Learned professionals are those who write well, communicate well and have a firm grasp of the expectations of the discipline they represent. Dr. Jenefer Husman, an Associate Professor in ASU’s School of Social & Family Dynamics emphasizes the need to “read a lot and write a lot”, incorporate the help of peers, and seek out esteemed scholarly works and use them as a guide to develop the “Scholarly Voice.” [11:53]

Two scholars, Dr. Kay Norton and Dr. Sandra Stauffer, from the ASU School of Music come together to offer advice about writing from a performer’s perspective. Similar to the preparation for a musical performance, Norton and Stauffer suggest that students apply the same principles to writing. These principles include breaking down a large project into smaller components and perfecting the individual pieces and then assembling the piece in its entirety to create a polished final product. [17:15]

Beyond grammar, the logic and flow can make or break a piece of writing. Dr. Chris Buneo and Dr. Vincent Pizziconi, from the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, explain that a piece of writing must be cohesive and guide the reader through the argument and not just individual pieces. As science writers, they discuss how the use of the charts, graphs, and other figures can be used to, in a sense, tell a story of the data in a way that your audience is able to understand what your intend. [11:34]

The nature of a writing project, whether it is for a class or for publication or for a thesis/dissertation, impacts the expectations faculty have of that writing. Dr. Subramanian Rajan and Dr. Edward Kavazanjian, from the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, discuss how they approach different types of writing and what they expect of writing that is for a class, for publication, or for the thesis/dissertation and the nature of the feedback they give for each type. They also talk about the importance of organization, creating an outline, and amount of effort required to accomplish quality writing. [9:39]

For students in interdisciplinary fields, it is important to be able to write so that the work can be understood by the entire audience, including those who are not in your specific discipline. In this podcast, Dr. Douglas Fridsma and Dr. Graciela Gonzalez, from the Department of Biomedical Informatics, discuss some of the challenges faced by graduate students in fields that are relatively young and not well known to the broader academic community. They also talk about the writing process being a slow one, in which each piece builds upon the previous and where revisions often seem endless, and strategies for not getting bogged down. [20:42]

Drs. Susan Gray and Anna Holian of the Department of History and Dr. Tracy Fessenden of Religious Studies share their thoughts with Dr. Jeanne Simpson of the Writing Center about using narrative as a rhetorical strategy, the importance of precision and economy of language, and engaging the literature of one’s field with humility and thoughtfulness. [29:04]

Drs. Susan Gray, Anna Holian and Tracy Fessenden discuss with Dr. Jeanne Simpson the importance of self-knowledge and discipline in the writing process. [6:20]

Drs. Susan Gray, Anna Holian and Tracy Fessenden share their thoughts with Dr. Jeanne Simpson on different approaches to asking for feedback on drafts, and the pros and cons of each. [13:43]

Dr. Jeanne Simpson of the ASU Writing Center leads a discussion on good writing with Drs. Cassia Spohn, Nancy Rodriguez, and Scott Decker from the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. These scholars highlight the importance of focus and clarity, understanding the audience, and identifying and explaining the “So What” of a piece of writing. [28:15]

Dr. Jeanne Simpson, of the ASU Writing Center, discusses the structure of good writing and the benefits and importance of simplicity in writing with Dr. Winslow Burleson from Computer Science and Engineering. They also discuss the process of collaborating with other scholars and the idea of using a model or template in organizing the structure of a piece of writing. [27:20]

Drs. Ben Minteer, Jamey Wetmore, Merlyna Lim, and Clark Miller (from Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology) talk with Dr. Jeanne Simpson (ASU Writing Center) about how style can make or break a piece of writing and about the tenuous relationship between clarity and complexity. They also discuss the challenge of engaging the reader and paying attention to the way one’s writing comes across to a particular audience. [42:19]