And Im going to Use One Here, Out of Necessity. and SpiteI once read a how-to article on web content writing, on making a site that brings traffic the attention of many. I had already begrudgingly given in to the understanding that web content writing is very different than academic writing-it has different goals, different audiences, and different elements that lend themselves to an A piece of writing.
In fact, it is so different that to write for the web we have to unravel all we have worked to weave, have to unlearn all we have learned as college English writers. Dont Confuse Web ContentWriting and Academic WritingSo the writer of this article says to start web copy you skip the opener and go directly to the main point what we in academia know as the thesis.
Okay. This made sense, I thought, as web readers read differently they read fast, they skim, they scan, they skip. to draw the most usable info in the shortest amount of time. Probably the way you are reading now, hoping I get on with the point. - I was with Mr. Web when he explained these facts. - I was with him as politics in journalism and ethical behavior noted the research findings that back up the rationale for sacrificing good academic exposition for web text.
-And I was there with his tips and tricks, which were great. until he went too far, editorializing about writers who actually use openersHe claimed that writers who rely on openers dont have "the courage" to just get to the point. So he lost me. Dont Let Anyone Shame Your Learning Writing TricksWe can adapt to just about any rhetorical style.
We can adjust our notions of what makes for good writing. But we should balk when a how-to writer insults other methods of writing. We should even disregard implications of cowardice as unnecessary ad hominem attacks. Ethical journalism politics in behavior and attacks. Fallacious and floppy and frivolous teaching.
Screw that. Readers of Academic Essay Writing Appreciate even Prefer a Good OpenerOpeners in academic writing, whether in a creatively developed literary response or a historical survey, are imperative.