A Proposed Categorization of the Academic Writer's Responsibilities
The following appeared in an article entitled "Writing as Moral and Civic Thinking," written by Sandra Stotsky. It appeared in the November, 1992 issue of College English. The list's title is self-explanatory.
A Proposed Categorization of the Academic Writer's Responsibilities
A. With respect to the purposes of academic language:
- To define key terms
- To write clearly
B. With respect to other writers:
- To consider other writers as intelligent as oneself
- To present another writer's views fairly
- To attribute ideas only to their authors
C. With respect to the integrity of the subject:
- To gather all seemingly relevant information on a topic
- To evaluate the relevance and quality of gathered information
- To address all relevant information
- To account for all significant components in an analogy
- To provide adequate evidence for assertions directly or through accessible references
- To use facts accurately
- Not to make blanket generalizations
- To use representative examples of a phenomenon
- To create texts with no erroneous implications
- To provide correct examples for reasonable generalizations
- To create consistent categories for classifying information
- To create coherent texts
D. With respect to the integrity of the reader:
- To assume an open-minded reader
- To use affectively balanced terms
- Not to stereotype possible readers