Writing Skills III More on the structure of a paper

The first sentence is the hardest. Figure out the one central and novel contribution of your paper. Write it down in one paragraph, or even better, in one sentence. This is how you start your abstract. For example, Fama and French 1992 start their abstract with: “Two easily measured variables, size and book-to- market equity, combine to capture the cross-sectional variation in average stock returns associated with market β, size, leverage, book-to-market equity, and earnings-price ratios.” Start your paper the same way (I am very guilty of not doing this). IF YOU START WITH YOUR PRIMARY CONTRIBUTION YOU WILL ALWAYS KNOW HOW TO START.

Keep it short. Shorter is better. Make every word count Can you make the same point in a more parsimonious way? Do you need the point at all? Don’t repeat things. Make each point only once. If you need to say, “In other words …” your first words were poorly chosen (another thing I am guilty of). Go back and say it right the first time.

Describe, explain, compare First describe what you do Explain it (why you do it) Compare to alternatives. “I adjust income by the square root of household size.” Then explain why you do this, and how you might have otherwise adjusted income.

Simple is better, and usually more precise. But document your work. Readers you be able to sit down with your paper, and reproduce every number and step from instructions given in the paper, or any appendices. The less math used, the better. The simpler the estimation technique, the better. Previews and recalls are a good sign of poor organization. “As we shall see in Table 4 …” “Recall from section 2 …”

Footnotes should be used sparingly (guilty again!) If it isn’t important enough to be in the text, consider deleting it. Parenthetical comments in footnotes are an indication of poor organization or extraneous ideas not central to your point. Is it sufficiently important for the reader to leave your linearly organized arguments? Think the same about “digressions”. Footnotes should be used for things most readers can skip, but a few readers might want to see – for example, long lists of references, simple bits of math, or documentation.

Writing to your audience means keeping track of what your readers should know and not know. Don’t assume too much. If you are working off a well-known paper, don’t assume everyone remembers the main point or notation. But don’t explain simple economics either. If you must point out that something is important (“this is important because …”) it isn’t, or you haven’t defended your ideas sufficiently.

Some style ideas to look for Use present tense in most cases. Use the subject, verb, object ordering in sentences. “People use a variety of insurance mechanisms to smooth consumption.” not “The insurance mechanisms that agents utilize to smooth consumption in the face of transitory earnings fluctuations are diverse.” Avoid technical jargon when possible. Avoid adjectives when describing your work. Don’t use “striking results”.

When you have “that” in a sentence, it is probably too long: “It is usually the case that most good writers find that everything before the “that” should be deleted from a sentence.” Clothe the naked “this”. “This shows markets are …” or “This regression shows markets are …” When describing the sign of a causal link, one direction is enough: “When price goes up, quantity goes down.” not “When price goes up (down) quantity goes down (up).