Question:Does "voice" that resonates compete with or enhance "academic voice"?
Answer: I'll use the classic Dr. Rickly and Dr. Baake response and reply: It depends.
I mean in the English department even, some professors through their grading requirements encourage voice or even honor voice, while others restrict such "digressions." I can control the voice based on the topic, but only to some extent. I'm not a Shakespeare buff, but I am taking Shakespeare course. Thus when in Shakespeare class, do as the Shakespeareans do, right? I think any writing pertaining to "academic" rigor, requires a certain control, manipulation, or selective timing of my voice.
When I teach and when I grade, I tell my students I value their voice. I really do.
However, I emphasize that in writing for a 1301 course, one must use voice when it is within the requirements of the assignment description. I encourage my students. The more they understand the rules governing writing, grammar, and language, their understanding and use of their own voice matures.
2 comments:
Ed:
Good point. Some writing and some situations allow for more voice than others. For example, when filling in the application for your driver's license, little voice is expected or even tolerated.
But in most academic writing situations one can find a way to add voice. The timbre of the writing will vary with the situation of course, but some kind of timbre is usually appropriate. So even if writing highly formal literary criticism it is possible to do so with your own voice. Of course, that comes more naturally when you are comfortable with the subject matter.
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