Universities are repositories of fascinating ideas. So why is academic writing so boring? Leonard Cassuto thinks it’s all a matter of keeping in mind that good writing is about keeping the reader ...

Academic reference letters are an essential aspect of academic life. Nearly every educator will be asked to write a range of reference letters during their career. In my long experience of doing so, I ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Marybeth Gasman writes about racism, philanthropy, HBCUs & faculty. Those who know me know I always encourage academics to write ...

Undergraduates need them for graduate-school applications; PhD students and postdocs use them to apply for fellowships and jobs; senior scientists often have to have them to apply for awards and ...

Brian Connolly’s defense of one variety of academic writing — the “turgid and impenetrable” kind — is unconvincing (“Everyone Hates Academic Writing. They’re Wrong.” The Chronicle Review, April 1).

If you’ve ever made friends with an unwieldy textbook or spent the night trawling through online libraries for journal papers to support a soon-to-be due essay, you’ve probably lamented the boring and ...