The illustration shows a four-quadrant chart with two axes: simple/complex thinking, and simple/complex expression.
Inexperienced writers often confuse “simple thinking/complex writing” with “complex thinking/complex writing” because they are unfamiliar with the jargon and conventions of subject matter experts. In their efforts to mimic the voice of experts, they may attempt to “sound sophisticated” by adopting an unnecessarily opaque style.

Why Don’t Students Use Plain Language?

This article provides a conceptual framework to help you understand how to present your ideas effectively, avoiding unnecessary complexity while conveying deep insights clearly. It introduces a four-quadrant chart that illustrates the relationship between the complexity of your thinking and the clarity of your writing. The chart distinguishes between complex and simple thinking paired with either complex or simple expression.

Baseball payers argue with one another as well as the ref.
“Argument” by andrewmalone, CC BY 2.0.

Counterarguments – Rebuttal – Refutation

Ignoring what your target audience thinks and feels about your argument isn’t a recipe for success. Instead, engage in audience analysis: ask yourself, “How is your target audience likely to respond to your propositions? What counterarguments — arguments about your argument — will your target audience likely raise before considering your propositions?”

This illustration shows a student looking at a computer screen that says, "Would you like for me to write your memo for you?
Now that AI systems can score in the 90th percentile on the Bar Exam and SAT, will humans offshore their research, thinking, and writing practices to machines? For students, will writing no longer be a primary mode of learning? Will writers stop listening to their inner voice, their felt sense, and instead allow the AI systems to direct their thinking and writing processes? How should our educational and professional institutions respond to the rise of AI? What core AI literacies must we focus on to ensure humans are “masters of their technologies and not its servants” (NEH 2024)? How do we need to reconceptualize creative processes, plagiarism, academic integrity, copyright, and intellectual property to account for “hybrid writing” — writing coauthored by machines and humans?
AI

Writing with AI – Syllabus (ENC 3370)

In response to “the rise of the machines” — and the potential future of “superintelligence” (Aschenbrenner 2024) on the part of emerging AI systems Writing with Artificial Intelligence is an undergraduate course that focuses on the question of human agency, hybrid-human composing, and ethics. Students learn “critical AI literacies,” which the MLA-CCCC Joint Task Force on Writing and AI identifies as foundational to literacy. Using critical AI frameworks, students identify and debunk “AI hype” and methodological errors in media articles and academic research on AI. They analyze ethical issues associated with large language models (LLMs), including plagiarism, postplagiarism, academic integrity, U.S. copyright, open copyright, privacy concerns, and deepfakes. They research and reflect on the possibility that humans will offshore their research, thinking, and writing practices to machines now that AI systems can write well enough to be in the top 90th percentile on the Bar Exam and SAT. Students write with generative artificial intelligence tools to compose memos, summaries, articles, songs, short stories, poems, deepfakes or misinformation campaigns, images, videos, and bots. They conduct qualitative, empirical research to investigate how those tools impinged on their learning, thinking, self-expression, and creativity. Finally, students speculate about how the rise of “superintelligence” and may challenge humans to reimagine what it means to be human.

As these three students navigate their research, unexpected triggers may arise, shedding light on the intricate relationship between reading, trauma, and learning.
“Students Reading” by AUM OER, CC BY 2.0.

Reading and Disruptive Emotions

This article examines the relationship between reading and emotional response. It addresses the emotions reading can provoke, identifies potential emotional triggers, and suggests practical strategies for managing emotional responses, like mindfulness and emotional regulation. Learn to identify, manage, and strategically respond to emotions stirred by reading in both personal and academic contexts.

Pic of Malala_Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai exemplifies the power of rhetorical listening and courageous action. By recognizing the cultural logics at play and breaking the silence, she advocated for girls’ education in Pakistan, ultimately leading to transformative global change and her Nobel Peace Prize. Credit: Photo by FlowComm CC BY 2.0

Rhetorical Listening – The Importance of Breaking the Silence When It Matters

This article examines rhetorical listening as a vital strategy for fostering understanding and bridging cultural and social divides. It explores how rhetorical listening encourages openness, empathy, and accountability, empowering individuals to navigate differences and cultivate meaningful dialogue. By highlighting examples like Malala Yousafzai’s courageous advocacy, the article demonstrates how rhetorical listening can inspire impactful change, improve communication, and enhance critical thinking in personal, academic, and professional contexts.

Student engrossed in reading on her laptop, surrounded by a stack of books
“Academic Writing” by AUM OER, CC BY 2.0

Academic Writing – How to Write for the Academic Community

Academic writing refers to the writing style that researchers, educators, and students use in scholarly publications and school assignments. An academic writing style refers to the semantic and textual features that characterize academic writing and distinguish it from other discourses, such as professional writing, workplace writing, fiction, or creative nonfiction. Learn about the discourse conventions of the academic community so you can write with greater authority, clarity, and persuasiveness (and, in school settings, earn higher grades!).  

“Professional Writing” by Internet Freedom Fellows, CC BY-ND 2.0.

Professional Writing – How to Write for the Professional World

Professional writing is fundamentally transactional: usually if you are writing it is because you are trying to solve some kind of a problem. Your audience — the people you are writing to — probably need to do something in response to your writing. They may not be expecting your writing. They probably don’t want to read your writing. Your writing is interrupting their day. So, if you’re gonna bother them you need to make it worth their time. Learn about the style of writing that characterizes the texts of professional writers in workplace writing contexts. Master the discourse conventions of professional communities of practice.

an illustration of a scale. "Opinion" is being weighed on the left side of the scale. "Facts & Research" are being depicted on the right side. It's clear from the illustration that "facts & research" weigh more than "opinion."
In this illustration, “opinion” weighs more than “facts and evidence.” While in academic and professional writing, facts and research typically outweigh opinion in terms of credibility and authority, this dynamic can shift in rhetorical situations where emotional filtering and information bias come into play. In such contexts, individuals may prioritize opinions that align with their beliefs over objective facts. Crafting truly authoritative texts requires more than just presenting data; it involves skillfully integrating evidence, acknowledging diverse perspectives, and demonstrating a nuanced understanding of the subject matter. Effective writers balance factual information with insightful analysis, creating work that is both well-supported and intellectually engaging, even in environments where opinion may carry more weight than facts.

Authority & Credibility – How to Be Credible & Authoritative in Research, Speech & Writing

If your listeners or readers think you lack authority (aka credibility), then they are less likely to listen or read your work. This article defines the textual attributes of authoritative works. Learn how to communicate in ways that enhance your authority and persuasiveness.

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Corpus linguistics fuels AI innovation: Teams of computational linguists, including those at OpenAI, delve into the vast expanse of the internet, amassing an extensive corpus to predict textual patterns. Yet, when classic lines, like T.S. Eliot's 'I measure my life in coffee spoons' from 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,' are absorbed without proper acknowledgment, pressing ethical questions emerge. This illustration captures that very sentiment, as Eliot's iconic line spirals into the corpus vortex.
Linguistic AnalysisTextual Research Methods

Corpus Linguistic Analysis – A Bird’s Eye View of Writing

Language is vast, and when we read, we often focus on individual words, sentences, or specific texts. This narrow perspective can cause us to overlook broader patterns and trends. For instance, it’s easy to miss the recurring linguistic choices that individuals make, both fruitful and less effective, especially in academic writing. However, by taking a step back and observing language from a broader, bird’s-eye perspective, we gain a clearer understanding of the unique characteristics of different texts. Recognizing and studying these patterns helps improve your comprehension and mastery of written language.

word cloud formed from article headers
CollaborationCritique

Contract Grading – So Your Instructor is Using Contract Grading…

Educational psychologists have shown that grades can undermine student engagement with their own work, making them more focused on grades than on learning (Kohn 29). As a result, students are often more concerned with how to get an “A” than how to write effectively for different audiences, purposes

Rhetorical Analysis in the Real World: A Useful Thinking Tool
GenreResearch

Rhetorical Analysis in the Real World: A Useful Thinking Tool

As a citizen and a scholar, I use rhetorical analysis to sort out questions about politics and relationships. In everyday life, rhetorical analysis is a valuable tool for understanding and preparing to engage in the world.

Since Aristotle's time, rhetoricians have posited that effective persuasion hinges on three central appeals: logos (logic), pathos (emotion), and ethos (the speaker's credibility and character). A fourth appeal, Kairos, underscores the significance of timing — emphasizing that the right message must be delivered at the opportune moment for maximum impact.
RhetoricRhetorical Appeals

Rhetorical Appeals: An Overview

Rhetorical appeals are strategic tools writers use to effectively persuade their audience. Comprising ethos (credibility), logos (logic), pathos (emotion), and kairos (timing), these appeals form the backbone of influential persuasive writing. By understanding and harnessing these appeals, you’ll not only recognize them in the texts you read but also enhance your own writing, making your arguments more compelling and impactful.

“2019 LAFD Merit Scholarship Awards” by LAFD is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.
Point of ViewStyle

Using First Person in an Academic Essay: When is It Okay?

This essay explores the circumstances under which using the first person in an academic essay is acceptable. In academic writing, the use of the first person—expressed through pronouns such as “I”, “me”, “my”, and “we”—is in a state of flux. Historically, scholars were advised to avoid the first person to maintain objectivity and a formal tone. In school settings, students were often told to set their own opinions aside and write summaries and reviews of literature. Yet recently, especially in the humanities, qualitative researchers have questioned the possibility of objectivity and this convention of avoiding the first person. Instead, these theorists argue that researchers and writers can be more authoritative by employing the first person.  

For many students, college years are a kairotic moment: they are a critical time in one’s life when one prepares for one’s future.
RhetoricRhetorical Situation

Kairos – How to Strategically Time Your Messages for Impact

“Kairos” is an ancient rhetorical concept meaning “to say the right thing at the right time.” In order to say the right thing, you need a sense of audience. And, of course, you need to craft your message with clarity and brevity. Yet that by itself isn’t sufficient. It doesn’t matter how eloquent you are if you audience is not willing to listen to you on a topic at this particular moment. Thus, kairos is chiefly about timing: it’s about knowing about when to give your message.        

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The Ultimate Blueprint: A Research-Driven Deep Dive into The 13 Steps of the Writing Process

This article provides a comprehensive, research-based introduction to the major steps, or strategies, that writers work through as they endeavor to communicate with audiences. Since the 1960s, the writing process has been defined to be a series of steps, stages, or strategies. Most simply, the writing process is conceptualized as four major steps: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing. That model works really well for many occasions. Yet sometimes you’ll face really challenging writing tasks that will force you to engage in additional steps, including prewriting, inventing, drafting, collaborating, researching, planning, organizing, designing, rereading, revising, editing, proofreading, sharing or publishing. Expand your composing repertoire — your ability to respond with authority, clarity, and persuasiveness — by learning about the dispositions and strategies of successful, professional writers.

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Copyright – A Comprehensive Guide to U.S. Copyright Law

Copyright refers to intellectual property laws that grant an exclusive legal right to creators to control the copying and public exhibition of their original creative works. By default, in the United States copyright law protects the original works of authorship. Alternatively, authors may use a Creative Commons copyright to license their work. Learn about copyright and fair use (copyright exceptions) so you can avoid academic and legal penalties associated with copyright infringement and plagiarism.

Like this murky, dream-like photo of Doubtful Sound, NZ, felt sense can seem dream like. There's this feel of deep meaning and yet its prelinguistic; its embedded in our bodies.
Photo Credit: Moxley
InventionWriting

Felt Sense

Felt Sense is prelinguistic, murky, vague–and yet it some conveys deep meaning. Felt Sense is “the soft underbelly of thought . . . a kind of bodily awareness that . . . can be used as a tool” to help you distinguish between what you’ve said or written and what you really hope to say or write. Review scholarship on felt sense and its role during composing. Learn to work with your felt sense to realize your creative potential.

shows a wordart image of Framework for Information Literacy Perspectives & Practices.
Illustration by Moxley
ACRL Information Literacy FrameworkInformation Literacy

ACRL Information Literacy Framework

In an era where almost anything can be digitally manipulated or “spoofed,” from audio to even making visuals that deceive, you need to discern genuine sources from misleading or false sources. Learn about information literacy dispositions, behaviors, and conventions to avoid being duped by manipulative authors.

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Elements of StyleStyle

The Elements of Style – The DNA of Powerful Writing

Just as DNA constitutes the building blocks of life — as illustrated in the depiction below of ions and DNA gliding through a single-walled carbon nanotube — the ‘Elements of Style’ form the foundation for powerful writing. Brevity, coherence, flow, inclusivity, simplicity, and unity — these stylistic elements empower writers to enhance the clarity and power of their work. Esteemed by educators, editors, and professional writers, they serve as the essential building blocks — indeed, the DNA — of clear, compelling communication.

Image of a humorous 'No Soliciting' sign on a door stating, 'We love our vacuum. We found God. And we gave at the office.' The sign playfully dismisses common reasons salespeople, religious groups, and charity organizations visit homes, indicating the householders' desire to avoid unsolicited visits and pitches.
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AudienceRhetoric

Audience Awareness – How To Boost Clarity in Communications

If your text doesn’t appeal to your audience, then all is lost. Awareness of your audience (as well as purpose and context) is crucial to clarity in communications. Learn how to analyze your audience so you can determine what you need to say and how you need to say it.