Writing in the Logic of English #4

Career in editing, publishing and teaching

My early career was in journalism and PR, and particularly editing, in Tokyo and Kyoto. I’ve edited both commercial as well as academic publications – newspapers, magazines, books and journals. While working as a freelance writer and editor I served as part-time or full-time lecturer at several universities for about seven years before becoming a tenured associate professor at Kyoto University in 2010. I’ve taught many academic writing courses for both undergraduates and graduate students. Here at GSGES I work with the graduate students in my lab on their writing, and I teach a course on Academic Writing Strategies. I’ve published three monographs recently with Routledge, which involved extensive editing, so I’m familiar with the experience of the writer as well as the editor.

One of these books featured many Japanese contributors, who were both academics as well as NGO staff and other non-academics. Because some non-academic contributors did not feel they could write a chapter themselves, we decided to include a chapter introducing each section that was based on oral interviews, which proved to be a good workaround. Sometimes we ended up writing certain sections of the chapters for the contributors and asked them to revise them. In my experience in working with Japanese writers versus writers from Western or other Asian countries it’s often more challenging working with Japanese writers in terms of helping them to understand English-language rhetoric.

English rhetoric vs. Japanese rhetoric

In terms of different approaches to writing in English and Japanese I often cite my own experience as an exchange student on a junior year abroad in Japan. At a university in Tokyo, I took courses in English on various Japanese topics where I was expected to write final papers. I had always been a good writer, usually receiving top scores on submitted essays and reports, so I was confident of receiving good grades. However, I was shocked when my Japanese professors handed back my papers with grades of B and C. When I asked why, one professor explained, “You have a lot of information here, but the organization is too simplistic. In the first part you say something, then you repeat your main points in the next section, and later again without bringing in any opposing ideas.” At that point I realized that there must be a different approach in writing in Japanese than in English.

I have heard that several classical Japanese rhetorical approaches exist that have influenced Japanese writing over the years. One is called ki-sho-ten-ketsu (起承転結). In this approach you first introduce an idea and develop it, then bring in new or conflicting ideas before synthesizing your arguments at the end. This type of writing may seem very ambiguous, even confusing to non-Japanese readers who expect a clear and consistent thesis. An ideal English-language academic paper will first introduce the thesis and organizational structure in the introduction, support the thesis with data and arguments in the body of the paper, and summarize and repeat these supportive arguments in the conclusion. The rhetoric is perhaps not so elegant but it’s quite linear and coherent. Opposing ideas are often cited in a paper, but mainly in order to refute them.

Today most Japanese students and researchers understand the organization of an English-language academic paper, but they may be influenced by traditional rhetorical styles as noted above. In my classes I emphasize the need to focus on a single thesis or hypothesis and support it consistently. Of course Japanese are not the only people with traditional rhetorical approaches that differ from that of English academic writing. For example, I’ve found that students from Latin America tend to write in a fairly discursive, even flowery way. It’s sometimes very elegant, but it can veer off the topic. You may have to request that they delete half of what is written and return to the main ideas.

Challenges for Japanese in writing academic articles

Linear rhetoric. As noted above, English-language rhetoric is very linear; introduce what you are going to say, explain it in the body, and then summarize what you just said in the conclusion. It may seem repetitive, but academic writing strives for clarity and coherent arguments.

Discuss abstract ideas. With natural science, articles are very much data-driven, so it’s not such an issue. With social science, it may be more difficult to organize ideas in a very clear and linear way. I find that Japanese writers are usually fine in the introduction, really good on methodology and results, but have trouble in the discussion section, trying to delve deeper into their data and bring up abstract arguments.

Uniqueness. Among the criteria for acceptance of a journal paper is being able to prove the uniqueness and significance of your research, which requires a thorough literature review and identifying a gap in the research that your paper will help to fill.

Advice on writing academic articles

Take a course. If you haven’t had any instruction in academic writing, then taking a course is quite a good idea. There are also some excellent academic writing texts to learn from.

Write an outline before you start your draft. I always liken a good outline to a blueprint for a house. You need to know where the rooms are located, how to get from the first to the second floor, how floors will be supported, etc. Just as a house built without a blueprint might collapse, the arguments presented in a paper may collapse without the support and direction provided by an outline.

Have others read it. Once you have a draft, before submitting it, show it to as many people as possible and get as much feedback as you can. It’s important for getting suggestions on the organization or the gaps in the logic as well as improving the writing, particularly if you’re writing in a foreign language.

Researching journals. Spend a lot of time researching journals to find an appropriate journal for your paper. People look at the impact factor, and sometimes that’s all they look at, but there are other relevant considerations. For example, you should investigate the turnaround time at different journals. I would recommend finding a journal that publishes quite regularly. A journal with a good impact factor that is only published twice a year may already have all the articles that they need for the next several years. They may also provide very poor response, or it may take six months for them to review it. If it’s a journal that has a link to a major publisher, they may have dedicated staff who are working more regularly. Conversely, if it’s a journal that is a labor of love by faculty who are very busy and only spend time on it when they have time, that’s going to delay their reviews. You might also look for special issues related to your topic because the editor will need to have a certain number of articles on that topic at a certain time. That can provide really good opportunities for new researchers. If you fail with one journal, don’t give up – everybody gets rejected, and it may just mean that your topic wasn’t right or they recently published something similar. Find the best fit with your subject as well as journals that will give you good feedback and work with you to revise papers.

English editing. Non-native English speakers often ask if they should pay someone to revise their text. If they can afford it, I would say yes. The reviewers may be thinking that the quality of the English isn’t their main criterion for acceptance, but of course it influences the way that they look at the paper. If it seems to be in very good English, they’re more likely to look seriously at what is being said, not just how it’s being said.

What a university can do: English courses in academic writing

One thing that the university can do is to require that undergraduates take a course in academic writing. In most universities in the U.S., for example, first-year undergraduates are required to take a composition course. Japanese undergraduates get some guidance on how to structure their graduation theses, but there’s a lot more that they could learn at an earlier stage. One very simple suggestion is to make such a course compulsory. Learning about the publication process should be part of a course for upper class or graduate students.

Working internationally

It’s really important that more Japanese academics enter the international arena and write in English. If you only stay in Japan, you’re not able to share widely your ideas and influence discussions among other people in your field. If you don’t publish or go to conferences, you’re missing out on opportunities.

When students or researchers writing for an international journal promote a theoretical framework that has been developed in Japan and isn’t known elsewhere they may find it a hard sell to explain why this particular framework is better than other frameworks out there that have been promoted internationally. Of course, there are excellent frameworks or theories that haven’t received much international exposure, but you may meet with some initial reluctance by international journal reviewers.

Universities should encourage people to publish and present in English. Perhaps there need to be more rewards and incentives for people to work more internationally. It’s not just a matter of university rankings but it’s important to be part of the global conversation. We know that universities in China, Korea and other places are stepping up their activity on the international stage. I’d love to see Japanese take a more active role.
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