Notebooks

On Writing (and Some Examples)

Recommendations and resources on academic and non-fiction writing.

Recommended Advice/Guide

Williams, J. M. (2000). Style: Ten lessons in clarity and grace (6. ed). Longman.
Schimel, J. (2011). Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded. Oxford University Press.: Practical, actionable advice.
Neelakantan, A. (2021). Write because it makes you think or feel. the Record.
Orwell, G. (1946). Politics and the English Language; George Orwell. Horizon.: Orwell gives five rules for good writing and adds a sixth: "Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous."
McPhee J. (2015) The Art of Omission. The New Yorker.: Writing is emotional: it's hard to remove unnecessary sentences that you've written. McPhees shares few personal stories.
Gaitskill M. (2022) The deracination of literature. Unheard.: Why read fiction? And does good writing matter?

Writing in the Sciences by Kristin Sainani.: If you're just starting to write scientific prose, watch the series
The Writer's workshop
Writing Style—An Online Guide: Good introduction to English grammar and writing beyond simple definitions.
Grammar and Stylistics: Writing Clearly by Randall Eggert from University of Utah.: Excellent! See, for example, the one on tense and aspect.
Common Errors in English Usage

Kolln, M. J., & Gray, L. S. (2015). Rhetorical Grammar: Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects. Pearson Education.

White, E. B. (1949). Here is New York. Reprinted in Essays of E. B. White (2016).: Possibly the most famous essay on NYC—for good reasons.
Wolchover, N. (2020). What Is a Particle? Quanta.: Wolchover has an uncanny ability to phrase difficult ideas in popular language; this essay demonstrates that once again.
Yong, E. (2021). America Is Not Ready for Omicron. The Atlantic.: Ed Yong shows that one can write a good essay only when one deeply cares about the topic.
Smith, Z. (2023). On Killing Charles Dickens. The New Yorker.: Zadie Smith tries—and fails—to ignore Dickens while writing a nineteenth-century historical fiction.
Mukherjee, S. (2023). All the Carcinogens We Cannot See. The New Yorker.
Newport, C. (2024). One Reason Hybrid Work Makes Employees Miserable. And how to fix it. The Atlantic.