Avoid Platitudes in Your Writing

Platitudes are statements that are meant to be significant and important, but which essentially have no meaning.

A few examples:

Shakespeare is one of the greatest writers of all time.

Einstein is the most profound genius of the last millenium.

America is the greatest, most amazing country in the world.

Do you see a pattern here? The problem with platitudes is that they're simply opinions masquerading as facts. They don't tell the reader anything new or singificant, and are a complete waste of your energy and time. Stating that Shakespeare is one of the greatest writers of all time brings abolsutely nothing to the table; you're not putting forth an original or thoughtful idea, but simply declaring something that cannot be proved.

Platitudes are not entirely without their uses; when you are writing a personal opinion piece, they can give a reader a taste of your worldview or personality. If you think that Shakespeare is the greatest writer of all time, that information reveals nothing about Shakespeare, but it does say something about you and your literary tastes.

But you must draw a distinction between personal reflection and critical/objective thinking. If you are writing a research paper, unless you can prove with conviction that Shakespeare is the greatest writer of all time (and you can't), cut it out of the paper. You can state, instead, that Shakespeare was, for example, one of the most successful playwrights of his time. That statement is correct and justified, because you can, by referring to writing from that period and other pieces of evidence, prove that Shakespeare's plays were popular and that he was indeed a successful playwright.