Checklist for Artistic Scholarly Writing
Audrey Thompson
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Abandoning the transparent appeal to disembodied
reason in favor of an appeal to embodied responsiveness, artistic writing
invites readers into a conversation. In contrast to transparent writing,
which assumes that careful, clear appeals to logic and evidence will persuade
any reader who is both rational and committed to truth, artistic writing
assumes that readers may miss what is distinctively at issue in
certain contexts if they rely on universalistic argumentation and analysis.
Working through vivid, particularistic description and discussion, artistic
writing offers an invitation into a particular way of seeing the world.
In Melissa Moreno’s words, artistic writing encourages readers to linger
in the kind of moment that transparent writing often passes over or dismisses.
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In contrast to transparent writing, which aspires
to a common language or lingua franca that transcends any specific context,
artistic writing reflects a local, cultural, and often personal engagement
with the issues it addresses. As in the case of transparent writing, this
may or may not include an explicitly political focus.
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Artistic writing attempts to craft a certain complexity
of meaning that cannot be fully explicated or analyzed, because its quality
is in part a matter of form, rhythm, juxtaposition, engagement, and response
— the experience of the journey. Like a rich conversation that cannot
be distilled into main points without losing some of its distinctive richness
of insight and engagement, the well-crafted artistic essay is more than
the sum of its parts.
Organization and Structure
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Artistic scholarly writing does not approach meaning-making
in point-driven terms. Whereas in transparent writing the main ideas can
effectively be summarized as principles or thesis statements, in artistic
writing the meaning resides in how readers respond to ideas. Meaning is
not literal but experiential. Reading transparent scholarly writing involves
apprehending or absorbing ideas; the writer’s task is to convey ideas as
compactly, efficiently, and effectively as possible. By contrast, reading
artistic scholarship involves a journey; the writer’s task is to engage
the reader in the work of revisiting ideas. As a result, a paper written
in the artistic tradition will not necessarily begin with a clear, bold
statement as to what it is “about.” Instead, like a biography or novel,
it will try to set the tone and to show what is at stake. The opening
paragraphs should invite the reader into a discussion that promises to
be interesting and rewarding. The first thing to ask of an artistic paper,
therefore, is: what is the nature of the promise offered in the first few
pages?
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Although artistic writing is not point-driven, it
may well have a thesis statement. Providing a thesis statement helps keep
your purpose in front of you and also may help transparent readers understand
what to expect (which is not the same as their understanding what is expected
of
them). Indeed, an artistic writer may want to make several concessions
to the transparent tradition; it is quite common to have hybrid artistic-transparent
essays. Look for a thesis statement, a statement of purpose, or a statement
of what is at stake — a statement as to why the essay was written.
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Not only will most artistic writing have a foil
but the foil is likely to be far more vivid and dramatic than is the case
in most transparent essays. (Exceptions in artistic writing may include
essays that provide an analysis as opposed to an argument.) In transparent
writing, a great deal of authority is given to the self-evidence of the
writer’s arguments and data; as a result, the foil need not play a large
role in the argument. (It may play a large role — as when writers
engage in a point-by-point refutation of another position — but it doesn’t
have to. The transparent author may choose simply to focus on the superiority
of her or his own position.) In artistic writing, however, the emphasis
is not on self-evidence but on appreciating a point of view that tends
to be undervalued — a perspective that, under the terms of prevailing
commonsense views, does not have self-evident value. (It need not
be a suppressed or renegade point of view; for example, it might involve
a defense of the humanities, taking as its foil the assumption that education
must serve the interests of nationalism. This is not an exotic or countercultural
stance, but it does offer a challenge to one dimension of mainstream thought.)
Because the author is usually challenging some form of “self-evidence,”
she or he is likely to play up the drama of contrast in order to demonstrate
what is at stake. In your own writing, make sure that the foil is as definite
and distinctive as possible. It should not represent a vague threat; it
should be powerful and present. The reader is supposed to come to share
the author’s concern.
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The structure of artistic essays may be web-like
rather than linear, creating nodes or points of resonance; it might be
conversational or narrative; it might suggest a mosaic, a painting, or
a piece of music; it might have a call-and-response or other traditional
oral pattern; often, it will invite the reader on a journey. Since the
form of the piece is integral to its and your construction of meaning,
determining which metaphor best captures the structure of a particular
artistic essay can help you see how you are expected to read it.
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Some artistic writing is open-ended, some more didactic.
If a particular lesson is being imparted, ask yourself how well suited
the artistic style is to that lesson. If the argument or analysis is somewhat
open-ended, ask yourself how the artistic approach informs and shapes your
response to the argument or analysis.
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Artistic writing is cohesive rather than fragmentary.
Unlike transgressive writing, which deliberately interrupts and problematizes
coherence, artistic writing has a definite shape. Readers should have a
sense of how things hang together and why the author has put things in
one place rather than another. Although the “logic” of artistic writing
may be a matter of shape or rhythm or progress on a journey rather than
rational argumentation, there is still an organizing principle at stake.
In your own writing, be prepared to reorganize sections if they don’t make
sense and to eliminate sections that detract from or confuse the coherence
of the piece. This doesn’t mean that your writing cannot be complex; the
organization does not have to reduce to a single theme. It might specifically
intertwine two themes, play variations on a theme, or juxtapose two or
three voices. But the reader should understand why both or all of these
parts in the essay; they should form an organic whole.
Development
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Artistic scholarship relies on a certain richness
and vividness to bring readers into the readerly experience. This doesn’t
mean that artistic writing conforms to any particular type; it might be
clipped and Hemingwayish, brisk and Austenish, austere, florid, intimate,
wry, or sultry, for example. The point is only that you cannot expect sweeping
claims or glancing summaries about what you mean to stand in for specific
details that will bring your meaning home to a reader. The job of artistic
writing is to wake readers up to specific considerations that may be overlooked
in more universalizing approaches. This means that you need to develop
your insights to the point where they register vividly with readers.
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If a writer spends a lot of time developing a point,
assume that it is important. Even if you can’t see that it matters, it
must, or the author would not make it focal. Think about what connections
that section bears to other sections of the paper. Ask yourself why the
author includes particular details, especially if they do not seem all
that significant to you. It may be that you need to read them in a different
light or in a more sympathetic vein. Of course, it may simply be that the
author has not bothered to edit his work or has been self-indulgent, but
you can’t necessarily tell that on a first reading. It may not be until
your second or third reading that you can decide whether a particular passage
is irrelevant to the text.
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In your own artistic writing, be careful not to
assume that your writing is immediately and unproblematically accessible
to all readers. Since the whole point is that artistic writing is not transparent,
you may need to help teach readers how to work with you. Not every reader
will know how to read and respond to what you are saying. Give them as
much help as you can. You might, for example, provide signposts showing
where you are going; revisit points to further explore their complexity;
use metaphors to shape meaning; fill out points that might be ambiguous
to some readers; give readers hints about how to follow the structure of
your essay; and either explain or spend extra time on material that is
culturally specific. You also may want to use certain transparent tools
(including definitions, thesis statements, summary statements) to help
readers crystallize what they have been reading. Finally, you may need
to change, sharpen, or further shape your tone. If you inadvertently sound
authoritative or sarcastic or uncertain when you don’t mean to, you need
to rework those moments. If you sound as if you might be ironic
but then again you might not, you will want to clarify your tone so that
readers know how to read what you’re saying.
Voice
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The distinctiveness of the authorial voice varies
in both artistic and transparent writing. In artistic writing, however,
there is always a voice, whereas in transparent writing it is common
for the author to adopt a seemingly neutral, impersonal, and uninvested
tone. Even when the transparent writer’s tone is passionate, the points
being made are separable from the voice. Take out the sarcasm or sympathy
— the points are still the same. In artistic writing, by contrast, the
authorial voice is part of the meaning being made. Readers must want to
engage with that way of seeing the world before they can accompany
the writer on his journey. Although the author’s voice might sound calm,
trustworthy, and reasonable, it will not sound impersonal. It need not
sound intensely personal, let alone confessional, but it will sound like
someone’s
voice.
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For the transparent writer, language is almost mathematical:
it is meant to be as precise and objective as possible, and as universally
accessible. The transparent writer searches for the exact word that matches
the meaning she intends — the word that will convey her meaning without
ambiguity, confusion, or vagueness. For artistic writers, precision is
also important, but it is a qualitative rather than mathematical precision.
The artistic writer looks for language that will resonate powerfully with
readers. She is concerned less to capture than to evoke meaning. Her writing
thus has more of the quality of conversation than of explication: it is
less about telling than about showing, less about pinning down meaning
than about inviting what Maxine Greene calls “wide-awakeness” to what is
at stake in particular situations. For the artistic writer, language is
a tool to help work towards understanding what matters; she thus does not
search for language that matches her interpretation but gropes for language
that will help her shape meaning. As in transparent writing, clarity
is important, but it is a different kind of clarity. The reader is to be
pulled into a distinctive way of seeing things, and unless that readerly
experience is sharp and vivid, it will not be effective.
Style and Aesthetics
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Artistic writing depends to a large extent on the
reader’s pleasure in the text. Because the reader has to stay with the
author through the conversation or journey, has to respond to the text,
and has to do work to make meaning of his experience, he should be able
to take pleasure in the experience. Just as listening to a story or a joke
or a piece of music should be engaging in an immediate way, not something
we do because it is good for us or because we expect to “get something
out of it” in the end, reading artistic scholarship should be an aesthetic
experience. In your own work, ask yourself what detracts from or enhances
this experience.
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The style of the artistic writer is organic to the
kinds of meaning she can make. It is not an added flourish or a “signature”
but the register in which meaning is made. For this reason, it is important
not to strike the wrong note. If your overall tone is modest and understated,
a melodramatic quote or metaphor is going to sound jarring. If, on the
other hand, your style is flamboyant, exuberant, and over-the-top, a mild
and self-effacing moment is going to sound false.
Editing Exercises for Artistic Scholarly Papers
(Your Own or Others’)
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See if you can cut at least one unnecessary word
from each paragraph.
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Circle words or phrases that are repeated in close
proximity. This does not include words like “the” and “and.” The words
and phrases to worry about are the ones that readers will notice if used
twice in succession. This does include words like “however” and
“moreover” used in the same paragraph.
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Identify one word or phrase on each page that could
be replaced with something more vivid, more precise, or more economical.
Sometimes seven words can be boiled down to one word that jumps off the
page; in some contexts, a word like “become” or “develop” will be too vague
and will need to be replaced with something more exact.
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Not every word should be vivid, however. Circle
any words that have the effect of exclamation marks and that detract from
the smoothness of the writing.
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Ask yourself what the shape or structure of the
essay is and how the reader is cued as to that structure. Does this need
to be clarified or accentuated?
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See if a sentence in the middle of the paragraph
should be moved up to the head of the paragraph. Consider whether a story
or example or claim should be brought forward in the paper.
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Artistic writers write in a distinctive tone or
register. Identify passages that seem to slip in and out of the author’s
voice or that are at variance with the dominant mood.
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Identify any clichés, tired metaphors, or
overly obvious phrases.
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Mark sentences that might benefit from shortening
or from a different structure. Writers need to vary their rhythms so that
not every sentence starts with “As so-and-so says,” or “The subject followed
by the verb.” By moving a clause up front, writers can interrupt the rat-tat-tat
effect of using too many short, declarative sentences in a row. Too many
complex-compound sentences in a row also have a numbing effect. They should
be broken up with short, simple sentences.
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Identify what is at stake in the paper. Is there
a statement of purpose or thesis statement? How does the author use narrative
or other artistic devices to create an awareness of what is at stake? Does
this effect need to be bolstered or heightened?
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What is the foil? Is the foil vivid, even dramatic?
Or is it vague and generic?
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Is the authorial voice consistent? How does it work?
How, for example, does the author’s voice engender trust? Does anything
in the voice or the text interfere with the reader’s trust of the author?
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How does the author invite readers in? Can this
invitation be enhanced? Does anything interfere with it? For example, does
the autobiographical voice become too self-indulgent at points? Does the
humor become too arch or fall flat? Does the description of a place or
person lose its connection to the essay and become description for its
own sake?
Copyright © 2001 Audrey Thompson
All Rights Reserved