Objective Research Writing:

Be Like Switzerland

By Randee Baty at The Lukeion Project

    What is Switzerland known for besides its fabulous chocolate, beautiful mountains, and high-quality knives? It is neutrality, of course! You, as an academic writer, should strive for that same quality. Strong academic writing is neutral and objective. In a world where feelings sometime seem to prevail over reason and truth seems like a moving target, scholarship should be a world where evidence, neutrality, and objectivity rule. Contrary to what many students may think, professors do not care how you feel about anything, at least as far as academic writing is concerned. They care what you can validate objectively with evidence.

Objectivity is crucial in academic writing because it ensures academic honesty. The reader should be able to trust that what a researcher is saying is based on evidence and findings, not on the author’s opinion. A quick way for me to tell whether the paper I am reading is based on evidence and not on opinion or feeling is to watch for words such as “unfortunately,” “sadly,” or “regrettably.”

“Unfortunately, a flight to Mars cannot happen in this decade” tells me that the author has formed an emotional attachment to her subject. The author is not just reporting evidence, but also editorializing on it. “Happily,” “fortunately,” and “luckily” are just as bad. Rather than analyzing and interpreting the data she finds, she is offering her opinion about it. Leave anything out of your academic research writing that spell out your feelings on the subject. Analyze and draw conclusions about your evidence and your topic so that the reader can clearly see what your interpretation of the data rather than your feelings about the data. You may conclude that colonizing Mars is doable and worthwhile. In formal academic writing, the reader should not know whether you love the idea of becoming a Martian. He should only know your conclusion based on data. Once you spell out how you feel about your topic, all research going forward will be—and should be—suspect in the eyes of the reader.

Not only do words such as “sadly” or “luckily” show your feelings about the subject, but they also take the writing from a formal tone to an informal tone. This alone is enough to cause the reader to question the seriousness of your work. Solid research is harder to produce than opinions. A piece filed with personal emotions about a topic may seem more like a blog or op-ed and give the impression that that the paper is poor effort. Communicating evidence well is challenging work. If you say, “As shown in the Journal of Mars Exploration, the cost of colonizing Mars may be less than NASA originally thought,” you will get a better response from your professor than if you say, “We should jump on the chance to go to Mars because it won’t cost that much.” The first sounds like someone did their research. The second sounds like someone wants to be Captain Kirk.

Another way that a research author can show subjectivity rather than objectivity is to promote only resources that agree with the opinion you already have. This is confirmation bias. As a researcher / writer, be willing to follow evidence wherever it takes you. Do not assume you already know the outcome or stick to your conclusion when evidence takes you elsewhere. You may be sure that you know whether it is possible for humans to colonize Mars, but if you don’t keep an open mind to following the evidence in your sources, you end up only reading the sources that agree with you and miss important evidence that might show your initial thoughts are in error.

One of my most satisfying moments as a teacher was when a student told me, “I thought I knew exactly what the research was going to show me, but after reading several sources, I’ve completely changed my mind on this topic.” Be sure you are following the evidence and not cherry-picking it to suit a pre-conceived idea. Look for counterarguments to your point of view. Weigh their merits. Be honest, neutral, and objective about the evidence.

Speaking of those sources, be scrupulous in finding the most trustworthy, objective sites you can find. Using trustworthy sources assures your reader that your conclusions are not based on assumptions or unsupported opinions. Do not use a source if it does not have verifiable credentials. Take the time to find out who the author is and why you should trust her. Most websites will not meet the criteria needed for scholarly research and writing. Use academic publications, such as those found on JSTOR or in a research library, to ensure that your readers have reason to trust your conclusions are based in fact and not in opinion. Do not consult and cite sites such as Wikipedia, The History Channel, and personal blogs when you are trying to remain neutral and objective.

Switzerland is certainly the most beautiful country I’ve visited outside of the United States (plus the paragliding is fabulous!) Keep it in mind as you do academic writing and research. Reward yourself with a great piece of chocolate once that paper is handed in!

Prepare to be More

The Importance of Being Articulate

By Amy Barr at The Lukeion Project

Parents, educators, and students themselves want the keys to success to get ahead in collegiate academics and—more importantly—future financial opportunity and abundance. That’s a tall order and one that is becoming increasingly difficult and more expensive. Pressure to set oneself out in front of the crowd is hard enough as an adult. This burden is often too much when placed on the shoulders of our already stressed young people. Is there a better way?

Students were once advised to add an AP class or two to their high school schedule to distinguish one’s transcript and college application. Now our most ambitious kids are taking three, four, or even five AP classes PER year of high school at the risk of utter burn out. Though such a classes offer the carrot of possible college credits and weighted grades (an A grade factors as a 5 instead of a 4 to boost one’s high school GPA), most colleges have stopped accepting weighted grades. Now that many applicants come to the table with dozens of "free" credit hours earned, many colleges have continued to raise the score required for a student to get college credit from an AP class. Very competitive schools now accept only a score of 5 to grant college credit for a student’s AP course. Universities don't enjoy losing loads of cash over all those AP credits so they've made it harder on students. 

Students are encouraged to prepare for the SAT but drive themselves to exhaustion trying to place in the top percentile. The exam was originally intended to assess students' readiness for college in terms of literacy, numeracy and writing skills. It provided an even measure of that student, whether she completed her work in a one-room schoolhouse or a massive mega-high school. As I understand it, the essay portion of the SAT was discontinued after the 2021 exam. "Literacy" is gauged by how well students can comprehend short stories and pick the best multiple choice answer. Over 1,400 four-year colleges have discontinued the requirement for a standardized test like the SAT or the ACT for a variety of reasons.

Students can set themselves apart by writing an excellent college application essay. Once-upon-a-time, these essays offered proof that an applicant could articulate his or her academic potential, aspirations, and college readiness. Now many colleges require a 250-word essay or—if one is lucky—a 500-word essay (about the amount I’ve written already in this blog) in which a student must distinguish herself above all others by answering prompts like “what’s the hardest part about being a teenager,” or “tell us about your worst anxiety.”

Meanwhile, some students forego important life skills and experiences in the mad dash to impress an admissions counselor. Many skip attending summer camps, learning a new instrument, getting involved in community theater, or getting in touch with nature through gardening or animal care. I won't even mention that many get through high school without finishing a whole book, learning how to cook, changing a tire, balancing a check book, learning something creative like painting or metal working, or sitting on a porch to chat for an hour with a grandparent (no phone). 

WHAT IF students (with the support of parents, and educators) started preparing instead for competency and excellence in life and, as a lovely side-effect, also enjoyed a multitude of benefits from wielding that competency? College education, trade school, medical school, wilderness training, or a wide variety of other appealing life options could suddenly be on the table along with overall improved life-satisfaction. Sounds great! What’s the plan?

WHAT IF we spent our best, brightest, and most youthful energy on simply becoming more articulate?

Howard Gardner includes Linguistic Intelligence in his multiple intelligence theory, a comprehensive non-exclusionary view of human learning potential that accounts for far more than one’s ability to deduce the correct answer under pressure on a multi-choice college readiness exam. Linguistic Intelligence is the quality that allows people to understand language (spoken, written), as well as to communicate with others effectively, fluently, and competently. High linguistic intelligence has been linked to improved problem solving, as well as to increased abstract reasoning so there's plenty of room in STEM fields for this factor.

Having a high Linguistic Intelligence offers a clear advantage in business, politics, sales / marketing, law, medicine, and entertainment as well as communications of all kinds. Naturally, this is the super power you need if you want any profession in the humanities (literature, linguistics, journalism, economics, psychology, history, political science, philosophy, and sociology). Being well-spoken and well-written will open doors for a lifetime. Once you walk through the doors of your choice, you’ll feel comfortable being there because you literally speak the language.

How Can One Build One’s Linguistic IQ?

• Associate with those who have a high Linguistic IQ
• Read excellent pieces of literature written by those with high Linguistic IQ (do not limit yourself to recordings of books - grow comfortable with real books)
• View movies and interviews of others with high Linguistic IQ
• When you don’t understand a word used, look it up and add it to your daily list of new words to master.
  
• Keep challenging the linguistic difficulty level of things you read and view
• Challenge yourself to write more and more proficiently and then expertly. 
• Challenge yourself to write more daily. Add journaling or writing a blog (even if nobody reads it)
  
• Develop the mental discipline of taking notes when listening to lectures, classes, interviews
• Put yourself in courses (or take on personal challenges) that place demands on you to continually improve your writing proficiency, speed, and ease.

• Challenge yourself to grow your own personal linguistic database
• Master and maintain excellence in English grammar, a subject that has been dumbed down or removed entirely from many formal education programs
• Intentionally learn new English vocabulary (give yourself a daily 10 new words)
  
• Learn foundational languages like Latin or Classical Greek
• Travel as much as possible
  

Laistrygonians, Cyclops, and Angry Poseidon

Welcome Adventurers! 

By Dr. Susan Fisher at The Lukeion Project

You may not be boarding a physical ship for ports unknown, but the beginning of a new school year is its own odyssey.

Plans are made, provisions are gathered, and expectations are set, by both you and your crew of parents, teachers, coaches, and even admissions departments for some. In this sea of new syllabi, schedules, and deadlines it can become all too easy to see your year as a set of boxes to check off or a race to the finish line. It is important to meet your deadlines - this will make your journey way more pleasant and productive – but your upcoming year is about so much more than crossing t’s and dotting i’s. This school year is about the journey as much as the destination.

One who understood this concept better than many was the late 19th – early 20th century Greek poet, Constantine Kavafys. Drawing on his Classical heritage, Kavafys wrote his now-famous poem, Ithaka, about the importance of the journey. More specifically, the importance of mindset for the journey.

Ithaka  

-- By Constantine Kavafys (Translated from Greek by Edmund Keeley)

As you set out for Ithaka

hope your road is a long one,

full of adventure, full of discovery.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,

angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:

you’ll never find things like that on your way

as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,

as long as a rare excitement

stirs your spirit and your body.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,

wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them

unless you bring them along inside your soul,

unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

 

Hope your road is a long one.

May there be many summer mornings when,

with what pleasure, what joy,

you enter harbors you’re seeing for the first time;

may you stop at Phoenician trading stations

to buy fine things,

mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,

sensual perfume of every kind—

as many sensual perfumes as you can;

and may you visit many Egyptian cities

to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

 

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.

Arriving there is what you’re destined for.

But don’t hurry the journey at all.

Better if it lasts for years,

so you’re old by the time you reach the island,

wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,

not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

 

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.

Without her you wouldn't have set out.

She has nothing left to give you now.

 

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.

Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,

you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

 

You may have read that first stanza and thought, “Do I really hope this journey is long?” Summer and sleeping in is pretty fabulous after all. But do you really want the journey to be short, without enough time to soak up all you’re doing and let it impact you? Wonder, learning, growth all take time. Plus, there are roses to be sniffed and songs to be sung along the way and gathering treasures takes time too.

What might those treasures be that you will be gathering? Not likely ebony or mother-of-pearl, but perhaps new facts, new skills, new knowledge about yourself, your abilities, your hopes and dreams. These are infinitely more precious, I dare say.

Gathering these treasures takes work and perseverance. It often involves battling monsters seen and unseen as well. Your foes – your Laistrygonians, Cyclops and angry Poseidon – might be internet outages or ornery platforms. Or these monsters may rear their heads in the form of procrastination, perfectionism, a lack of confidence, or something else. These are the enemies Kavafys is writing about – the ones we bring along in our own souls that can sabotage our journeys.

Do not fret, brave adventurer, if you encounter any of these monsters, because you already possess the ability to defeat them. How? Follow the advice of Kavafys! Keep your thoughts raised high – higher than the to-do list and negative self-talk – and let the excitement of what you are learning and who you are becoming be your guides.

Like Odysseus, you will reach your Ithaka – the end of this year – and you will already be rich from the many things you have gained along the way. How exciting this adventure will be and we at the Lukeion Project are thrilled to be on it with you!