brycewang-stanford Writing Style (jaar-writing-style)
A JAAR article should read as rigorous humanities scholarship that a religion scholar outside your area can follow with pleasure. The prose must carry an argument (not just inform), define its terms, and meet JAAR's house conventions (gender-neutral language, serial comma, italicized foreign terms).
When to trigger
- Drafting the introduction/conclusion or doing a final prose pass
- The argument is strong but the writing is dense, jargon-heavy, or flat
- Aligning to JAAR's language conventions before submission
- Handling foreign-language terms, transliteration, and technical vocabulary
Prose principles for JAAR
- Argument-forward. Lead paragraphs with claims; use evidence to support them. The reader should always know what you are arguing and why this paragraph matters.
- Accessible across the field. Define specialist terms and transliterations on first use; gloss tradition-specific concepts; spell out what a non-specialist needs — without condescending.
- Analytic, not confessional or hagiographic. Describe believers' claims precisely; keep your
analytic voice distinct (ties to
jaar-theory-and-method). - House conventions. Gender-neutral language; serial (Oxford) comma; italicize foreign words; consistent transliteration system; American spelling unless a reason otherwise.
- Economy. Cut throat-clearing and redundant context; every quotation earns its space; mind the
word budget (footnotes and references count — see
jaar-structure-and-exposition).
Quotations and terms
- Quote to show evidence, then analyze the quotation — never let a block quote stand unexplained.
- Provide originals where the argument depends on wording; keep transliteration consistent.
- Translate non-English terms on first use; italicize and define.
Anti-patterns
- Dense theory-jargon that excludes non-specialists
- Confessional, devotional, or advocacy tone
- Undefined transliterated terms or inconsistent transliteration
- Gendered generics; missing serial commas; inconsistent spelling
- Quotations dropped in without analysis
Output format
【Argument-forward?】claims lead, evidence supports? [Y/N]
【Accessible?】terms/transliterations defined for non-specialists? [Y/N]
【Analytic, non-confessional?】[Y/N]
【House conventions】gender-neutral + serial comma + italicized foreign terms? [Y/N]
【Economy】tightened to the word budget? [Y/N]
【Next】jaar-citation-and-style
Register table: write for two readers without losing either
Prose for the AAR/Oxford University Press flagship must satisfy the area specialist and the non-specialist scholar of religion at once. Each row names a habit, the reader it loses, and the JAAR move that keeps both.
| Habit | Loses | JAAR move |
|---|---|---|
| Untranslated technical vocabulary | The generalist | Gloss and italicize the term on first use |
| Over-explaining the tradition | The specialist | Compress to what the argument needs |
| Devotional or hagiographic warmth | Both (reads as advocacy) | Describe the claim; keep the analytic voice distinct |
| Long unanalyzed block quotation | Both | Quote, then read the quotation for the argument |
| "Man and his faith" generics | The contemporary reader and copyeditor | Gender-neutral phrasing |
Worked vignette: tightening a confessional paragraph
A draft on Eucharistic devotion reads: "When the faithful gaze upon the Host, they encounter the true presence of their Lord, a mystery that words cannot capture." A JAAR pass:
- Redraw the analytic line. "Practitioners describe gazing on the Host as an encounter with real
presence" — the truth-claim becomes reported data, not the author's premise (a move
jaar-theory-and-methodgoverns). - Cut the throat-clearing. "A mystery that words cannot capture" is devotional filler; it goes.
- Define for the field. Real presence and ostension are glossed on first use so a scholar of Islam or Buddhism can follow without a Catholic-studies background.
- Argument-forward. The paragraph now opens with the analytic claim it supports, not with the devotional scene.
Prose pushback → the fix
| Reader's report | Diagnosis | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| "Dense; I'm not in this subfield and couldn't follow" | Jargon excludes generalists | Gloss terms; spell out what a non-specialist needs |
| "Reads as devotional" | Confessional register | Restore analytic distance; report, don't endorse |
| "Quotations sit unexplained" | Evidence not read | Analyze each quotation for the argument |
| "Gendered generics throughout" | House-convention miss | Gender-neutral language; serial comma |
| "Inconsistent transliteration" | Style drift | Declare one system; apply it throughout |
Hedged calibration: gender-neutral language, the serial (Oxford) comma, and italicized foreign terms are stable JAAR house conventions, but spelling (American vs. British) and any current style-sheet specifics should be confirmed against the journal's submission guidelines, since house style can be updated under the publisher.
Supplementary resources
../../resources/official-source-map.md— JAAR language conventions (gender-neutral, serial comma, foreign-term italics)