Why am I reading this? OR

Why am I writing this? Four strategies for addressing the apparently purposeless paper

Pat Thomson

A problem with purposeThe reader (who might be you or someone else) says:

• I’m already two pages in and I’m not clear why I’m reading this paper. What is the writer trying to do?

• There seem to be several papers here and not just one – what is the writer trying to say?

• The paper says its about one thing, but the rest of it seems to be about something else.

• I don’t see why this is important. Why should I read on?

The writer, you, says

• I can’t get anywhere with this writing

• I keep writing the same thing• I’ve been writing for some time and

its going nowhere• I’m going round in circles• This is a mess• I feel like giving up

Photo credit: Kay Kim, Flickr Commons

Where am I going? What can I do to

get out of this place?

Strategy a: clarify purposeThe writer needs to sort out what they want to do in the paper:

Is it to: • show• explore • evaluate • extend • reflect• prove• demonstrate• test out an idea• offer a new approach to thinking about…

Now write a crisp sentence beginning: The purpose of this paper is to…

Strategy b - revisit the original ideaPut the text to one side and write bullet points and/or sentences to the following prompts – you might do this as a timed writing exercise.

• What I want to write about• Why this. Why this is important and to whom• What is already known about the topic• What this paper adds –what is surprising, what is shocking, what is

contrary to the existing literatures, what is amusing, what causes you to think etc…

Strategy c – ask a questionThe topic I am writing about is x – I want to ask…. for example

• What should be done about the x problem?• What does x mean to me/the field/ a particular group?• What’s the relationship between x and y?• What is important about x?• How might we think about x differently? • What more might be said about x?• Is x true? • Is x right/wrong?• What are the implications of x for y?

Take a few minutes to brainstorm the question you might ask - and then decide on the one that is right for you

Strategy d – identify the relationshipAcademic papers often try to do one of two things:• compare and contrast – identify the commonalities and differences

between two things – this might be different views, the differences between policy and practice, the differences between ways of theorising or interpreting, the differences between different methods…• cause and effect, or if not that, at least a deep and meaningful

relationship – thinking about the ways in which X and Y might be connected, by what or whom, when and how.

If either of these are the case in the paper, then write a sentence or two which starts – This paper sets out to ( compare and contrast, establish the relationship between ) …. This is important because....

These four are worth a try… better than giving up altogether

Adapted from Ballenger, Bruce ( 2007) The curious writer. Boston Pearson.Ballenger writes for undergraduate students, but he is my first point of call for revision strategies beyond the ones I already know. His focus is on the essay assignment, however I have adapted and added to his strategies so that they address the production of an argument in a scholarly paper or thesis.