How to Trim

In this chapter, the authors introduce trimming as a way to be concise, to uncover the heart of arguments being made, and to make students more effective communicators. They point out the ways in which modern technology can be used to help students trim. They include examples that show how Sherlock Holmes would have been comfortable on Twitter. They discuss how trimming can be done with ancient Buddhist texts. They next provide examples from Adam Smith and Christof Koch's view of human consciousness. They show how trimming can be done in writing to illuminate both the horizontal and vertical planes of a text. Finally, they show how Twitter can be used to send signals about the meanings and significance of our statements.