Understand the difference between listeners and readers - Presenting research in alternative forums - Part I. Research and writing: from planning to production

A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations, 7th edition - Kate L. Turabian 2007

Understand the difference between listeners and readers
Presenting research in alternative forums
Part I. Research and writing: from planning to production

Speakers have endless ways to torment their listeners. Some robotically recite memorized sentences or hunch over pages reading every word, rarely making eye contact with their audience. Others ramble through slides of data, with no more structure than, And now this slide shows. . . . Such presenters think passive listeners are like active readers or engaged conversationalists. They are not:

When we read, we can pause to reflect and puzzle over difficult passages. To keep track of organization, we can look at subheads, even paragraph indentations. If our minds wander, we reread.

When we converse, we can pose questions as we think of them and ask the other person to clarify a line of reasoning or just to repeat it.

But as listeners in an audience, we can do none of those things. We must be motivated to pay attention, and we need help to follow a complicated line of thought. And if we lose its thread, we may drift off into our own thoughts. So when speaking, you have to be explicit about your purpose and your organization, and if you're reading a paper, you have to make your sentence structure far simpler than in a written report. So favor shorter sentences with consistent subjects (see 11.1.2). Use “I,” “we,” and “you” a lot. What seems clumsily repetitive to readers is usually welcomed by listeners.