Writing Tips

I have taught academic writing at three universities in the UK and China (York, Nanjing and Xiamen). The ten tips on this page represent some of the advice I give to students and colleagues.

Top 10 Tips

1. Read and write every day

There is no shortcut to competence. Someone who reads and writes every day will soon be light-years ahead of someone who does not.

2. Start with an adequate conception

If your original idea is no good, then your book or article will be no good, regardless of how much you labour at it. You should start with a compelling idea or a great question – a feasible project that you are confident you can take on. Often, the more specific the better. If you plan to write a book about every aspect of the Roman Empire, be prepared never to finish it. That is not to say that scholars should avoid grand themes altogether, only that most would be better off with a narrowly delimited research project.

3. Have something to say

If you have something to say, the words will follow as naturally as breathing. Academic writing becomes sloppy because the writer doesn't have a handle on what they are talking about. Define your purpose and research questions at an early stage. Identify a clear theme or line of argument.

4. Understand conventions, but ignore dogma

We need some rules and conventions for the sake of clear and predictable communication. Following conventions is a matter of professionalism. Nevertheless, there is no need to apply language rules in a dogmatic or pedantic way. For example, many authorities insist on using a comma prior to a conjunction introducing an independent clause: 'Helen stormed out, and Simon downed another shot of tequila.' In reality, however, the comma is sometimes omitted, depending on the needs of the sentence. Humans are the masters of language, not the other way around.

5. Be wary of structural models

How many times have you heard teachers extol the PEE format (Point → Evidence → Explain), or variants thereof? But read academic books with your eyes open, and you will see that few professionals follow this format. And that’s because it doesn’t work, or at least, it only works for trivial and simplistic topics. It is an attempt to turn a useful principle (the need to prove and explain your points) into a rigid formula.

True, academic books and articles tend to follow standard forms, and you should familiarize yourself with these. Nevertheless, don't become a slave to structural models. They only serve a purpose if a writer is hopelessly disorganized and requires some external force to keep disciplined. If you have a good sense of structure, use the natural method. Your book or article will come into shape as you write. The result will be superior.

6. Keep it clear

Don't overcomplicate things, explain things clearly, prefer the concrete to the abstract. Being clear is not the same as being plain. You have probably heard this advice: Don't use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word will do. It's not always true. The English language is the richest in the world because it offers so many ways of expressing nuance. Some occasions call for a plain word, others for a fabulous word. Perhaps I will feel like writing the Latinate occlude rather than the Anglo-Saxon hide. Why not? Perhaps the sentence you are writing calls for a certain weightiness, and the fifty-cent word will just not cut it.

There are many reasons why a writer may fail to write clearly, e.g.:

• They don’t really have anything to say

• They are trying to hide a lack of understanding

• They are unskilful or lazy writers

• They are trying to show off or impress the reader

• They don’t understand the importance of writing clearly

• They don’t believe it is necessary to write clearly

• They have picked up bad habits

• They reject notions of clarity and rationality (e.g., postmodernist writers).

7. Understand the principles of good reasoning

You should learn the basic principles of logic and reasoning. You need to know why this argument is sound:

If it rains, the ground is wet. It is raining. Therefore, the ground is wet.

And why this one is unsound:

If it rains, the ground is wet. The ground is wet. Therefore, it is raining.

However, there is not always time to analyse every statement on the propositional level. It's better to develop a practical instinct for logical reasoning.

8. Remember the reader

Most of the sins of bad writing derive from forgetting that the reader exists. Be nice to your readers. Explain things to them patiently, but without insulting their intelligence.

9. Edit your work

The best writing is crafted over a period of time, sometimes many years. This is the great advantage enjoyed by writing over speech.

10. Strive for soundness

A scholar should strive to be sound, i.e., to have good judgement and accuracy. If a book or an article is sound, it is not necessarily perfect, but it is not going to fall apart at the slightest touch. A structurally sound building is not necessarily free from flaws. Some people can make a reputation by being unsound but ingenious – this isn't recommended!

Further reading

• Leonard Cassuto, Academic Writing as if Readers Matter (2024).

• George Orwell, 'Politics and the English Language' (1946).

• Richard L. Purtill, Logical Thinking (1972).

• Strunk and White, The Elements of Style (first published 1959). Valuable despite its overly prescriptive attitudes.

‘Simplicity, then, paradoxically is the outward sign and symbol of depth of thought. It seems to me simplicity is about the most difficult thing to achieve in scholarship and writing . . . This is proved by the general fact that the lectures of a young college assistant instructor, freshly graduated with high honours, are generally abstruse and involved, and true simplicity of thought and ease of expression are to be found only in the words of the older. When a young professor does not talk in pedantic language, he is then positively brilliant, and much may be expected of him’ (Lin Yutang, 1920)