Most college students have come to know academic journals all too well. Have you ever finished one and thought, “What did I just read?” If so, then you are not alone. These articles give me a throbbing headache; so many convoluted words are too close together, and the message becomes lost. Wordy articles deflect from their purpose: to educate. Academia would be better off skipping the complexities and returning to the basics.
What good is it to be smart if others can’t understand your message? Language is valuable because it paves connection and deepens understanding—that’s why it evolved. According to researcher John Stein, anthropologically, language is a tool to communicate dangers, develop hunting strategies, teach and create relationships. wWe owe words to our advancement.
In academia, they have moved away from the fundamental, point-blank technique of communication. Since our early days, new ideas have come about, but the method with which we exchange them shouldn’t be so complex. We are going against our nature by wording things in a way that’s not universally understood. Sharing thoughts and communicating fluidly is how our world grows, but we are halting more evolution by delivering ideas in a complicated way.
People are being excluded from a global conversation of new thoughts because only a sliver of people can truly grasp scholarly articles, while the rest are left lost. In classes, I find that professors need to translate the work into plain words for it to be understood. This process is elitist because only those who can afford to pay for higher education will learn, and those at lower reading levels are excluded from a wealth of information.
In my life, I nerd out over new vocabulary, word origins and idioms. Trust me, I love to be caught up in the thick of it all, but I don’t want academic journals to be complex. When I try to learn a concept, I need the delivery to be easy. If I’m confused, it makes me frustrated and less likely to read.
Fancy words make life colorful. But when the intent is to educate, and people aren’t understanding, that’s where the problem lies. Perhaps academic writers should keep in mind a section of their audience: 18, 19 and 20 year-olds who just want to learn concepts and pass tests, not become a human dictionary.
Riley Backus is an international relations major freshman who loves the simple things.