Interview with Malcolm McLeod

Abstract

important an opinion, it will be of little value to a newspaper a week after an important event has occurred. 3. Academic writers cannot frame their arguments concisely. Most newspapers require articles of 800 to 1,000 words. Reduction to this length requires so much work by the editorial staff that it discourages them from soliciting material from the same person again. 4. Academic writers cannot write in inverted pyramid style. This is the classic journalistic style where the most important material gets presented at the top of the article with supplementary writing to support the main arguments below. Academic writing usually follows the opposite pattern, marshalling evidence and building to a conclusion. This academic style fails to hold the attention of newspaper readers. 5. Academic writers cannot write good 'leads'. These are the concise, 'punchy' first lines of newspaper articles which summarize the main point of the article and draw the reader into the article. 6. Academic writers equivocate too much in their writing. One editor characterized this as the 'on the one had, X; on the other hand, Y' style. Statements in newswriting need to be as direct as possible. 7. Academic writers try to cover too much in their writing. Newspaper analysis and opinion articles rarely contain more than three main points with supporting statements. Many academic writers attempt more complex arguments which non-specialist readers have a difficult time following.