Academic Writing as if Readers Matter

by Leonard Cassuto

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Academia

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2024

Reviews

[Alexander Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are a lot of things here that have been implied to me about my own writing's (bad) habits. However, nowhere have I been told them so clearly as this book. There are sections here that are clearly directed towards collective failures of academia to teach students how to be writers, and how those failures manifest into irritating academic cultures that we commonly experience. The notion that we should write as if we are talking to neighbors of our discipline as a way to say we should be expanding our readership rather than diminishing it to a disciplinary focus should seem obvious. Equally obvious is the idea that we should be using jargon sparingly but with clarity--despite efforts of our advisement telling us to avoid it without addendum when we know we must at times use jargon. This book provides excellent guidance as well as grounds for thinking through what should be done when the rules really need to be broken.

[Kayla]

Read for school.

[Bryce]

can’t believe i’m going back to fucking grad school

[Grace Poynter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book alongside my technical writing students this semester (I skimmed prior to the semester and was intrigued enough that I thought they also would benefit).

Though the book is clearly for academic writers, I found it quite useful in the technical writing field as well. My students really engaged well with the book, and as someone who personally hates reading academic writing (and is an English graduate student), I was happy to see the “norm” that we seem to have arrived at being pushed back against. The questions of gatekeeping and inclusion were particularly interesting to me, and overall just the idea that audience actually matters felt so groundbreaking. (Which probably tells us how far the academic field has gone from decent writing.)

Whenever I introduced the book to my students, I read the title and I said, “groundbreaking, right?” and a bunch of undergraduates nodded and chuckled and some verbally mumbled stuff about the terrible papers they’ve read. Cassuto was a breath of fresh air for me and my students, too.

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. Very motivating: had me thinking about newer, friendlier ways to start book reviews.

It also has some great approaches to "reverse outlining" as akin to reverse engineering.

[Cassuto blames most poor academic writing on professionally instilled fears of inferiority: akin to imposter syndrome? Young academics use jargon to camouflage assumed shortcomings, which cuts against solidarity with their readers. imho]

[Harrison Hsiang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the best book on academic writing I have encountered.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was definitely a solid read with concrete strategies for writing more intentionally toward an audience.

[FootstepsOnTheMoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best book on writing I ever read.