I’m lucky to have lengthy conversations with podcast guests about a variety of topics. Off air, with guest Dr. Betsey King, I was able to pick her brain about people looking for guidance with academic writing. She gave me several tips and I was so frustrated that I hadn’t recorded them, that I made sure to write them down for a blog post.

  1. Practice writing concisely. No joke, we talked about practicing by using Twitter. You only get so many characters and have to make that message clear.
  2. Continue to learn new vocabulary.  Oftentimes, one strong word can convey the message that two sentences can.
  3. Get ahold of of Strunk and White’s book “The Elements of Style” which is available for download here as well. 
  4. Proofread, Proofread, Proofread. Even though it’s not fun, it sucks, it’s frustrating, it’s necessary. (I’m so guilty of this one in particular!!)
  5. This last one came from Dr. King and I blending a bunch of funny ideas, but basically, Marie Kondo your writing! Take each sentence by itself and ask “Does this spark joy?”, “Does this communicate what I want?”, “Is this my highest quality?”. If you answer no to any of these things, highlight it and come back to it later.

Do you have any tips for clinical and/or academic writing? Shoot me a message and let me know!

Kate

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