Writing for the Reader: A Problem-Solution Approach BY TOM MILLER AND DEE PARKER
نویسنده
چکیده
Much has been written about strategies for writing effective academic articles. For an excellent overview of issues to consider when publishing an academic article, we recommend Malcolm Benson’s article in the April 1994 Forum. Much less has been written about how a focus on the overall structure of the paper can help the reader and editor evaluate ideas and produce more readable articles. We wish to demonstrate that the format of the article and flow of ideas is not arbitrary but serves to help the reader identify what kind of information can be found where. Following certain discourse guidelines will not only make an article easier to read but will, in fact, raise the possibility that it will be published. To make these ideas more concrete, we will focus on the problem-solution organization, which is the most common overall structure in a Forum article. Before beginning the writing process, the author needs to ask a series of questions such as: What is the purpose of the article and what do potential readers already know about the topic? Answering these questions may help the author generate ideas for the article and discard elements which may not be useful (more questions are provided in Figure 2). After sufficient brainstorming, one might consider writing an introduction, which ultimately serves the writer as much as the reader by helping both stay on track. The introduction can be considered as a contract or promise which must be honored in the rest of the text.1
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تاریخ انتشار 2012