I attended his district tournament last weekend, and I was impressed to see him get a hit every time he was at bat. My nephew is an excellent baseball player. He lectured about books I had heard of but had never had time to read, and I left eager to find Siddhartha, The Little Red Pony, and Middlemarch. I stopped to feed a chipmunk the last bite of my bagel, and then I walked into Sturm Hall to meet my English professor. As I walked to my English 210 class next, I was thrilled to see the leaves in the quad beginning to turn brilliant oranges and yellows. In my Archaeology 242 class, my professor told us she was visiting from a Navajo reservation in New Mexico, and it was fascinating to hear her discussions of skin walkers, pinon nuts, and hogans. When I first walked into my Psychology 101 classroom, the professor opened with a discussion of the id, ego, and superego, and I was surprised to hear how many new ideas I could apply to my own understanding of the world around me. I enjoy school because I am always eager to discover new sources and learn about new ideas. Remember the simple math of topic sentence + evidence (+optional summary sentence) = paragraph. Read the paragraph aloud and consider (1) what elements are working well and (2) what elements need editing. The following paragraph contains sentences that interfere with its clarity and/or coherence. ![]() We are often trained by teachers to believe that more is better, but it rarely is. Ask yourself if the paper would be weakened or strengthened by the absence. When you edit, watch for the extraneous: words, punctuation, phrases, paragraphs, and ideas. As we will discuss in Chapter 20, revision is a critical stage of the writing process, and too often writers neglect to edit their work with a keen eye toward clarity and cohesion. When you revise, watch for over-explaining and over-editing both will obfuscate your meaning and alienate your readers. Instead of presenting what we have with authority, assured that the simple math will present our ideas with clarity and cohesion, we wonder about the countless other approaches we could have taken, muddling our initial ideas with insecure meanderings. A sister error to over-explaining, over-thinking happens when we are not confident that our ideas are sound or our evidence is adequate. The next time you find yourself irritated by the length of someone’s communication, ask yourself whether it’s an issue of over-explaining. Over-explaining is all-too-common – both on the internet and in the published world. If you read an author’s ideas once but still have questions, the best way to have those questions answered is to hear the evidence that is offered in support of the initial claim, rather than a continued restatement of the claim. But what happens when we over-explain is our readers get lost in a mire of second-guessing and doubt. Too often we state our purpose once, then restate it again for clarity, and then restate it a third way to be sure our readers have understood what we intended to say. ![]() When you sit down to revise, apply the simple math of the sentence, paragraph, and essay keep audience, purpose, and voice always at the forefront and continually ask yourself So what? When you first sit down to write, allow yourself to simply write. Few writers achieve clarity and cohesion in a first draft, which is why revision is such a key part of the writing process. At the essay level, the pattern is the same: Clarity is achieved by holding to the simplicity of the mathematical equations, and cohesion comes when the thesis statement serves as an overarching umbrella holding all key ideas and evidence together.Just as the thesis statement functions as an umbrella over the whole essay, consider the topic sentence as an umbrella over the individual paragraph. At the paragraph level, both clarity and cohesion are achieved when you follow the simple math of the paragraph: topic sentence + evidence = paragraph.When in doubt, hold to the simple math: subject + verb = sentence. Be sure, too, that your punctuation is correct and emphasizes the ideas that you want your audience to focus on. Instead of explaining yourself, select your words thoughtfully and precisely. Remember that too many words complicate matters. At the sentence level, the words you use must be precise – and precisely appropriate for the audience you have chosen.I’m always looking for skills to help me enhance my authentic writing voice.” Nick Martineau, Senior Pastor ![]() “Whether it is sermons, blog writing, or corresponding through emails, simple and concise writing is a crucial part of how I communicate. 19 Clarity is achieved by holding to the simplicity of the mathematical equations, and cohesion comes when the thesis statement serves as an overarching umbrella holding all key ideas and evidence together.
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