Knowledge Check: Applying Topic to Potential Capstone Project

In previous assessments, we’ve discussed the mechanics of writing (independent and dependent clauses, grammar, and punctuation). The basic rules for writing do not change based on the audience. The way that we structure sentences, however, does change. Human services is an applied social science. Social scientists strive to provide extensive detail when writing for other scholars: they want to make it clear what they think and how they developed those ideas. Other scholars will then critically analyze and critique that work. This is the goal of scholarly writing; learners need to demonstrate these critical thinking and writing skills as part of earning a doctorate. However, when writing for a non-academic audience, it is your professional responsibility to ensure your thoughts are accessible to your audience. No one wants to hire a consultant who produces a dense report they don’t understand.  What does this mean in terms of writing? 1. Simplify your sentence construction. 2. Ensure language is accessible. Academics often write in complex sentences and complex-compound sentences to provide detailed information. For example: • After controlling for leadership style, transformational leaders had the highest retention rate of employees, especially among cis female and transgender female employees, while transactional leaders had the second-highest retention rate, especially with cis male employees; authoritarian leaders had the lowest retention rate regardless of the gender identification of their employees (Wilkerson, 2022). There’s a lot of information in the above complex-compound sentence, but it can be hard to follow if you aren’t already an expert in that field of research (i.e., another scholar). Here is a more straightforward way to write that sentence:  • Regarding leadership style and retention, transformational leaders had the highest retention rate, followed by transactional leaders and then authoritarian leaders. There were differences based on gender identification: cis female and transgender female employees were more likely to remain with a transformational leader while cis male employees were more likely to remain with a transactional leader. The above sentence is more straightforward (lists within the sentence), and could work, but it could even clearer by just writing it out in list form. See below: Retention Rate by Leadership Style: • Transformational leaders (highest) • Transactional leaders (middle) • Authoritarian leaders (lowest) Differences in Retention Rate by Employee Gender Identification: • Cis female and transgender females most likely to stay with transformational leader • Cis males were most likely to stay with transactional leader Deciding when to write in narrative format vs transitioning to a non-sentence format, such as a list, is a judgment call. Lists are easier to skim, but too many lists may be overwhelming, and you may need to provide more information than what can be conveyed in a list. Try experimenting and see what you prefer. You could also ask someone to read what you wrote and get their feedback. Note that there are certain documents, such as executive summaries, which are written both in list form as well as in narrative forms, for example.