Be logical, especially when you claim to be logical (for instance, when you say "thus"). Test your generalizations: Do they contradict each other? What implications follow from them? Try to think of exceptions; your readers will. If you find an irreconcilable contradiction in the materials you are treating, say so rather than avoid the issue. If after careful thought you find a text impossibly obscure, or an issue tangled, or a cause irretrievable, say so. Gestures of humility ("I fail to see ..." or "This formula baffles me") should appear rarely and only if any reasonable person would be lost. Be precise: if something happens often, but not always, put it that way; if a statement is characteristic of a thing but not absolutely definitive of it, put it that way ("The general seldom brooded for long after a loss"). Few mistakes raise the reader's suspicion of a writer's competence so much as untrue statements ("The general never brooded"). But avoid excessive qualification: a string of maybes and perhapses looks timid. State firmly, but do not over-state.
Copyright 1996 Yale University. Revised on Monday, May 20, 1996