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Dr. de OSullivan and Lawrence Cleary Regional Writing Centre, UL Writing at Third-level

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Freewriting What I like/dislike about writing Keep writing non-stop for 5 minutes. Write in sentences. Do not edit or censor your writing. Private writing -- no one will read it. Discuss what you have written in pairs.

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Workshop Outline Differences between academic and non- academic writing styles Thoughts and feelings about writing in general and this kind of writing in particular Observing your process and developing healthy, effective writing strategies

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Academic Writing How important is writing? What kind of writing do you do now? What kinds of issues are you likely to encounter? What is different about academic writing? What is involved? Where does academic writing begin? When does life begin?

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Academic Writing Discuss the proposition that education is wasted on the youth (Rose 2001: 89). Rose, J. (2001) The Mature Students Guide to Writing. London, New York: Palgrave.

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Key Stages in the Writing Process Planning Drafting Revision Editing and Proofreading

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The Rhetorical Situation Occasion Topic Audience Purpose Writer

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Structure and Organisation Time Space The Final Frontier

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Organising Principles Thesis Questions Hypothesis

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Organising Principles Unity Coherence Cohesion

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Stylistic Differences that Mark Academic Writing Complexity Formality Objectivity Explicitness Hedging Responsibility

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Key Tasks for Academic Writers Participating in academic conversations Developing and advancing balanced arguments Exploring your personal writing process Developing strategies that work for you

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13 Cracking the Codes Analysing the genre/text and modelling Generate a list of The most important features of academic writing Criteria to make your writing-strategies more effective The important conventions in your discipline What is/is not acceptable in your discipline Student handbooks and guides for written submissions

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Writing to Prompts Strategies that might help boost my academic writing skills Keep writing non-stop for 5 minutes. Write in sentences. Do not edit or censor your writing. Discuss what you have written in pairs.

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Getting Started Create time and space for writing Freewriting Writing to prompts What writing have you done for this assignment, what writing would you like to do The aim of this assignment Experiment with different types of writing

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Other Types of Writing Keep a learning diary (Moore and Murphy, 2005:61) / writing diary / process journal (Elbow and Belanoff, 2003:19). When do you feel most/least motivated to write? What strategies have/have not worked in the past? Write a little bit every day (Moore and Murphy, 2005:117): we learn to write through writing (Hyland, 2002:81). Keep a notebook with you to record ideas when they come to mind (Moore and Murphy, (2005).

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Writing Time Dealing with issues of time Setting goals Binge and snack writing (Murray, 2005) Do I need a big block of time to write productively? Short bursts of productive writing (Murray and Moore, 2006:17) Outlining (Murray, 2005)

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Other Strategies The importance of reading Modelling Images and diagrams Mind mapping Writing dictionaries

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R eg io na l W rit in g C en tr e 19 Dialogue as a Social Strategy Peer-review Generative writing The writing sandwich (Murray, 2005:85): writing, talking, writing Writing buddies (Murray and Moore, 2006:102) Engaging in critiques of one anothers work allows you to become effective critics of your own work.

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20 Strategies that Work for You Writing is a personal process Learning diary (Moore and Murphy, 2005:61) Process journal (Elbow and Belanoff, 2003:19) When do you feel most/least motivated to write? What strategies have/have not worked in the past?

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Things to Note Academic writing style Register Language Clarity of expression Different disciplines have different conventions What are the important criteria for your subject?

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Resources Shannon Consortium Regional Writing Centre, UL http://www.ul.ie/rwc/ http://www.ul.ie/rwc/ Using English for Academic Purposes http://www.uefap.com/index.htm http://www.uefap.com/index.htm The Writers Garden http://www. cyberlyber.com/writermain.htmhttp://www. cyberlyber.com/writermain.htm The OWL at Purdue http://owl.english.purdue.edu/http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ The Writing Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill http://www.unc.edu/depts /wcweb/handouts/index.htmlhttp://www.unc.edu/depts /wcweb/handouts/index.html

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R eg io na l W rit in g C en tr e 23 Reference List Elbow, P. (1998) Writing without Teachers (2nd edition). New York: Oxford University Press. Elbow, P. and Belanoff, P. (2003) Being a Writer: A Community of Writers Revisited. New York: McGraw- Hill. Hyland, K. (2002) Teaching and Researching Writing. London: Pearson Education Ltd. Moore, S. and Murphy, M. (2005) How to be a Student: 100 Great Ideas and Practical Hints for Students Everywhere. UK: Open University Press.

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Reference List Murray, R. (2005) Writing for Academic Journals. UK: Open University Press. Murray, R. and Moore, S. (2006) The Handbook of Academic Writing: A Fresh Approach. Berkshire, UK: Open University Press. Rose, J. (2001) The Mature Students Guide to Writing. London, New York: Palgrave.