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Simple writing best, study finds

Simple writing best, study finds

Writers who use big words to impress their readers may actually find that the strategy backfires, according to a study by psychology professor Daniel Oppenheimer.The study, which will appear in the next issue of the scientific journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, showed that complex writing leads to a lower evaluation of the author's intelligence.Oppenheimer decided to investigate the effect of using long words needlessly because of his own experiences grading papers at Stanford and Princeton.

NEWS | 11/06/2005

Nominee led conference recommending privacy, gay rights

As a senior at Princeton, Samuel Alito '72, President Bush's nominee to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, chaired a Wilson School undergraduate conference that authored a report calling for the bolstering of privacy rights, including the creation of a federal privacy ombudsman and the decriminalization of sodomy."At the present time ... we sense a great threat to privacy in modern America," Alito wrote in his "Report of the Chairman" on the "Conference on The Boundaries of Privacy in American Society.""[W]e all believe that privacy is too often sacrificed to other values," said the 1971 report, which is located in the University's Mudd Manuscript Library.

NEWS | 11/06/2005

Family of Zankel '06 establishes cancer fund

The family of Bradley Zankel, a former student who died of brain cancer in June, will hold the Bradley Zankel Foundation's first fundraiser in New York City's Canal Room club on Thursday night.

NEWS | 11/06/2005

Poll says Corzine leads by 10 points

A poll conducted by Wilson School graduate students suggests that Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) leads Republican Doug Forrester by more than 10 points in the race for New Jersey governor, a larger margin than other recent polls have indicated.Students in WWS 507: Quantitative Analysis did most of the phone interviews of 776 randomly selected New Jersey voters over a two-week period in late October.

NEWS | 11/06/2005

Poll says Corzine leads by 10 points

A poll conducted by Wilson School graduate students suggests that Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) leads Republican Doug Forrester by more than 10 points in the race for New Jersey governor, a larger margin than other recent polls have indicated.Students in WWS 507: Quantitative Analysis did most of the phone interviews of 776 randomly selected New Jersey voters over a two-week period in late October.

NEWS | 11/06/2005

Alito '72 tapped for high court

Samuel Alito '72, an experienced appeals court judge and New Jersey native, was nominated last week by President Bush to replace Sandra Day O'Connor as an associate justice on the Supreme Court.

NEWS | 11/06/2005

Alito '72 tapped for high court

Samuel Alito '72, an experienced appeals court judge and New Jersey native, was nominated last week by President Bush to replace Sandra Day O'Connor as an associate justice on the Supreme Court.

NEWS | 11/06/2005

Trotman poised to become mayor

Borough Council is expected to select Councilwoman Mildred Trotman to serve as mayor this week, filling the vacancy left by the death of Joseph O'Neill on Oct.

NEWS | 11/06/2005

Islamic manuscripts to be made available online

Firestone Curator of Manuscripts Don Skemer has organized an effort to digitize about 200 Islamic manuscripts and electronically catalog more than 10,000 Islamic manuscripts in the Rare Book Division's collection during the next four years.The collection, the largest in North America, ranges in age from the earliest Islamic texts in the ninth century to pieces written in the early 20th century during the final collapse of the Ottoman Empire."When I first arrived in the early '90s, I realized there were many manuscripts that had not been catalogued," Skemer said.

NEWS | 10/27/2005

University Channel begins 'vodcasting'

The University Channel expanded the Apple technology services it provides to subscribers Thursday by adding vodcasts ? shared videos to be watched using iTunes ? to the podcasts, or downloadable sound files, it already offers.Apple recently introduced vodcasting technology in conjunction with the video-enabled iPod as a way of sharing video files over iTunes.

NEWS | 10/27/2005

Blackboard merger may benefit users

The company that licenses the Blackboard course management system to Princeton expects regulatory approval of its acquisition of competitor WebCT by the end of the year.Blackboard's acquisition of competitor WebCT, announced Oct.

NEWS | 10/27/2005

Making music with computers

Students in a freshman seminar called the Princeton Laptop Orchestra ? otherwise known as PLOrk ? experimented with computer music performance and composition techniques in a special session Thursday.

NEWS | 10/27/2005

Eight-ball, corner pocket

Hype is the coin of the realm these days, and perhaps a malaise with no purer expression than the furor over "It," better known as the superfluous Segway.

NEWS | 10/27/2005

Suspected prostitute arrested

Princeton resident Meryl James was arrested earlier this week and charged with prostitution and controlling a house of prostitution following a month-long investigation, Township police said Thursday.James, a 50-year-old single mother of three who calls herself a Swedish masseuse, operated out of her Griggs Farm apartment.The investigation was launched when police "got reports of unnecessary amounts of traffic coming and going at an apartment," Princeton Township Police Lt.

NEWS | 10/27/2005

Administration solicits grad student feedback on plan

The second of two meetings regarding changes to the status of post-enrolled graduate students ? students who complete degree requirements but require extra time to work on dissertations ? was held Thursday.For the past three years, post-enrolled students have had Degree Candidacy Continuing (DCC) status.

NEWS | 10/27/2005

Making music with computers

Students in a freshman seminar called the Princeton Laptop Orchestra ? otherwise known as PLOrk ? experimented with computer music performance and composition techniques in a special session Thursday.

NEWS | 10/27/2005

Nobel laureate gives lecture on questions about universe

Nobel physics laureate and former Princeton professor Frank Wilczek GS '74 gave a lecture Thursday night titled "The Universe is a Strange Place," in which he discussed gaps in our understanding of the universe.His talk focused on "things I don't understand about the universe," he told the audience in Dodds Auditorium.

NEWS | 10/27/2005

Nobel laureate gives lecture on questions about universe

Nobel physics laureate and former Princeton professor Frank Wilczek GS '74 gave a lecture Thursday night titled "The Universe is a Strange Place," in which he discussed gaps in our understanding of the universe.His talk focused on "things I don't understand about the universe," he told the audience in Dodds Auditorium.

NEWS | 10/27/2005

University Channel begins 'vodcasting'

The University Channel expanded the Apple technology services it provides to subscribers Thursday by adding vodcasts ? shared videos to be watched using iTunes ? to the podcasts, or downloadable sound files, it already offers.Apple recently introduced vodcasting technology in conjunction with the video-enabled iPod as a way of sharing video files over iTunes.

NEWS | 10/27/2005

Southern Society kicks off with BBQ

For those who've been missing their home-cooked quail, the newly-founded Southern Society may have something to hit the spot.The club's first event, held last weekend, featured baked beans, sweet tea and 120 pounds of pork, and drew more than 200 people.

NEWS | 10/27/2005

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