Hone Your Writing, Part 1

Maria Lahman is the Mentor in Residence for November, Academic Writing Month (AcWrMo.) She is a professor at The University of Northern Colorado in the Department of Applied Statistics and Research Methods, where she teaches qualitative research methods. A version of this blog entry was originally published in Lahman, M. K. E. (2022), Writing and Representing Qualitative Research, SAGE Publications. She is also the author of the relevant text, Ethics in Social Science Research: Becoming Culturally Responsive. Use the code MSPACEQ423 for a 20% discount through December 2023.

I challenge the assumption that academic science writing, in general, is quality writing and suggest that it is instead more properly understood as a dominant form in higher education. A reason this form continues to dominate is that in the high-pressure world of academia we do not have the time to hone our craft. Peer review—while vital for many reasons—means that an essential part of the review process is about the research content and not the representation quality. Peer review also means that amateur editors are part of the process. This is why style guides are leaned on heavily and manuscript templates detailing exactly how qualitative research representations should proceed exist. Busy academics are able to rely on these rules as measures of quality, instead of understanding that they are simplistic, reductionist guides. This is why I include a section on honing the craft of writing in a book that is already full of information. I also choose to draw on the advice of nonfiction writing experts since they dwell in the world of writing every day and not just when it is time to prepare research for publication.

What does the word “hone” mean?

Combining various definitions, to hone is the act of using a whetstone to sharpen or smooth a tool such as a knife. It has also come to mean, metaphorically, the refining of a skill to make it more acute. Honing the craft of writing for writers such as myself can be an effort to strengthen our writing or for skilled writers a way to polish the final draft into a glossy sheen. Honing is an ongoing process of becoming a skilled writer through multiple writing representations over a career. Toward this end, I review ideas for honing the craft of writing in the sections that follow.

Weak Words

Mark Twain said, “Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very.”
Your editor will delete it, and the writing will be just as it should be. I conducted a review of words writers should edit out of their writing and compiled the following list. I find “very” a provoking, weak word that adds little. I overuse “that” to such an extent that I run a find function and check for the word “that” to consider if each instance of “that” could be dropped.

To read more about words to eliminate from writing, see Joe Bunting’s (n.d.) article Cut These 7 Words

Killer Be’s

The killer be’s: am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been, has, have, had, had been, shall, will, should, may, might, can, could, to be, and so on. When possible, substitute killer be’s with active verbs. Watch for verbs ending in “ing” since killer be’s often hover before them: he was walking, she is jumping, they are crying.

Rewrite the sentence “Bob is the manager of a fast-food restaurant” as “Bob manages a fast-food restaurant”—creating a descriptive, concise sentence. Combine short sentences by removing the killer be verb. The sentences “My dad went to school at UVA” and “He is now a professor at EMU” are rewritten as “My dad, a professor at EMU, graduated from UVA.”

Active Verbs

I recall admonishments from writing teachers to show and not tell both in my writing and in my research notes. A simple example, “Bob is bad,” rather than “Bob stepped on the puppy’s tail and laughed,” makes immediate sense to writers. When it comes to showing, “verbs are the most important part of all your tools. They push the sentence forward and give it momentum” (Zinsser, 2006, p. 68). Describe qualitative research in a vivid but not overdone manner, with active verbs that highlight important aspects of the writing.

Passive Voice

Avoiding the use of passive voice is related to using active verbs. In passive writing, “a research participant was sad,” “was bad,” “was reluctant,” whereas in active writing “a research participant cried,” “deflected,” “avoided,” “beamed.” Finding the linking “being” verbs in your writing, the “killer be’s,” helps you identify the use of passive voice. Note that the proceeding examples of passive voice all used the linking being verb “was.” If you write in Word, there is a readability check available that I recommend turning on. It will report on the “grade level” you are writing at as well as your use of passive voice. Avoiding passive voice will add strength and clarity to your writing.

References

Zinsser, W. (2006). On writing well: The classic guide to writing nonfiction (7th ed.). HarperCollins.

Resources

See the blog post by Jerry Jenkins (n.d.), “294 Strong Verbs That Will Spice up Your Writing,” for a list of powerful active verbs. Strong Verbs

Read more on this topic in How to Swat the Killer Bes Out of Your Writing by Nancy Owens Barnes (2009).

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