Who Notices What?

I remember a commercial I saw this week: three men were sitting at a bar table. When the waitress comes over, they ask her if women really notice the shoes men wear. She immediately told them what they were wearing, for she had noticed. The men realized that women do notice those things.

I decided that I wanted to put this to the test. Today, I wore two different color shoes. The right shoe is brown, and the left shoe is black. However, I didn't want to stop there, so I went further. I wore a white sock with the brown shoe and a blue sock with the black shoe. I figured that this should clash and stand out from the khaki pants and maroon shirt I wore. (I also wore a black belt, which I have been told does not go with brown shoes--but there is debate in circles about that.)

I made it a point to walk to different places in the building and say "hi" to those who are supposed to be the most fashion-conscious among us. It was sometime around noon before one fellow employee noticed. I visited another office, and there were four women there. I asked if anybody noticed anything about me today. Only one of them realized what it was.

In some ways, this is like writing a paper. Some people notice the details while others only notice the big picture. However, it gets even more complicated when you realize that some people may notice the tiniest detail today when they hardly noticed the big picture last week. This can happen to anyone. My extremely fashion conscious coworker has previously noticed if my socks were the wrong shade of blue to go with my shirt, but never noticed my mismatched shoes and socks today.

What is the point of this illustration? Don't neglect the details. You never know when someone might be suddenly interested in a seemingly-insignificant comment in your writing and go to the source for more information. If it turns out that you didn't have all the material correct, it will cast doubt upon the rest of your paper--even if it is solid. This is also a reason to have someone else proofread your paper for you. They might already know what color your socks are . . .

The True Meaning

Where does the phrase, "Saved by the Bell," come from? Is it based off of a hit teen tv show in the early 90's? Does it refer to a boxer being saved from a knockout? Or does it refer to the morbid manner that corpses saved themselves from being buried alive?

These options are the subject of a great debate igniting the internet (see www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/311000.html). It is impossible to tell what the correct origin of the phrase is. Therefore, some of the meaning is lost.

In writing academic papers, the true meaning must be clear. The last thing that an academic writer wants is for the professor or other readers to have to guess at the intended meaning of a sentence or paragraph. Even if the meaning is implied and the reader will eventually come to the right information through context, this momentary confusion obstructs the flow and charm of the paper.

Therefore, the following three guidelines should be kept in mind: 1) What is clear in the author's mind may not be clear to the reader; 2) Make sure that pronouns refer back to subjects within the same sentence or at least the sentence before; and 3) Err on the side of being too clear. With these guidelines, writers can ensure that they accurately get their point across to the reader.

Summer time

Summer time and the livin' is . . .

Walk on the beach,
Run to the car,
Fill up the tank,
Maybe.

Fly a kite,
Run around a block,
Swim in the water,
Refreshing.

Picnic in the park,
Barbecue on the deck,
Writing Center open house food,
Anticipating.