Thursday, March 19, 2009

Dr. Bob

Behold Dr. Bob (looking more serious than I've ever seen him before). Dr. Bob got his nickname off the side of a Milwaukee County bus, honest to god: There was a side panel advertising the original Bob Newhart show (the one where he was a psychologist), and it said something like "Tune in to Dr. Bob!" and there you are.

Anyway. Dr. Bob is on my mind because of the one thing he taught me that has always stuck with me. (Sorry, pally, it wasn't SAS -- Sue Nord did all my homework. ;-) No, Dr. Bob taught me to ask a question when considering reported research and whatnot. That question is: "So what?"

That's a journo for ya, boiling it down to the absolute essence. No muss, no fuss, just "So what?"

I'm training for a part-time, online-only, copyediting position with a publisher of, among other things, social sciences journals. Today's assignment quoted someone saying "So what?," but in about 30 words instead of two. Simple = good, people. :-) And if you can answer "so what?" as simply as possible, your readers will be better served as well. I'm just sayin'. ;-)

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1 comment:

Engineering Goddess said...

Almost sounds like me when I'm working with someone on my staff - they want to spend major $$ on something but can't understand that upper management always asks "so what?" - as in "why is it so important to do this"