academic Writing as if Readers Matter

Leonard Cassuto is professor of English at Fordham University. He writes a regular column, “The Graduate Adviser,” for the Chronicle of Higher Education, and his many books include The New PhD: How to Build a Better Graduate Education.

• IntroductionThe Primal Scene of Academic WritingOn Rules (and Rule-Breaking)What about AI?How to Read This Book1 The Care and Feeding of the Academic ReaderRelationship Advice: The Clasp of the HandOn Extended MetaphorsWriting as a Journey for TwoWhy the Academic Reader Is a Different Animal Than the General ReaderReading for UseThe Feeding of the Academic ReaderWriting for UseSignposting, Quoting, and Other Important Do’s and Don’tsObstacles2 Everything Is a StoryThe Argument Is a StoryDon’t Write It from Beginning to EndLet’s Start with the Title …The Architecture of ArgumentsAddress CounterargumentHow to Structure a ComparisonThe Geometry of ArgumentTaking Care of the Reader in Mid-ArgumentTalk About What You’re Not Talking AboutThe Literature ReviewCreate Conclusions, Not ConcussionsParagraphsA Paragraph Is a StoryBeware of Upside-Down ParagraphsDon’t Bury Your Topic SentencesDon’t End a Paragraph with a Block QuotationThe Geometry of ParagraphsIn Praise of Short ParagraphsTransitions between ParagraphsSentencesDon’t Be Afraid to Write Simple SentencesVary Your Sentence StructureOn RecursionGet RhythmCitationsWhen and How to CiteWhat Should You Cite?Footnotes or Endnotes?The Basics of Visual StorytellingDon’t Do Anything Too CutePresent the Full Picture FirstBe HonestBe Careful of the DetailsHow to Test whether You’re Doing Everything Right3 Jargon and JudgmentMost Difficulty Is Not UsefulWriting, TeachingJargon and IncivilityIn Search of Good and Civil Jargon (Yes, It Is Out There)The Unpleasures of the “Text”The Abstract and the ConcreteNew Pictures Tell Stories. Old Ones Don’t.Judgment CallsSome Common Mistakes and What They Show Us4 Why We Must: Because We’re All in This TogetherUseful Difficulty RevisitedFearful Writing and the Search for the Goldilocks SolutionThe Incredible Shrinking AudiencePolitics and Academic LanguageThe General Public? How about the Field Next Door?A Story to CloseAppendix: How to Use Artificial IntelligenceAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

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