Sentences like "It similarly follows that..." , "It is left as an exercise to the reader to show that..." , "Clearly, ..." always leave me dumbfounded.
Those phrases can definitely be abused. When used correctly I think they invite the reader to actively engage with the text and learn to think for themselves instead of passively have everything given for them. The author needs to make sure that they’ve actually given enough information up to that point that the reader, with maybe a few minutes of thought, can see why it’s “clear” or work out the similar case in their notes.
You may enjoy this blog post, "I no longer understand my PhD dissertation".
A sample quote:
> This was not the casual read I had in mind. The notation was alien. I even had to scour the examiner’s report to direct me to the key results. And while I could have sworn this was a well-written thesis, I repeatedly found myself bamboozled by my own prompts. “The result now follows easily…” may have made sense back when, but now the author-turned-confused reader can profess that it most certainly does not follow easily, at least in his own mind.
