TOW #1 "How to Say Nothing in 500 Words"

                Paul Roberts has successfully explained what not to do in How to Say Nothing in 500 Words when writing an essay. Especially to avoid said essay returning with a glaring “D” at the top. Yet most of the text was spent doing just that; telling us what not to do. There were boatloads of examples of the wrong way to go about producing a promising paper. Granted, Roberts wanted to be thorough, sixteen examples of clichés were not necessary. A published linguist should know that when it comes getting the point across, simplicity is efficiency. If he intended to help students write a better thesis, it may have been more useful if the reader was given ways to spruce up a paper rather than being told what drags it down. For someone who may have been accustomed to using the “obvious content” and “pat expressions”, they cannot casually flip a switch and know what to do when what is wrong is all they have been told. The few samples Roberts includes that elaborate on what to do are much more effective. The use of descriptive words in the terrible tale of Alfred Simkins, gives a great idea of what can be done to better one’s writing. Unfortunately, most other positive ideas are vague in instruction. Maybe it is the way it is being worded. Maybe Roberts expects students to know these “do’s” and “do not’s” already. If someone does not, they may feel slightly left out or unintelligent when seeking aid from this text. The concepts mentioned are too hit-or-miss to help a student that is only hearing them for the first time. Either they understand it and fix it, or they are even more lost than before. One cannot become the most creative being overnight simply from reading an essay in which the author tells them what not to write.