LEADERSHIP LAB: The Craft of Writing Effectively

My takeaways: 1. This course is not about writing rules 3:04 2. Stop thinking about rules and start thinking about readers 3:55 3. The problems that domain experts have in their writing 4:00 4. Domain experts use writing to help themselves with thinking 4:51, if they don't do it this way, they can't think to the level they need 5. The challenge: the way that experts do their writing (to help with their thinking) is different to the way that readers can understand 6:53 6. The consequences 8:10 - 1. readers need to slow down and re-read many times 2. readers can't understand or misunderstand 3. readers give up 7. Readers read things that are valuable to them 11:52 8. Writings need to be clear, organized, persuasive and VALUABLE 13:45 9. Valuable to the readers of a research area (not everybody in the world) 15:20 10. An example of comparing two writings 17:16 11. Writing is not about communicating your ideas, it is about changing readers' ideas 21:24 12. Nothing will be accepted as knowledge or understanding until it has been challenged by people who have the competence to challenge 23:24, this determines the readers of our writing 13. A piece of writing is important, not because it is new and original; It is because it has value to some readers 25:16 14. What does the world of knowledge look like 28:00 15. Every research communities have their own code to communicate VALUE 31:30 16. Why does it take 5-6 years to get a PhD? 34:30 50% of the time is used to know the readers in the field 17. Using these words to show that you are aware of the research communities: widely, accepted, and reported 35:24 18. Flow/transition words can help to make writing preservative and organized: and, but, because, unless, nonetheless, however, although, etc. 36:00 19. Do things under the code of the communities 42:00 20. Another example 44:25 21. The function of a piece of writing is to move a research area forward, not to be preserved for 500 years 46:54 22. Writing is not about to express what is in our head, it is about changing other people's thoughts 48:50 23. The instability words that create tension/challenge: anomaly, inconsistent, but, however, although 54:00 24. Bad writing style: backgroud+thesis 55:07 and a better style: problem+solution 56:18 25. Learn the language code from the target publications 1:01:30 26. Literature review is used to enrich the problem 1:02:50 27. Problem vs background 1:06:47 28. Gap in the knowledge is dangerous 1:08:45 29. Identify the right readers (research communities) is important, but it could be difficult for interdisciplinary research 1:11:57

Amazing how I went from listening to the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song to watching a one hour lecture about effective writing

As a PhD student I have never watched a video more valuable than this one. God Bless Larry Mcernerney. This man is saving careers and lives.

"You think writing is conveying your ideas to your readers, it's not..... It's changing their ideas." This is brilliant! Thanks so much! This should be required viewing for PhD Students!

“You’re not here to do original work, you’re here to do valuable work.” mic drop

Beyond the schools, there is no other one who was paid to care about you and your writing. They don't "have to" read. They just read because it's valuable for them. What a precious statement for us to think, before any time we write.

I'm a new English teacher in high school. I teach reading, writing, and speaking. I appreciate this lecture. I feel like I owe you money for enjoying this lecture for free.

Notice how the lecture is constructed like how he believes writing should be: Tells us immediately there's something wrong with how we've been taught, identifies the problem, know the reader (academics) and the problem they face in their field; why they should care. Great stuff.

“The only reason my stuff was ever read is because someone had to because they were getting paid to.” That is quite an eye-opening statement.

"Writing is not about communicating your ideas, it is about changing readers' ideas", you can also do this by entering their dreams at a deep level, i saw it in a movie!

23:51 This hit hard. I now understand to some extent why academic writing is so terse. The goal of academic writing isn't to make the world understand your work, rather the goal is to contribute your findings to the body of accepted knowledge in your field. For your work to be accepted as a worthwhile contribution, it has to be challenged, tested, and trusted by the academic community. And the academic community consists of experts who read and think in terms of expert vocabulary and niche registers. If your writing does not contain the right terms, they might not even believe you have the level of knowledge required to write a paper on that topic. This might lead to a lack of recognition or outright rejection.

I took some notes * *Step 1:* use your writing to help you think. * *Step 2:* * you think writing is communicating your ideas to your readers. It is **not**! Nobody cares what ideas you have. * use your writing to *change* your readers ideas. Change the way they see the **world**. * This goes for your expert readers too. They don’t care too. * If it doesn’t *change* their world view, it’s not valuable. * If it’s not valuable, the rest is *useless* * Order of importance 1. Valuable 2. Persuasive 3. Organized 4. Clear * Value lies *only* in the readers, not in the thing. * The patterns you use for step 1 and 2 are different. * Try this: * *circle* every word in your writing that is creating value to the readers. * guess what? soon you will have your own list of *invaluable words* to check your own writing against. * The horrible **irony**: the language we use is of stability and consistency. But your readers are searching for language of instability, inconsistency, and tension. * Use language to show your readers there’s a cost on them or if the instability is solved, there’s a benefit to them. * Use transition word to create *tension, instability* to challenge their ideas i.e. bad: hey readers, I’ve read your stuff and wow..., i know what you think *and here’s* what i think... i.e. good: hey readers, I’ve read your stuff and wow, i know what you think *but there’s* little thing you’ve got here, it’s wrong... good tension words: inconsistent, but, however, although * You can’t be persuasive if you don’t understand your readers *doubt**. If you don’t know what they doubt, how are you going to change their world view? You must know **them* to predicate what they might say. * Every community has it’s own code. You must know what each one values. * Identify the people with power in your community. Give them what they want (i.e. build them up) *but* challenge them inside the terms of their code. It’s *not* about your individual voice, it’s about what’s valuable to your readers. * Structure * Layout in your first paragraph * *who* your writing too, * what you’re going to *argue* * what *question* you have you will answer * what’s *urgent* (i.e. people value reading about tension, trouble, bad stuff — instability) * Problem: what’s a *problem* your readers care about and they want to fix (not your problem). * Solution: * *Never* explain stuff. Don’t demonstrate to someone you understand it. Don’t reveal the inside of your head. No one cares! * Your goal is to move the conversation *forward**. Not to preserve your ideas indefinitely. Nobody will ready your work in a year. It’s **not* about you, it’s about them.

This guy needs a Patreon account. I feel like I owe him money. There's a shocking amount of useful information in this lecture.

The cameraman is the real hero of this lecture

The main drift: 42:20: Identify people with power in your community and give them what they want. 47:40: The function of your writing is to move the conversation of that community forward. 53:30: Introduce instability into the conversation by using words like anomaly, inconsistent, but, however' in your writing 56:20: Identify a problem of your community (a specific set of readers) and move to a solution. 1:01: Show that the instability imposes a cost on them or conversely, if the instability is solved, offers a benefit to them. Identify any coded language of benefit and cost in your community and use it. 1:06: Think about the world in your process of writing, but you then need to alter the process and rewrite for your reader. 1:06: The more you can alter the process for your reader, the less painful the writing process will be and the more successful you will be. 28:53: The bottom line (in my words) is that your contribution to an ever growing body of knowledge (diagonal graph) will only dissipate in time, but being part of the osmosis of the mainly pale, male, stale community might lead to personal success: stability vs instability model.

The thing I like about Prof. McLenerney is that he points to real facts rather than ideal ones which are mostly seen in the books, or usual writing courses.

"You must know the codes of the communities that you are working in." Powerful.

Key ideas: 1. This video is about academic writing. 2. It's not about the content, it's all about the readers. Always think about your readers while writing. 3. See two models for knowledge at 28:00 4. The value of information lies in the value of the decisions they inform. Not all knowledge is valuable, in fact, most is useless. 5. Students grow up in a system that pays people to read their work, teachers don't care about you influencing their thoughts, they care about what's inside of your head so they can grade you. This sets students up for failure. In a professional environment, people don't care what's inside your head, they only care about how your thinking can influence theirs. People care about writing that challenges and changes their thinking. 6. Create tension while writing. Your goal is to challenge some idea the reader cares about. 7. Farmers have wheat, miners have coal, academics have their writing. Your writing is (likely) not something that will be read throughout future generations, just focus on impact in the here and now, focus on your readers and their thoughts.

Effective writing is an art. Good academic writing has the ability to change the world. It is the moral of this brainstorming session

I am an Advocate (barrister, lawyer) and I am deeply grateful for this valuable on-line class. I have never come across anything like this class, and I shall be applying it from this day forward. Even court papers can surely be more interesting lol.