- Hardback - Number of Pages: 240 pages
- Dimensions: 142.24 x 210.82 x 25.4mm - 385.55g
- Publication date: 03 Apr 2012
- Publisher: HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
- Publication City/Country: Cambridge, Mass, United States
- Language: English
Helen Sword's brilliant little volume is in many respects the ideal companion to Stephen J. Pyne's equally brilliant Voice and Vision: A Guide to Writing History and Other Serious Non-Fiction (Harvard) and equally deserving of a wider audience than its target group, which in this case comprises those academics who either write or have to put up with "impersonal, stodgy, jargon-laden, abstract prose." As Sword writes: "Elegant data and ideas deserve elegant expression." Featuring oodles of ideas and tips backed up by lashings of original research and bursting to the seams with case studies exemplifying the good, the bad and the ugly of academic writing ("via a symbolic interactionist lens" is one such monster), this is a must for writers in any discipline. -- William Yeoman West Australian 20120619 [Sword's] counsel is wise, efficiently written, and infectiously winsome. She advises academic writers to use anecdotes and carefully chosen metaphors, and to write opening sentences that encourage readers to keep reading. She has drawn from a massive array of academic articles (more than a thousand) and given particular attention to authors known for writing readable material...Helen Sword's book contains much wisdom...Stylish Academic Writing contains superb counsel for academics who want to write with greater clarity and skill. -- Barton Swaim Weekly Standard 20120903 [A] practical and useful book. -- Colin Steele Australian Book Review 20121001