Exigency

Despite the broad range of stylistic elements, certain elements of style play a commanding role in determining the clarity and impact of a text. The most influential among these — brevity, coherence, flow, inclusivity, simplicity, and unity — go beyond shaping the text’s structure and language. By understanding and applying these conventions, writers and readers enhance their communication skills within their discourse community.

The Elements of Style serve as a shared language and common ground between the writer and the reader. They underpin the writer’s creative and strategic decisions during the writing process and guide the reader’s engagement, interpretation, and evaluation of the text. Thus, these elements are not just about the act of writing, but about the broader interaction between the writer, the text, and the reader within the context of established discourse conventions.

Writing Prompt

Choose a document (or multiple documents) to critique from the perspective of the Elements of Style: brevity, coherence, flow, inclusivity, simplicity, and unity. Ideally, the document(s) you critique will be from the field you are expecting to work in (e.g., accounting, finance, marketing, data analytics). 

Or, if you wish, you may critique one the following academic articles.

1. Effectiveness of intervention programs in reducing plagiarism by university students: a systematic review
2. Do college anti-plagiarism/cheating policies have teeth in the age of AI? Exploratory evidence from the Internet
3. The Problem with False Positives: AI Detection Unfairly Accuses Scholars of AI Plagiarism
4. ChatGPT improves creative problem-solving performance in university students: An experimental study

Use Google Slides (aka gSlides) to create four slides that critique the document(s) from four of the following perspectives:

1. Clarity
2. Brevity
3. Coherence
4. Flow, 
5. Inclusivity
6. Simplicity
7. Unity

For each slide, extract a bit of text — such as a sentence or several sentences — and then explain how the selected text violates or exemplifies one of these elements of style. You may use a small font, given space considerations. Create one slide for the four style elements and explain how that example/sample text violates or exemplifies the convention under discussion. In the notes (or if there’s space, on the slide) provide the bibliographical information for the example/sample text.

So, in total there will be 5 slides — one with your name on it and four others exemplifying the stylistic concepts/conventions.

Submission Guidelines

1. Provide a link to your critique at the Course Sandbox before our class. Be sure to save in Edit view. After class, revise, if necessary, your presentation. By deadline, upload the url of your gSlides presentation in “edit view” to Canvas.

Evaluation Criteria for Individual Presentations

Responsiveness to the Prompt
Includes five slides: one with your name and four critiquing distinct stylistic elements (e.g., clarity, brevity, coherence, flow, inclusivity, simplicity, unity). Each slide presents sample text from the chosen document(s) that clearly illustrates a violation of the specific stylistic convention. Bibliographic information for each document is provided either in the notes section or directly on the slides.

Depth of Content
Demonstrates a strong understanding of the selected stylistic principles through insightful critiques. Clearly explains how and why the sample text violates these conventions, providing thoughtful, well-reasoned analysis. Sample texts are relevant and effectively chosen to support your critique.

Design and Visual Organization
Applies effective design principles: related elements are grouped logically (proximity), text and visuals are consistently aligned (alignment), design elements like fonts and colors are used consistently (repetition), and contrast is employed to highlight key points and enhance readability.