Chapter 16 in The Bedford Researcher is titled "Writing with Style" and is a sub-chapter of the part of the book that is titled "Writing Your Document". How can you being to write with style? First you want to understand your writing situation. No matter what writing situation you are in or what issue are addressing, it is almost always appropriate to "write concisely, use active voice and passive voice effectively, adopt a consistent point of view, vary the structure of your sentences, and choose your words carefully." (264) Writing concisely is important because it makes it clearer and easier for the writer to read. One thing you can do to write concisely is write using only words and phrases that you need. You do not want a bunch of extra words and phrases that don't mean anything. First, remove unnecessary modifiers, which are words that do not provide information to the reader and include words like "many", "lots", "really", and "very". Next, remove introductory phrases that are not necessary. Just state the point you are trying to make without prefacing it with a phrase such as "It is obvious that...". The last tip that this chapter gives to write concisely is to eliminate stock phrases. A stock phrase is a phrase that can be replaced with one or two words and still convey the same message. For example, you can change the stock phrase "because of the fact that" to just the word "because". The next thing that you will do to write with style is use active and passive voice effectively. An active voice specifies a person or a thing that has done an action and a passive voice is used to indicate that something was done, but does not tell the reader who or what did that action. According to the book, "sentences that are written in active voice are easier to understand." (267) passive voice is effective when you do not wish to add unnecessary information of who/what did the action. The third tip in this chapter on how to write with style is to adopt a consistent point of view. A point of view can be first person (I, we), second person (you), or third person (she, he, they...). An important thing to remember is to keep the same point of view for the whole paper!!!! You will confuse your readers if you change your point of view from third person to first person or second person to third person, etc. The last thing that you can do to begin writing with style is choose your words carefully. Pay attention to the formality of your writing and make sure it is appropriate for the topic and type of document you are writing. Also pay attention to the specialized language, or jargon, that you can use. Only use it if your readers will understand the terms. For example, do not write your paper using words that only someone who has studied biochemistry would understand. Lastly, when choosing your words, make sure to add some variety. Do not repeat the same word four times in one sentence. Try to mix it up!
The next part of this chapter is how to polish your style once you have already begin writing with style. The first thing you can do is vary the structures of your sentences. You can use statements, questions, commands and exclamations. Also make sure to vary between independent and dependent clauses. If you keep your sentence type and structure the same throughout the whole paper, your readers may get bored and lose interest. Another way to polish your style is to create effective transitions. Transitional words and phrases include "first, second, third...", "however", "on one hand...on the other hand", and "as a result". You can also use transitional paragraphs and sentences. Transitions help the reader's eye move along the sentence or paragraph smoothly. Introducing other authors in creative ways is another tip to polish your style. Instead of using a phrase such as "The author wrote...." to introduce an author from a source, use a phrase such as "In response, the author observed that...." A fourth way to polish your style is to avoid sexist language. Technically it is correct to use male pronouns to when a gender is not specified (he, his, him), but many people would consider this sexist. To avoid this, make your sentences plural so that you do not have to specify the gender. Use "they" instead "he" or "she". Two other tips to polish your writing style are consult a good handbook and read widely or as often as you can. The advice given in this chapter will be very helpful while I am writing my paper!
