Here’s a nice piece in The Atlantic on a topic on the opaqueness of academic writing.  The author does a nice job of describing some of the problems emerging from academic cultures and how/why we are trained to write so opaquely (e.g., disciplines as gate keepers).  I’m sharing it here because this has come up before in our discussions of interdisciplinarity and the challenges of working across disciplines. Although this articles focuses more on communicating clearly with the public, this would obviously facilitate knowledge sharing and knowledge building for those collaborating (and reading) across disciplines.   

What is particularly interesting is the brief discussion of the “Plain Writing Act of 2010” (see http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-111publ274/pdf/PLAW-111publ274.pdf). There is also mention of NIH’s “RePORT website” and the need to use plain language (similar to what NSF dictates for their grant abstracts).  But the larger question to be asked is whether something like the “Plain Writing Act” should be pursued for academic writing more broadly, particularly in this era of increasing team science?

Best,

Steve

Stephen M. Fiore, Ph.D.

University of Central Florida

President, Interdisciplinary Network for Group Research (INGRoup)

INGRoup 11th Annual Conference (July 14-16, 2016 - Helsinki, Finland)

The Needless Complexity of Academic Writing

A new movement strives for simplicity

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/10/complex-academic-writing/412255/