“Motely [sic] crew” (what is it with motley students?) was transformed to the more conventional “multidisciplinary team”. “Erudite shrewdness” was deleted entirely. Yeah… deadlines were approaching, and patience was in short supply. Not wanting to be a total<\/em> bitch though, I followed up with “I would be very happy to review a revised version of these sections. And don’t worry, this is all part of the learning process that is grad school!”<\/p>\n The version that came back was much more The conventions of formal academic writing are<\/em> there for a reason. And students need to learn to (mostly) conform to them. It’s almost a code, a language that helps to convey the necessary information in as concise a way as possible. There is room for individuality (and good and bad writing) within these conventions – but not much.<\/p>\n Assimilation is inevitable.<\/p>\n Thank goodness scientists have alternative outlets (such as blogs) for During the last few months of my postdoc, I found myself writing three papers simultaneously. One of the papers contained results contributed by two students I’d supervised, so I decided that this would be the perfect time to let the … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.nola.com\/mikescott\/2009\/04\/medium_borg-queen.jpg\")
\nCath prepares to crush another student’s soul<\/em><\/p>\n
\nMy exact feedback to one of the students was as follows:<\/p>\nOn a more general note, I found that both sections had the wrong tone and style for a funding application. Part of the process of submitting this proposal is to learn grantsmanship skills, something the panel will take into account when reviewing your application. I suggest that you use a more scholarly tone that better reflects the conventions of academic writing; they are there for a reason. Specifically, phrases such as \u201cerudite shrewdness\u201d and \u201cmotley crew\u201d are out of place and inappropriate.<\/code><\/p>\nboring<\/del> conventional, and was accompanied by a rather dejected-sounding email. Man, I felt evil. I replied with “Always remember that no-one is born knowing how to do this stuff! The more high quality research proposals and reports you can read, the faster you will pick it up”.<\/p>\nwhimsy and jollity<\/del> idiosyncratic and eccentric writing!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"