Ken, Writing in a mind-numbingly dull and dry style is every bit as much a rhetorical strategy as writing in an interesting one. Writing well doesn't prevent one from reasoning well too. Only those who have trouble distinguishing between the two would object to one doing both. Since none of us here have that problem, perhaps we should all strive to do both. :-)
Best, Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 [email protected] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ ========================== Ken Steele wrote: > Lilienfeld, Scott O wrote: >> Hi All ..out of town right now but will send along some info over the >> weekend or early next week at the latest, In the meantime, I'd like to >> voice a concern. I find the tone of some of your postings, Mike, to be >> needlessly snarky and obnoxious. What gives? Is there any reason why >> you can't merely disagree with others without finding some gratuitous >> way of putting them down? >> >> Apologies to listserv members for being grumpy about this, but the >> older I get the more I tire of less than respectful discourse...Scott >> Sent from my iPhone >> > > Of course, I can not speak for Mike P but I will leap in with a > comment at this point. > > We all know the formula for writing an empirical research report. > They can be pretty dusty and most of us try to sneak in at least one > interesting turn of phrase. When we are freed of those strictures and > are writing commentaries (or blogs or ms. reviews or other such > pieces) then the temptation is to go for the literary. > > I was once asked to write a commentary and I passed on a preliminary > version to a mentor. His single written comment was "you have > committed the sin of being literary." I was stunned after all my work > on catchy phrases but after some thought realized that he was > correct. I had been reaching for felicitous phrases to impress my > audience when I should have been concentrating on the logic of my > argument. > > The issue with TIPS is that we don't have crusty editors to chop away > adjectives, adverbs, and other sparklies which sound good to my ears > but may sound extreme to others. > > Ken > > PS - "felicitous phrases" ... "sparklies" (too literary; it's a > disease, my friends) ... "my friends" (someone get a red pen, for the > love of Ford) ... "love of Ford" (please update your literary > references to the current century and then cross them out) ... > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------- > Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D. [email protected] > Professor > Department of Psychology http://www.psych.appstate.edu > Appalachian State University > Boone, NC 28608 > USA > --------------------------------------------------------------- > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13132.a868d710aa4ef67a68807ce4fe8bd0da&n=T&l=tips&o=3607 > > > or send a blank email to > leave-3607-13132.a868d710aa4ef67a68807ce4fe8bd...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=3608 or send a blank email to leave-3608-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
