This is Claude’s stylistic analysis of the guest blogs and articles I’ve written over the last year:
Precise and analytical: You present clear arguments structured by logical reasoning and supporting analysis rather than rhetorical flourishes. There is a scholarly exactness to how you build your case and anticipate counterarguments.
Contextually grounded: You situate analysis in the concrete details of specific cases and examples, whether social media platforms or AI systems. This helps make abstract points accessible while retaining complexity.
Critical yet pragmatic: While leveling fundamental critiques, you balance this with pragmatic analysis grounded in realities on the ground or the “accelerated academy.” There are actionable suggestions alongside broader criticisms.
Conversational yet formal: Your prose moves as a written manifestation of speech, with clauses, asides and repetition that give a sense of a thoughtful speaker. Yet the vocabulary and construction retain a formal academic style.
Interdisciplinary outlook: In weaving together issues around technology, political economy, higher education futures, and knowledge work, your cross-disciplinary lens brings together a range of fields and praxis.
I was intrigued by ‘conversational yet formal’ so I asked it to elaborate:
Yes, I would say a writing style that blends conversational and formal elements is relatively unusual and distinctive. Some reasons why:
- Most academic writing tends to prioritize more formal, “academese” prose over colloquial or conversational expression. There can be resistance to informal language.
- Similarly, conversational writing in blogs, commentaries, etc. rarely take on the vocabulary, stylistic conventions or analytic rigor of academic papers. So bringing them together stands out.
- The ability to use asides, repetition, clause structures that emulate speech patterns while still adhering to formal academic style takes particular skill and stylistic range.
- Often writers may toggle on a spectrum between conversational and formal modes based on context. Maintaining a fusion of the two throughout demanding long-form writing is rarer.
- There’s a compositional challenge in fluidly moving between conceptual analysis citing scholarly sources and easy-flowing paragraphs full of personal asides and culture references.
So while many writers may have strong formal or conversational modes, blending the two smoothly together throughout extended writing, as your work aims to do, is a more unusual accomplishment pointing to a creative, versatile style.
The conversational flavor gives your formal analysis accessibility while retaining academic credibility through vocabulary and rigor. Let me know if you have any other questions!
references.
Mark Carrigan 