Teaching Writing

Supply concrete evidence.

• Be specific and persuasive
• More blacks are under correctional supervision than whites.
• Of men in their twenties, the proportion under correctional supervision is 1 of 15 whites, 1 of 10 Hispanics and 1 of 3 blacks (Mauer and Huling 1995).

Respond to your critics

• Two-sided argument
• Present the alternative in a fair and even-handed manner
• Then, show why you disagree
• TALK to your critics

Control your tone

• Don’t write for the people who agree with you (they already agree).
• Write for the people who disagree, but may be willing to entertain your argument.
• To do so, control your tone…

Control your tone

• Tone of writing is like tone of voice. It is personality expressed in prose… The worst mistake is to be unpleasant: If you yell at people they will walk away, in reading as at a cocktail party… Avoid invective. “This is pure nonsense,” “There is absolutely no evidence for this view”… are fun phrases to write… but they arouse the suspicion in any but the most uncritical audience that the argument needs a tone of passion to overcome its weakness… Screaming is not speaking well (McCloskey 2000:41–42).