HOW A MASTER'S DEGREE ALMOST DESTROYED MY WRITING SKILL
As a Master’s degree graduate who has written dozens of academic articles (some published), I had assumed I had all it takes to start a career in copy and content writing. I was, however, shocked that the general public could not stand reading articles with ‘thus,’ ‘therefore’ and bogus words. For many people, academic papers are mind-numbingly boring and impossible to comprehend because they have not been trained to read like this.
After about two years of course-correcting in content creation, here are four things I had to learn:
- Always Aim For Readability.
The first thing to know is that academic language is not the best at using simple sentences or words. Although you aim at clarity, the academic authors before you wrote in a certain way, and you simply followed suit.
Readability refers to the ease or difficulty with which the audience understands your work. (Did you notice my use of “with which”? That is my academic writing sneaking out again. Anyways, you get my point). If they have to read your sentences more than once, you have not done a great job, and if you’re trying to sell to them, you have probably lost a customer. It is almost like academic writing was designed to force you to read a sentence ten times to get the point.
A metric called readability score can measure the readability of your text. While comic books score as high 92% RS, consumer adverts 82%, academic papers always average between 0% — 30%. This is good if you are writing for only professors, but if you want to write engaging and impactful to the general public, AIM FOR READABILITY.
2. Watch Your Tone
You know that cold, unbiased tone that made you sleep during lectures? The one that sounded like another language? Yes, that was your professor speaking academia. While it is useful in presenting certain scientific data, it is a no-no if you want to tell a compelling story, express emotions, or convince someone to patronize you. The key principle in writing (especially copywriting) is empathy, while the principle for academic writing is psychopathy, perhaps.
3. Less is More
What do you do when you must turn in a 5,000-word paper in 3 days? Yes, you procrastinate. But after that, you fill it up with unnecessary information, unneeded conjunctions, and an elongated chain of words. Instead of writing ‘Jesus wept,’ you end up with “Thus, Christ shed a tear.” Engaging in gimmicks just to fill up the emptiness of your ideas for an ‘A.’ Was that only me? Apologies.
The truth is, your audience does not have the bandwidth or time to decipher your point. Your professors didn’t either, but they were paid to read it, so they did. If your reader always has to comb through long sentences to decipher your call to action, they will never act. Keep your sentence short and pungent. Have no more than three sentences per paragraph, and don’t use five words if you can use two.
Instead of writing ‘Jesus wept,’ you end up with “Thus, Christ shed a tear.”
4. No one cares about your degree
Although this is not a direct writing lesson, it is important nonetheless. In academia, degrees, fellowships, and publications are revered, but in content creation, proof is revered. I cannot count how many jobs I have gotten without showing a resume. I have gotten jobs from Twitter threads, Medium posts, etc. The secret to growth is a portfolio, not a degree.
Having said all these, you would think I am talking down on having a higher university degree, but I’m not. As you will see in my next Medium, I learned a lot from academic writing that gave me a head start in my content/copywriting journey. See you next week.
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