I’ve always thought I had stumbled my way into a lovely niche job: being an academic editor to professors in the field of Information Systems in universities scattered around the world. They send me their fascinating, leading-edge, research papers and I do my best to make them more readable. One woman, happily doing her little thing, on her own time, on the edge of the map. Only recently did I realize that perhaps I’m not alone, it’s not so insignificant a task, time is ticking, and my work may be more central to learning, knowledge, and academia at large than I thought.

While in Cambridge Massachusetts this fall, absorbing the hallowed atmospheres of its various famed academic institutions, I attended an interesting event at the Harvard Book Store, an independent enterprise. In one section, the store staff had rolled aside several packed shelves to create a space — both physical and mental — for Leonard Cassuto to talk.

Cassuto is a professor of English at Fordham University in NYC. He has written several books and articles on how to improve the American higher education system, including his latest, Academic Writing as if Readers Matter. He wrote the book for two reasons: “academic writing has a bad public reputation” and indeed, “reading most academic writing is work” — “both in the literal and the figurative sense.”

Cute title, but it raises hard questions

On the one hand, Cassuto’s book title is cute. But on the other, it is unsettling and gives rise to several fundamental questions. Why have readers not mattered in academia? Should readers matter? And what’s the purpose of academic writing anyways?

But firstly, who are the readers? In general, the readers have consisted of students and other academics. 

Why have readers not mattered in academia? The primary reason is that the audience is captive. Undergrads are assigned required readings by their lecturers, are often tested on it afterwards, and so have to read it. Graduate students have to read many papers in order to build their foundational knowledge and develop their own thesis. Faculty need to continue reading to research and write their own papers. They also read to keep up with advances and evolving concepts in their subject. In summary, in order to participate successfully in the system, students and faculty have to read academic writing.

Should readers matter? Of course. Academic writing is after all meant to be read and understood by as many people as possible: not just students and academics, but by interested members of the general public as well. Increased accessibility to academic writing can serve vital functions: improve learning, prompt more and higher quality research, facilitate engagement, and increase support. 

What is the purpose of academic writing? As the old couplet asks, is it to dazzle them with brilliance or baffle them with bullshit? I’d say neither. I’d say “strive for clarity” — and if brilliance is there, it will shine through. The purpose of academic writing should be to share knowledge such that others can easily understand it, learn from it, and use it — either by building on it, or by arguing against it and presenting an alternative. So then, readers must matter.

Cassuto asks us to think of the reading of an academic piece of writing as a carriage journey with a driver (the writer) and a passenger (the reader), where the job of the driver is to make the journey predictable, smooth, interesting but reassuring, and positively memorable — and most importantly to ensure that the passenger stays in the carriage until the end of the journey. 

Some of the earliest research papers I edited were written by Izak Benbasat, a renowned scholar in the field of Information Systems and now Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia. He set the context upfront, stated the research question and explained its significance, defined key terms, described the methodology, discussed the findings and their relevance, and indicated avenues for future related research. He wrote in a way that was clear and easy to understand. He spoiled me. I thought all research papers were written with such clarity; not!

Academic writing in the time of Trump

Now that US President-Elect Donald Trump (a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania) has been given a mandate to implement his proposed plan of “dismantling” the Department of Education, the need to make academic writing more accessible is all the more urgent. There has been talk of reduced funding for certain topics, less support for DEI measures, more book bans, and a prohibition on student protests. There may even be objection to certain courses being taught or intervention in the content of some courses. Vice President-Elect JD Vance (a graduate of Ohio State University and Yale) has said, “If any of us want to do the things that we want to do for our country, we have to honestly and aggressively attack the universities.”

Author Edward St. Aubyn said, “We are entering the Dark Ages, my friend, but this time there will be lots of neon, and screen savers, and street lighting.” 

Academics can no longer afford to live in ivory towers. The solution is not to change what and how they think, but to clearly explain their reasoning. It’s not to change their focus, research questions, and hypotheses, but to clearly explain them. And most importantly, to explain how their research matters to the general public. They must be able to communicate understandably and convincingly — firstly with those within their community of academics and students, but secondly and equally importantly, with the general public. 

Forging the connection

By communicating in an easily readable and useful manner to others within academia, academics can accomplish several things: facilitate learning in students; spark interest and draw them deeper into an area of study; encourage interaction and collaboration — both intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary — among scholars; and advance the development of ideas as well as practical implications. To do so, one thing academics need to do is write in a clear manner — as per the many tips given by Cassuto.

By communicating in an understandable and interesting way to the general public, academics can generate a broader audience, love of knowledge, value of academia, and support for their institutions. Academic writing — or at least a summary of it — must be accessible to the general public. One way to do is to have a “General Abstract.” Most papers already begin with an abstract which is an academic summary of the paper. But sometimes such abstracts are best understood only by area experts. A general abstract could speak to the layperson, using simpler language and less jargon, but clearly explaining the research, its association to the field at large, and its relevance to society. 

There are also several other ways academics can engage the public. Academics can publish their thinking in mainstream newspapers, magazines, and popular online platforms. They can offer public lectures on aspects of their expertise that may be of particular interest to a general audience or related to current affairs. They could discuss their research on weekly podcasts directed at general audiences. 

Once the general public understands academia — what it is striving to do, the context, its process of reasoning, its findings and their relevance to our world — several things may happen. They may become more interested in what it is saying and doing. They may become more engaged with academia, and networks can form between academia and the public. They may develop deeper critical thinking and contextualization. They may better distinguish between fact and fiction. They may come to see the value of academia. But the onus is on academics to help the public understand their work. Cassuto says it well: “A writer who does a good job forges a connection with the reader, and sympathetic understanding flows back and forth.”

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.