Writing

Good writing is difficult.

There are techniques, conventions, and styles to make most writing a “fill in the blanks” exercise. Most writing today is of this form – business writing being the most egregious example. Jargon is a result of the urge to make writing “easier” and “faster.” Certainly, jargon has distinct advantages – within a discipline, it communicates a great deal of information in a short space, once properly established.

But formulaic templates and jargon-istic writing makes for neither interesting nor particularly insightful writing. The business world is littered with examples of specious memos made possible by an overuse of the word “synergy,” just to name one. Academic writing, particularly at the undergraduate level, is similarly butchered in the name on convenience; students pen papers the night before, relying on the quintessential 5-paragraph essay template and a “fill in the blanks” mentality to flesh out their work.

This obviates the need determine the best way to present the information in an essay or document. Instead of examining the content one begins with and figuring out the form which most clearly, concisely, and elegantly conveys one’s conclusions, one can simply grab a popular template and shove information into it – throwing out the findings that aren’t accommodated by the template.

This is nothing more than a lack of creativity; a willful abdication of the responsibility to clearly convey one’s point in the name of convenience and speed.

I am, of course, guilty of this.