Now that the semester is well underway, essays are coming due, and this piece of advice may help your writing get off to a good start.
Enough with the questions.
I know you may think this is a clever way to get readers interested in the topic at hand. And you might think closing your paper with a question will offer a simple way to keep your readers pondering your superawesome ideas after finishing. If this is you, I’m begging you to cease immediately. There are (a select few) times and places for rhetorical questions, but as a general rule, avoid them until you’re a professional writer, or at least much more experienced. The next time you get that tingle and you can hardly resist the temptation to ask your readers what they think or how they feel or why something is happening, remember this:
Do not let a question be the first or last sentence of your paper. And do not let a question anywhere near your thesis statement. You are the boss of your paper.
What you may not realize is that three things happen when you ask questions: 1) it gives readers a chance to give an answer you may not want to hear, 2) it sounds like you are speaking directly to one reader, when you should be speaking to all readers, and 3) it shifts responsibility for interpreting content onto them. They picked up your paper to hear from you, not be asked questions. They already know what they would say—they are them! And you can’t hear their answer anyway! Your job as the writer is to tell them what they should think. They are reading your work to get your opinion, to see your research, to learn from your perspective. Don’t give them a chance to think for themselves. You may be opening the door to them refuting/criticizing/disliking anything you’re saying before you’ve even had a chance to argue your side.
I heard a fiction writer once describe the act of telling a story. The author said the goal is to grab the reader by the throat and gradually keep squeezing all the way to the end. Now, that concept may sound extreme and may, indeed, be more applicable to fiction writing. But the purpose is the same. Get the reader’s interest by clearly stating your position, then build upon it throughout your essay, continuing to prove your argument by using effective rhetoric and valuable research. By the end, there should be no doubt that your argument is correct.
Get to the point. Use robust declarative sentences. And avoid asking questions. Your voice will be stronger on the page, and your argument will be more authoritative.
Don’t you think?
Enough with the questions.
I know you may think this is a clever way to get readers interested in the topic at hand. And you might think closing your paper with a question will offer a simple way to keep your readers pondering your superawesome ideas after finishing. If this is you, I’m begging you to cease immediately. There are (a select few) times and places for rhetorical questions, but as a general rule, avoid them until you’re a professional writer, or at least much more experienced. The next time you get that tingle and you can hardly resist the temptation to ask your readers what they think or how they feel or why something is happening, remember this:
Do not let a question be the first or last sentence of your paper. And do not let a question anywhere near your thesis statement. You are the boss of your paper.
What you may not realize is that three things happen when you ask questions: 1) it gives readers a chance to give an answer you may not want to hear, 2) it sounds like you are speaking directly to one reader, when you should be speaking to all readers, and 3) it shifts responsibility for interpreting content onto them. They picked up your paper to hear from you, not be asked questions. They already know what they would say—they are them! And you can’t hear their answer anyway! Your job as the writer is to tell them what they should think. They are reading your work to get your opinion, to see your research, to learn from your perspective. Don’t give them a chance to think for themselves. You may be opening the door to them refuting/criticizing/disliking anything you’re saying before you’ve even had a chance to argue your side.
I heard a fiction writer once describe the act of telling a story. The author said the goal is to grab the reader by the throat and gradually keep squeezing all the way to the end. Now, that concept may sound extreme and may, indeed, be more applicable to fiction writing. But the purpose is the same. Get the reader’s interest by clearly stating your position, then build upon it throughout your essay, continuing to prove your argument by using effective rhetoric and valuable research. By the end, there should be no doubt that your argument is correct.
Get to the point. Use robust declarative sentences. And avoid asking questions. Your voice will be stronger on the page, and your argument will be more authoritative.
Don’t you think?