Show, Don’t Tell: Supporting Autistic Students’ Writing

My Initial Encounter with this Notion

I encountered numerous obstacles to completing my PhD dissertation prospectus and research. In this write-up, I’d like to dive into one specific barrier I encountered after all that was sorted, during the final writing process. While nothing is universal, I suspect that this struggle may be familiar to some other neurodivergent writers.

In this article, I share my experience as a detailed case study. I also explain where “show, don’t tell” comes from and detail what the directive suggests for our writing. Importantly, I invite other autistic folks to consider whether they have a similar struggle. Lastly, I offer some strategies based on my experiences as an autistic researcher, educator, and lifelong learner.

To start, please consider the following sentence:

“Residents in these regions experience higher levels of poverty and social exclusion compared to the better-resourced Central Valley.”

That is one sentence from an earlier draft of my dissertation. Among the helpful critiques from my committee chair was a directive to keep in mind throughout refining my dissertation: “Show, don’t tell.” This sentence, as it was highlighted to me, is telling.

But what does it mean to tell or to show? Let’s dive in. Skip this next section and head down to “What Does It Mean” if you don’t care for history.

Origins of Show Don’t Tell

For those who like knowing this sort of thing, the talented Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov once shared some literary advice with his brother, Alexander, an aspiring author. To convey how a few well-chosen details can evoke a scene, Chekhov wrote –

“In descriptions of Nature one must seize on small details, grouping them so that when the reader closes his eyes he gets a picture. For instance, you’ll have a moonlit night if you write that on the mill dam a piece of glass from a broken bottle glittered light a bright little star, and that the black shadow of a dog or a wolf rolled past like a ball” (Chekhov, 1886, as cited in Yarmolinsky, 1999, p. 14).

What Does It Mean – Show, Don’t Tell

When writing, “show, don’t tell” means changing how I naturally communicate. I’ve spent my whole life telling, not showing. In fact, I have often requested accommodations for people to “tell, don’t show.”

But what is this show, don’t tell meaning?

Telling

Telling involves stating facts without providing the context which illustrates those facts. In a research manuscript, that missing context is usually evidence. In a creative writing project, the context may be amidst all the sensory details.

Telling involves making broad, general statements that summarize facts, conclusions, observations, or gigantic buckets of data without also providing the necessary and descriptive context, vivid imagery, and detailed evidence that substantiates it.

Telling is generally clear and unambiguous. While it may be abstract, telling is matter of fact.

I find it helpful to think of telling as an assertion of facts that expects the reader to accept them “because I told you so” which is rarely enough to establish credibility unless you’re a parent telling a fact to your small child.

Remember that it was telling to say that “Residents in these regions experience higher levels of poverty and social exclusion compared to the better-resourced Central Valley.”

It is also telling to say, “This article is written for a high school-educated reader.”

And it is telling to say that “When I walked Morgan the Dog last night, it was very late and very quiet.”

Of note for this write-up is that my autistic nature finds telling to be exceedingly natural when it comes to communicating. When I read the above things, I don’t read them as needing improvement.

But I needed to show, not tell in my dissertation. So, let’s keep going, yeah?

Showing

Showing, on the other hand, means providing concrete details, specific examples, and generally the evidence that can allow a reader to take in the situation for themselves.

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Let’s pause for a recap. “Show, don’t tell” means rather than simply telling the reader what’s happening, I need to show them. If done correctly, I’ll illustrate the situation that I have previously, thoroughly, and independently assessed. This approach of showing allows the reader to understand the context of my conclusions. If I can show the reader what’s up, I won’t even have to tell them what’s up—they’ll already know.

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(Sorry—ADHD-me needs to interrupt this message with an essential GenX cultural reference: “More Than Words” – by Extreme. And my prosopagnosia will never accept that these two men are two different humans.)

Showing involves making the abstract tangible and more clearly relevant. If we’re doing it well, showing can give the reader the context, and a much more thorough understanding of what we’re hoping to convey.

It is showing, for example, to say that “In Limón, the poverty rate is nearly double that of the Central Valley, with about 34% of the population lacking the resources to meet basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing, and healthcare (Statista, 2022; World Bank, 2024)​”.

It is showing to say that “This article scores a 50 on the Flesch-Kinkaid Reading Ease Scale, suggesting that a high school education may be needed to read it due to the length of the words and sentences used.”

And it is showing to say that “The moonlight cast tall shadows from one very short dog as Morgan and I walked down an otherwise empty street.”

Can you see how it works? “Show, don’t tell” is often used to help creative writers paint pictures with prose, and it definitely also applies to empirical writing, including the PhD Dissertation.

I found this revelation tedious until it became apparent. The way “show, don’t tell” works out in my own mind, in my specific application of the dissertation write-up, is that even though I know my shit, I cannot tell anyone anything. And I’m not done writing until I’m done showing.

I need to show them everything that I have considered in order to come to the conclusions that I’ve come to.

It’s that part. That’s what this “Show, don’t tell” has done for me. What started as a helpful, invited critique has enabled me to know what’s needed in my dissertation write-up. Cool beans.

What Say You, Other Autistic Writers?

Do other autistic writers struggle with this? I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that they do. Despite my own years of education and scholarship, even as I begin my third decade of teaching, and even as I soon begin my sixth decade of life (as I turn fifty—6^th decade begins here) I had not realized this was a thing until I was writing up this dissertation.

This preference for “show, don’t tell” in academia was something I had not fully appreciated. I feel like it’s describing something broad, a pervasive struggle for neurodivergent students and academics.

Autistic people tend to prefer direct, blunt, straightforward communication (Bolis & Schilbach, 2024; Williams White & Keonig, 2021; What is bottom-up thinking in autism?). This preference contrasts with the more nuanced and socially embedded communication typical of non-autistic adults which is consistent with “show, don’t tell” aspirations.

I cannot convey how strongly I prefer telling over showing. I routinely beg people to tell me what they have elaboratively, elegantly shown me across domains of my life.

This directive to “show, don’t tell” gives me language for something that feels very, very familiar. As an autistic person, I’ve spent a lifetime requesting that everyone, please “tell, don’t show” me what they are thinking, how they are feeling, and/or what they are expecting from me.

To be clear, I prefer, respect and deeply value neurodivergent communication styles. If I were The Boss of Academia, I would make it “show or tell.” Or maybe I would create a new method whereby the writer first does the telling (perhaps in a poster session format?) and then has some sort of interactive learning conversation that’s guided afterwards in some focused way that we could design together so that excellent research happens and then still gets communicated effectively.

Because look. I’m from Boston, but have others heard of someone who went by the nickname of Big Papi? David Ortiz played for the Red Sox from 2003-16. That man could hit a baseball, and yet he didn’t play on the field at all. Why? Because we all have our gifts and Mr. Ortiz was a designated hitter.

I’d love to see autistic students supported like that. Those homeruns would involve innovations, cures for diseases, and so much amazing research output long denied because these brilliant autistic researchers can’t write up their findings properly, or something else along these lines.

It’s not that we’re telling anything that we don’t have an obscene abundance of data to bolster. It’s just that this communicative objective of showing without telling is a game of Twister. Designated hitter or designated data nerd, I can think of so many autistic researchers who would make excellent collaborators and the best lab partners.

The belief that anyone is independent, or that we do not all literally need one another, is a fallacy known as the individualistic fallacy. Such a misunderstanding of the social world overlooks the reality that social, economic, and emotional support from others is necessary for everyone’s well-being.

It’s just that some folks, such as disabled, neurodivergent, and/or older people tend to be more upfront about our relatedness. Recognizing it would only benefit us all, in elevating the importance of things like mutual support, and opening more opportunities for collaboration to replace competition.

Alas, circling back to show, don’t tell, the academic world favors a more nuanced, descriptive approach to writing, one that engages the reader on a deeper level. We can’t just tell them what we have come to know. Our academic writing needs to show the evidence of what matters, not tell the reader what it is that matters.

Show, don’t tell.

When Audio Description Falls Short

I was recently watching a TV show called Life & Beth, and I need to watch shows with audio description (because of prosopagnosia). What I noticed was that the particular audio descriptor on this show was telling rather than showing, and I have to say, she needed to do a lot more showing.

How to “Show, Don’t Tell” in Academic Writing

1. Incorporate Empirical Data:

– Instead of conclusion or summary statements made because you reviewed the data, use those data, descriptive statistics, tables, graphics, etc., and cite them.

– Example: Rather than saying “high poverty rate,” specify “34% of the population lives below the poverty line.”

2. Provide Descriptive Context:

– Paint a picture of the conditions or situations you’re discussing.

– Example: Rather than saying “lack of access to resources,” describe the living conditions, specific lack of access to what resources, note the historical factors that contribute to the present situation.

3. Use Examples and Case Studies:

– Illustrate broader trends with specific instances or anecdotes.

– Example: Cite a case study of a community or individual that depicts the broader issue noted.

4. Engage the Senses:

– Describe what can be seen, heard, smelled, or felt to “show, don’t tell” especially with creative writing.

– Example: Instead of saying “a busy shop,” describe “the bustling marketplace with vendors shouting their prices, the scent of sopa negra in the air, and the bright colors of mangos on display.”

5. Focus on Actions and Dialogue:

– Show characters or subjects in action and use their own words to convey their perspectives.

– Example: Instead of saying “students were upset,” describe “students voiced their frustration during the meeting, with one stating, ‘We feel that our request for a formal voice without vote was not seriously considered.'”

In Sum,

Adapting to the “show, don’t tell” preference in academia was so weird for me as an autistic academic who so very, very, very much prefers to tell, not show. However, I have figured out how to do this, ish, as detailed in this article.

The struggle is real but the payoff is pretty great, as it has helped me to be able to communicate better, by sharing what all it is that I have considered in order to arrive at the understandings that I’ve got.

Still, whew.

Want to discuss this topic? There is a thread about it on the facebook page.

 

References

Bolis, D., & Schilbach, L. (2024). Differences in social communication styles between individuals with high and low autistic traits. Cerebral Cortex, 34(13), 104. https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article-abstract/34/13/104/7661140

Statista. (2022). Poverty rate by region in Costa Rica. Statista. Retrieved July 19, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1400866/poverty-rate-by-region-costa-rica/

Williams White, S., & Keonig, K. (2021). Challenges and adaptations in communication for autistic individuals. Journal of Communication Disorders, 92, 106-117. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1750946723001290

World Bank. (2024). Poverty. World Bank. Retrieved July 19, 2024, from https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty

Yarmolinsky, A. (1999). The unknown Chekhov: Stories & other writings of Anton Chekhov hitherto unpublished. New York: Macmillan. (Original work published 1954).