I have quite a lot of writing experience outside academia. I’ve written lessons for students that included creative writing examples. I’ve written policies and procedures. I’ve written documentation for programmers. I’ve written help articles for end users of technical products. I’ve written a memoir, as well as discarded drafts for three or four novels. I’ve written hundreds of video scripts. I’ve written online instruction for dozens of lessons. I wrote blog posts on a regular basis This is what 30+ years as a professional writer looks like.
None of that writing is quite like what we see in scholarly and academic writing. According to Zhihui Fang, writing for Routledge (2021), “Academic writing is a means of producing, codifying, transmitting, evaluating, renovating, teaching, and learning knowledge and ideology in academic disciplines.” The author also stresses the importance of academic writing for disciplinary learning and academic success. As an English major in my undergraduate days, I scholarly literature reviews and critiques. These papers required research and appropriate citations. However, in my Master of Science writing assignments, the purpose is more about capturing and sharing empirical knowledge in a particular field. This is an important way to share learnings with other researchers. I’ve also written quite a few blog posts to reflect on my learnings in the program, as you can see on this site. According to Eveleth, writing for Smithsonian Magazine (2014) there were 1.8 million articles published each year in 28,000 journals (and likely growing more since then). Eveleth reports a study from 2007 that claimed most papers are only read by their authors, referees, and journal editors (Eveleth, 2014). To me, this represents an enormous missed opportunity. If the purpose of scholarly writing is to share new knowledge, or make new connections between existing knowledge, something is off if hardly anyone reads them. Maybe it’s the tone, which is much more formal than what you see in this blog. Maybe authors frequently fail to have a clear goal for why they are writing the paper and who they are writing it for. Eveleth (2014) implies that the incentive structure in academia is to blame for an attitude that it is better to publish something of poor quality over not publishing. If the incentive structure is the root cause, maybe authors are only writing it to fulfill a quota. I have had many academic journal articles assigned for reading in my Master’s level courses in Learning Technologies. In some ways, scholarly writing is a great way to share knowledge about the newer field of online learning, especially where an appropriate textbook doesn’t yet exist. However, I have found the quality of articles uneven at best, and a poor avenue for learning most of the time. That is not to say that scholarly writing isn’t an important format. For student assignments, it’s a structured way to show what you’ve learned. It's a thorough way to demonstrate your own critical thinking about a subject. I'm proud of my own work. One of my samples represents my research interests quite well. Academics may be in for a major evolution, however. As AI makes it easier to write (and review), I hope the quality of scholarly writing will improve. As an assignment, instructors will need to be careful about how they structure student work that could be completed or assisted by AI. However, AI can now also assist with grading and feedback, so perhaps the we can enhance the learning experience for students. References Eveleth, R. (March 25, 2014). Academics Write Papers Arguing Over How Many People Read (And Cite) Their Papers. Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved April 5, 2024 from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/half-academic-studies-are-never-read-more-three-people-180950222/ Fang, Z. (June 15, 2021). What is Academic Writing? (and Other Burning Questions About It). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. Retrieved April 5, 2024 from https://www.routledge.com/blog/article/what-is-academic-writing-and-other-burning-questions-about-it.
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AuthorMichele Wiedemer has worked in software as an "accidental instructional designer" for many years. She is currently completing the MS in Learning Technologies at The University of North Texas. This blog represents reflections on specific assignments in the coursework. Archives
February 2024
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