PRDV002: Professional Writing

Another fundamental aspect of being a good professional and technical writer is developing a professional voice. One of the things that I tell all my students, graduate and undergraduate, is that there is a clear and fundamental difference between knowing what you are talking about and sounding like you know what you are talking about. The difference between these two is often the presence or lack of a professional persona or professional voice.

What exactly is a professional voice? Well, we could probably spend an entire semester working on just that. Entire books have been written and will be written on style, but for our purposes, I define professional voice thus: writing with appropriate authority, allowing sources to back you up rather than speak for you. That may seem subtle, and in a way it is, but placing yourself in a position of authority is a cornerstone of both coming across as a professional as well as owning up to your responsibilities in a professional setting.

Often when we write as grade or high school students, the research itself becomes the focus of our writing. You write a term paper that needs ten sources, and those sources are the term paper; you are simply creating a vessel to share them with the world. While this type of investigative writing can be useful, the presentation is not.

When we present ourselves as professionals, we are the ones who have done the research and who know the relevant background information and sources needed. If you know it, write and talk that way! (And if you do not, do that work so you do not end up being one of those folks that sound like they know what they are talking about when they are, in fact, clueless). Below you will find a couple of example sentences that lay out the differences I am conveying. See if you can guess which is a professional voice:

Looking at these two examples, you should be able to see a marked difference in the way that the author tackles the subject matter at hand and its presentation. The first example maps to the classic "this is what I read" approach, where you simply repeat the wording of your sources verbatim, often while naming the exact book/journal/article that you are drawing on. Now, that is not to say there is not a place for this type of research (there is), but for the most part, when you put all of this information in the text, you are overloading the reader with content they really do not need. The Works Cited page of your text is the place for most of this information in a normal setting, and what you are doing is taking the decision-making process and offloading it to experts rather than owning the choice yourself. Even in situations where your job is simply to inform, you should own the collection and presentation of the data you have found!

Notice that in Example 2, the author makes a clear point (we should not build a coal plant) and then backs it up with strong statements that are supported by relevant citations. The author is not hiding behind sources and is not asking the reader or the sources to make a decision. Instead, the author has decided what they want to say and is simply telling you what they have found out from the research. This is the essence of professional voice – doing the homework and the research and then presenting your point of view accordingly. Instead of talking about your sources, you talk for them and let them back you up. Note that the author does not go beyond the sources quoted in the first example but simply uses them as the backing for their own representation.

Metaphorically speaking, Example 1 represents you, the author, hiding behind your sources. Instead of showing your work and what you think, you throw up the sources and hope for the best. Example 2 takes a different course, using the sources as a backing to make a statement that you feel is correct. In Example 2, you are the one making a firm statement, and if someone wants to question that choice, they can go to the sources you have cited. You have done the homework, and now you are telling folks what you think.

For professional settings, Example 2 is often the way to go. One of the more common complaints about student writing is that it often does not communicate clearly and directly. Taking ownership of the text and the points, allowing sources to back you up rather than hiding behind them, tackles that problem head-on. Now, that is not to say that you will never need to write how Example 1 is framed, but that is not going to be as common.

Even in a literature review setting, you are being asked to take ownership of the text in a way that simply repeating sources does not. A literature review, if you think about it, is the product of you reading all of the relevant literature on a subject and then presenting that research to an audience. You are the one making the call on what belongs and does not, and you are the one that is naming the various camps, setting up their arguments, and explaining how they interrelate. That is a lot of work for you, the author, even though you are primarily telling someone what other people have said! It is your literature review, after all, and you need to own that for better or worse.

So, when it comes to professional voice and technical writing and communication, keep in mind that you are the expert, the one doing the research and the presentation. Own that role, and make your points with your sources doing the backing. Do not use them as a shield, but use them instead as a backup when you make your points. One day, you may not need to use them at all once you have become an expert in a given area. Think about someone like the late Neil Armstrong – who would realistically question his description of walking on the moon? In a situation where he has explained what that is like, he is the source. He is the expert because an ever-shrinking number of people are primary sources that have actually been on the moon and returned to tell us about it! And eventually, you may be in a similar position in your own niche area of study and professional practice. Until then, use other sources to make your points with the appropriate authority.

Source: Adam Rex Pope, https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Composition/Technical_Composition
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