EFS 698C - STANFORD UNIVERSITY

Writing and Presenting Research

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EFS 698C: Week 5 Notes
 

I. Overview of the writing process handout: raising consciousness and increasing efficiency

II. Introduction to formal academic writing: some key concepts from EFS 698B.

    Review of Williams, Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace

    Which of the items are most important to you?

• Style and correctness; following conventions, not "rules"

• Clarity: verbal over nominal style

              main character as subject

              control of passives

• Cohesion: flow of one idea to the next; given/new structure

• Coherence: logical development of the text, sequence of topics

• Emphasis: important information last

• Concision: eliminate unnecessary elements

• Controlling long sentences--dealing with interruptions; modifiers

OTHER AREAS FROM 698B

• Genres: structure of academic papers; conventions of your individual fields

• Abstracts: see today's examples for a discussion of form and function of an abstract

• Introductions

• Dissertation writing

• Conclusions

Anything else? Let me know!

III. Presentation Examples

• Useful website: http://ecorner.stanford.edu (also www.ted.com)

• Let's look at the following clips and see what you notice in terms of presentation style and interaction
         –Arthur Benjamin

–William Sahlman

–Guy Kawasaki

–Carol Bartz

–Catherine Mohr; Catherine Mohr2

–Daniel Pink

–Tina Seelig

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Homework: 

1) Skim through the Williams book passed out in class and think about the information in II above--what parts are most important to you? You can also add others.

2) Review the clips in III in more detail, then find an example of a speaker online (www.ted.com; http://ecorner.stanford.edu; other) who has one or more characteristics you would like to incorporate into your own speaking. Come prepared next week to present and discuss your example, explaining the element(s) you find worthy of emulating (send me the URL of the clip in advance). Give a 1-2 minute presentation of your choice in which you demonstrate one or two techniques or stylistic points picked up from that speaker. Phil's example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLkC7ralR30.

3) Meeting this week is optional--let me know if you want to get together and what you would like to cover.