The Handbook of Academic Writing - A Fresh Approach

213 Pages·2006·0.85 MB·English

by  Rowena Murray

Rowena Murray and Sarah Moore
The Handbook of Academic Writing
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If you have trouble fitting writing into an already h
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busy schedule, then this is the book for you!
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The Handbook of Academic Writingoffers practical advice to busy academics who want,
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and are often required, to integrate writing into their working lives. It defines what b
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academic writing is, and the process of getting started through to completion, covering o
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topics such as:

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• Gaining momentum f

• Reviewing and revising A
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• Self-discipline a
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• Writing regularly e
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• Writers’ groups and retreats
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Academic writing is one of the most demanding tasks that all academics and
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researchers face. In some disciplines there is guidance on what is needed to be
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productive, successful writers; but in other disciplines there is no training, support or i
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mentoring of any kind. This book helps those in both groups not only to improve their i
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writing skills and strategies, but, equally importantly, to find satisfaction in engaging in g

regular and productive writing.
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Underpinned by a diverse range of literature, this book addresses the different
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dimensions of writing. The fresh approach that Murray and Moore explore in this book r
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includes developing rhetorical knowledge, focusing on writing behaviours and s
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understanding writing contexts.
A The Handbook of
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This book will help writers in academic contexts to develop a productive writing strategy, p
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not only for research monitoring exercises, but also for the long term. o
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Rowena Murrayis a Reader in the Department of Educational and Professional Studies at the Academic
University of Strathclyde. She regularly facilitates a range of innovative and informative professional
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workshops and seminars designed to help academics to develop and enhance their writing. She is
also the author of How to Survive your Viva(Open University Press 2003), Writing for Academic u
Journals(Open University Press 2004) and How to Write a Thesis, 2nd edition(Open University r
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Press 2006).
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Sarah Mooreis Dean of Teaching and Learning at the University of Limerick in Ireland and a y Writing
member of Ireland’s Higher Education Authority. A teacher and researcher in the area of
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organizational behaviour and development, she has used the principles of this discipline to help
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develop effective academic practices and processes both within and beyond her own institution.
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She has designed and delivered nine dedicated writers’ retreats for academics within the last five

years. Sarah is also the lead author of How to be a Student(Open University Press 2005). M
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A Fresh Approach
Cover illustration – John McFarlane
Cover design Hybert Design •www.hybertdesign.com
www.openup.co.uk
The Handbook of Academic Writing
A Fresh Approach

The Handbook of
Academic Writing
A Fresh Approach
Rowena Murray and Sarah Moore
Open University Press
McGraw-Hill Education
McGraw-Hill House
Shoppenhangers Road
Maidenhead
Berkshire
England
SL6 2QL
email: [email protected]
world wide web: www.openup.co.uk
and Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121-2289, USA
First published 2006
Copyright © Rowena Murray and Sarah Moore 2006
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the
purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form,
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher or a licence
from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details of such licences
(for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright
Licensing Agency Ltd of 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 4LP.
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
ISBN-10: 0 335 21933 0 (pb) 0 335 21934 9 (hb)
ISBN-13: 978 0 335 21933 9 (pb) 978 0 335 21934 6 (hb)
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
CIP data applied for
Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk
Printed in Poland by OZ Graf S.A.
www.polskabook.pl
For Ger and Morag

Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Preface ix
Part I
1 Defining and understanding academic writing 3
2 Advancing your writing: Starting, gaining momentum and
engaging creatively in the academic writing process 20
3 Retreating: Reviewing, revising, crafting and enhancing your
writing 36
4 Disciplinarity in academic writing 54
Part II
5 Retreating to advance: Planning, running and participating
in writers’ retreats for academics 73
6 A writing for publication programme 90
7 Writers’ groups 109
Part III
8 Redefining academic writing practices 131
9 Integrating writing into your life 143
10 Using writing to reconcile teaching–research tensions 159
11 Advancing and retreating: The essential dynamic of
academic writing 175
Bibliography 184
Index 191
Acknowledgements
We warmly thank all of the following colleagues and friends: Maura Murphy,
Sarah MacCurtain, Angelica Risquez, Nyiel Kuol, Helena Lenihan, Margery
Stapleton, Eoin Reeves, Eoin Devereux, Liz Devereux, Jill Pearson, Mike
Morley, Noreen Heraty, Gary Walsh, Harriet Cotter, Karen Young, Terry
Barrett, Gearldine O’Neill and Alison Farrell.
We are grateful to those who took time to discuss, read and comment on our
writing-in-progress, including Donald Gillies, Bill Johnston, Caroline Parker,
Christine Sinclair and Morag Thow.
Finally, particular thanks to all of the participants of the University of
Limerick and University of Strathclyde writers’ groups and writers’ retreats
who, since 2001, have been sharing and developing their academic writing
in ways that have created new communities of practice at our universities and
beyond.
Preface
If you are an academic, the chances are that your career development is
defined by what you write. This simple fact is often the basis of a cynicism and
hostility within the academic world. Despite the inevitable problems associ-
ated with how writing is evaluated and rewarded across the disciplines, aca-
demic writing continues to be seen as the fulcrum on which many other
aspects of scholarship depend. In light of this, it is extraordinary that the
process of academic writing continues to be an under-explored, unexamined
and poorly reflected-upon process. If it is a process that lies at the very centre of
academic performance and success for both academic teachers and their stu-
dents, then surely its dynamics and challenges need to be subjected to more
thorough analysis. This book engages in that analysis in order to provide an
empowering framework for academic writers. It aims to help you to develop
effective approaches to your own writing challenges. It offers insights and
lessons that we think will be particularly useful for those who are new to the
academic environment, but will also help with the re-conceptualization of
writing-related issues for those who have been operating in academic
environments for some time.
Academic writing is often a highly problematic but always potentially trans-
formational activity. Despite the great diversity within and between different
academic disciplines, several common themes are associated with the experi-
ence of writing in academia. It is often encountered as a process that is full of
paradoxes. This book aims to identify and explore those common themes and
to help you, the academic writer, to address and resolve the paradoxes for
yourself. It will do this in a way that can also help you to become a more
productive, effective writer with healthier, more positive approaches to what it
means to be an academic, and more particularly what it means to be a writer of
academic text. Whether you are writing your doctorate, planning a journal
article, struggling with reviewers’ comments, or drafting a research proposal,
this book will help you to make more effective progress. It will help you to
devise a strategy that will reach beyond any individual writing task and to
develop an integrated approach to your life as an academic, in which writing
plays a central role.