There must be a way to improve the rhetorical appeal of rejection. Should authors consider the response of their readers? I think they should In the courses on Writing and Communication that I teach to first-year Georgia Tech students, I spend a lot of time talking with them about how to phrase criticism in a constructive way. It is important, I tell them, to remember their audience and reception as they write. I work with them on framing observations in ways that will produce results. It is not a question of coddling, or being hyper-sensitive to feelings. It is a question of moving forward.
I’ve gone compartmental
Sunny Sunday morning. The temperature is finally dropping below 80. And the leaves are changing. I still can’t get used to autumn in the south … No outdoors for me, though. The lists and stacks and deadlines just grow and loom. It’s not enough that there are seventy-five wiki entries waiting for me to grade them; a thirty-five page article accepted by ROMARD needs to be edited and resubmitted in ten days (thanks for reminding me – have to contact the Newberry and request permission to use their title page from A Game at Chess in the article). [Read more…] about I’ve gone compartmental