Works no-one wants to read
Ideas that change the world have first to appeal to the world. It is now recognised that academic writing is too often boring, hard to read, and (from personal experience reading social science articles) packed with long, overly complex and overlong words that no-one uses in everyday speech, making even simple concepts difficult to grasp. Small wonder the most important discoveries of our time so frequently get misunderstood, misrepresented in the press, or simply go unnoticed. Stories need to grab attention and make sense of an unfolding series of reveals about information that leads to an inescapable conclusion.
Students' assignments are also often dry, disjointed, rambling and unfocused. I've been there (recently) - it's hard to write something someone else would like to read. Making academic writing interesting is an art form, above and beyond the skills required to find, read, digest and understand published academic content and have an original idea or two off the back of it, which you must already managed to get to the point where you have something meaningful to write.
Telling stories makes everything better
But there is a trick! People have passed on their most important morals and philosophies through stories since prehistory. Stories have a beginning, middle and end, a natural progression that connects ideas and makes them come alive, makes them relevant and interesting, and takes the reader on a journey from initial premise through coherent argument to conclusions that tie together the strands of the adventure and discuss where next for our ideas and areas for exploration. Storytelling makes writing appealing, clear, visual and evocative, improves the flow and naturally structures your writing so that it makes sense to others. Storytelling evokes myths, metaphors and may include images from graphs and charts to illustrations and video clips.
The same approach makes your cover letters for employment stand out and beg for attention, making sense of who you are, what motivates you, why you would be a great fit for their organisation, and what makes you stand out from the crowd. It also comes in handy for anyone into creative writing of any kind - even poems tell a story.
Visual storytelling
If you recently took part in Sketchnote Week (the display is on show on the first floor landing in the Library until the end of January) you will have been introduced to the power of visual storytelling. Stories are told in sound, pictures and video even more oten as the printed word. Use the tools and techniques that help you make the best sense of everything where you are.
Get more inspiration from blog @ precision about more ways you can turn your assignment (or research - the blog is talking to doctoral students, but the same principle applies for every assignment) into a compelling story that makes your audience (or marker) sit up and pay attention.
Read on...
Precision Consulting. (2024, January 15). The art of academic storytelling: Crafting compelling narratives in your research. https://precisionconsultingblog.com/the-art-of-academic-storytelling-crafting-compelling-narratives-in-your-research/
Rockman, K. (2023). Revitalising academic writing through storytelling. Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. https://www.aacsb.edu/insights/articles/2023/10/revitalizing-academic-writing-through-storytelling