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).

Finally, I can provide my graduate students with an impassioned defense of unclear academic writing. I give my students readings on how to produce clear academic writing. I show them how to make ...

Over the decades that I’ve worked in universities, I’ve watched academic letters of reference become increasingly inflated. And letter inflation goes beyond the academy; friends who hire in business ...

Researchers are often asked to write references or recommendation letters. Nature asked three senior scientists what they do when they can’t endorse someone. I’m a neuroscientist in the United States.

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 ...

Stereotypical academic writing is rigid, dry, and mechanical, delivering prose that evokes memories of high school and undergraduate laboratory reports. The hallmark of this stereotype is passive ...