A Kind Word for Bullshit: The Problem of Academic Writing

A Kind Word For Bullshit: The Problem of Academic Writing

Philip Eubanks and John D. Schaeffer

Reading A Kind Word for Bullshit: The Problem of Academic Writing I came across a quote that best describes ways in which individuals who aren't familiar with your area of study can construct their thought process to believe it's bullshit. "Non-academics call academic writing bullshit, they mean that it uses jargon, words whose meanings are so abstract and vague as to seem unrelated to any one's experience" (page 381, A Kind Word For Bullshit, Eubanks and Schaeffer). The reason behind this thought process is because people in their chosen field of study are going to use jargon, words that fit their topic, that nobody thinks or believe can possibly be true. For example, when someone not familiar with medical terminology, picks up a medical journal most people are going to be confused about what is being stated. Half these words I can't pronounce and somebody in that area of study couldn't even pronounce them. Hence, why without the proper knowledge one constructs jargon to be bullshit.

The central term seldom referred by Eubanks and Schaeffer is "academic bullshit" (page 375, A Kind Word For Bullshit, Eubanks and Schaeffer). When thinking about what academic bullshit means you are the author of a particular article inflating the paper with big words, terms, and situations that are relevant to your topic. However, this can led the academic and non-academic community starting to believe that you really don't know what your talking about and have just made yourself look smarter than you actually pass yourself off to be.

An idea that is key to the text is how a cycle of academic bullshit can have a domino effect, starting with the teacher, then students, and finally your audience. In regards to professors producing bullshit, many of them produce scholarly articles to be viewed by academia. Students have the opportunity to read what their professors have written and begin to construct an idea in their minds of what the professor is looking for when it involves your writing.

The domino effect has begun in that after viewing these articles students start to instead become writers who begin writing the way that the professor would want in order to receive a higher grade. Instead of writing for the audience whom it is intended for. Eubanks and Schaeffer state it best when they say "professors think that abstruse academic writing "sounds just right; it sounds professional." The audience starts to be tuned out because instead of writing for an audience you are writing for only one person who might understand, that individual is your professor.