I’m always looking for ways to improve my writing (and as my reader, you might think I’ve got a long ways to go)! To begin my thesis work, I’ve been doing some reading in a form and style book entitled A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 7th edition first written by Kate L. Turabian (of the famed “Turabian” bibliographic form). [1] This latest edition of Turabian (as it’s known) includes a section on writing style.
My reading this morning included several helpful thoughts on crafting meaningful sentences. Here are a few of the suggestions (from pp. 109–117):
1. Avoid introducing more than a few sentences with long phrases and clauses; get to the subject of your sentence quickly. I must admit, I am often err here. I tend to “cram” as much information into a sentence as possible by introducing sentences with lengthy relative or temporal clauses.
2. Make subjects short and concrete. The subject “an age-old imaginative story involving magical elements and make-believe creatures” is a bit harder to swallow than “a fairy-tale.”
3. Avoid interrupting the subject and verb with more than a word or two. The authors exemplify this (p. 112) by citing a poor example of a sentence: “Some economists, because they write in a style that is impersonal and objective, do not communicate with lay people easily.” Simply move the clause beginning with “because” to the beginning (or preferably the end) of the sentence.
4. Put information familiar to readers at the beginning of a sentence, new information at the end. Don’t begin sentences with new ideas because the flow of thought tends to get lost with the introduction of new material seemingly “out of the blue.”
5. Choose active or passive verbs to reflect these previous principles. We’ve all been told to avoid passive verbs, but the authors suggest passive verbs occasionally work better if they help you avoid pitfalls like no. 4 above.
So much to remember already!
[1] Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 7th ed., ed. Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007).
