A correspondent sends a suggested edit of a part of my
writing tips for PhD students
With markup
Keep it short
Keep the paper as short as
possible.
Be concise. Every word must count.
As you edit the paper ask yourself constantly, “can I make the
same my point in less space?”
and “Do Must I really have
to say this?” Final papers should be no more than under 40
pages, drafts should be
shorter. (Do as I say, not as I do!) Shorter is better.
Clean:
Keep it short
Be
concise. Every word must count. As you edit, ask yourself, “can I make my point
in less space?” and “must say this?” Final papers should be under 40 pages,
drafts shorter. Shorter is better.
Well, I did say "do as I say, don't do as I do!"
No need to write a paper if you can make your point in a tweet. Except that tweets don't build a good CV )-;
ReplyDeleteVery good advice. Unless you're being paid by the word (as with some famous 19th century authors), in which case "never use 1 word when 10 will do". :-)
ReplyDeleteIn my salad days, I was a corporation lawyer. I had a client who absolutely refused to read anything I sent him that was more than one page long. Further he insisted that the page have generous margins and the writing be set forth in a series of "bullet points" (i.e. like a power point slide). And, he had zero tolerance for jargon. Keeping him happy was quite a challenge, but I learned a lot about how to be concise and communicative.
ReplyDeleteProf Cochrane - did you, in the past, post a 4 page paper on using the language/ methodology of software programming to describe economic modelling? If so, would you mind posting a link to it on your blog? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThe advice for journalists and economic commentators working for newspapers is of course the direct opposite of the above. I.e. if you can take a simple point and turn it into a thousand words of impressive sounding hot air and waffle, you’ll be guaranteed a secure job and decent pay with some newspaper.
ReplyDeleteThere are few points worth making that cannot be made in 250 words.
ReplyDeleteMany concepts could have been a brilliant essay but instead became a mediocre 350 page book.
Smaller point but I used your conclusion in a discussion this fall "May economists falsely think of themselves as scientists who just “write up” research. We are not" just a typo (many) worth fixing while you're at it. Thanks for the wonderful advice!!!!
ReplyDeleteYeah. "Fix typos before you release anything" is more good advice in the "do as I say don't do as I do" category.
DeletePlease share more content.
ReplyDeleteI am a student and that post is very useful for me.
ReplyDeleteIt must be done through some efficient ideas.
ReplyDeleteGreat tips
ReplyDelete