1. Writing WORKSHOP
Writing is easy – you just stare at a blank piece of paper till
your eyeballs bleed!

2. Writing WORKSHOP
• Writing activity
• Reflecting on the activity
• What we can do ...
• Next steps
• Useful resources

3. Writing Activity
Free writing
Each person should have in front of them:
• Two sheets of paper:
• One, ‘Writing’ - blank, to write upon,
• Two, ‘Commentary’ - to note reasons for not
writing
• Pens or pencils

4. The Activity
• When asked, turn to your ‘Writing’ page
and write for five minutes without
pause on the question on the next slide.
• If you stop writing for any reason, write
that reason, no matter how trivial or
insignificant on the ‘Commentary’ sheet.

5. Now for five minutes write on:
What I like about my own academic
writing practices

6. Reflection (1) Why did you STOP writing?

7. 1) Some reasons for stopping:
• Thinking
• Searching for a word, spelling, tense
• Uncomfortable
• Distracted
• Couldn’t see the point
• Don’t know enough yet
• What are you going to do about this?

8. Some solutions …
• Get into a good physical & mental space:
Be comfortable – your way
Accept the task – or fake it!
• Brainstorm & plan before you write
• Once you start – go with the flow
• Don’t stop!
• Free write: Do not search for the right word – re-
draft and improve later
• Leave gaps – read more after writing.

9. Reflection (2)
• What do you like about your own academic
writing practices?

10. What other staff have said
• I discover what I’m thinking
• I puzzle out my ideas
• It’s an exploration
• It’s exciting
• I am concise and effective
• I try to be helpful and useful
• It’s teasing out my thinking
• I never quite know where it’s going
• I’m incredibly organised…

11. What students have said:

12. I am still not sure if my work is
considered academic, I still don’t know
what makes one of my essays better
than another.

13. I never look at the feedback – I just
check the grade… if it’s good I’m
happy – if it’s bad (I sulk) …

14. Academic language, the kind of language that
doesn’t readily flow off my tongue: the type of
language I rarely use when speaking to my
peers. The type of language that I don’t
readily understand and the type of language
that means spending hours at a computer
turning something quite simple into
something that sounds moderately impressive
with elitist results.

15. Can we change that?
Can we set up safe, creative spaces for student
writing?
Things to think about:
• We treat writing differently… If it were sport
or driving or cooking...
• Process not product
• Craft not perfect
• Practise, practise, practise…

16. Perhaps it is not that we/they cannot write
We all need to:
• ‘Write to learn’
• Write little and often
• Half hour a day...
• Write first...
• Censor later

17. Free Writing
• Peter Elbow (1998) argues that free-writing
encourages us to write at length without fear
of censorship and:
• Frees us to explore a topic
• Encourages understanding
• Focusses on the writing...
• Spelling & grammar (3 min): http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlL5W2qA0EA
• On writing (9min):
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDUn1c4uxUE

18. NEXT STEPS…
Make class time for students to:
•Write little and often
•Summarise an argument
•Explain a concept
•Apply a theory
•Start the assignment
•Keep a learning journal...
•Write for half an hour every day...

19. What Tips do you give?

20. Critical thinking questions
• What, why, when, where, who, how
• What if, so what, what next…
• http://learnhigher.ac.uk/Students/Critical-thinking

21. Essay structure
• ‘Body’: 80% - answers Q in chain of
paragraphs: draft & re-draft – use the
questions…
• Introduction: 7% - says how you will answer
the Q – write last.
• Conclusion – 13% - proves you have answered
the whole Q.
• Bibliography – shows the reading you did to
answer the Q.

22. Paragraph as dialogue
• What is this paragraph about?
• What exactly is that? (Define)
• Tell me more…
• What is the evidence & what does it
mean?
• So what? (How does this link back to the
Q?)

23. Writing …
• Organise your DESK:
• http://learning.londonmet.ac.uk/TLTC/learnhigher/desk/desk.html
• Check out these writing resources:
• http://learning.londonmet.ac.uk/TLTC/connorj/WritingGroups/
• Essay writing animation – Portsmouth:
• http://ondemand.port.ac.uk/central/One_way_to_write_an_essay.wmv
• EXCELLENT site for linking phrases and for WRITING:
http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/
• Essay/report quiz:
http://learning.londonmet.ac.uk/LMBS/study/reports_essays/
• Our Preventing Plagiarism course (also in WebLearn):
• http://learning.londonmet.ac.uk/TLTC/learnhigher/Plagiarism/