Transcript Academic writing - Adults Learning Mathematics

Academic writing
Understanding your process,
developing your strategy
A webinar with Prof Sarah Moore
• 1. Introduction to this webinar. Academic writing matters of the heart and the head (5 mins)
• 2. Academic writing: understanding your motivation to
write (10 mins)
• 3. What is academic writing? what are the shared
features of academic writing across all disciplines?
what are the specific features of academic writing in
your discipline (15 mins)
• 4. The importance of analysing target journals abstract analysis exercise (10 mins)
• 5. Key lessons and developing your writing strategy and
targets (5 mins)
Feelings about academic writing
What you like about it
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What you don’t like about it
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Feelings about academic writing
What you like about it
• Opportunity to be original
and to have insights heard
• Make connection with other
interested
researchers/writers on my
topic
• Sense of achievement
• Immersion, generation of
ideas, insights,
breakthroughs
What you don’t like about it
• Difficulty getting started,
making progress
• Sense of incompetence
• Worrying about all the
‘rules’ of academic writing
• Feeling constrained by
genre
• Sense of negative
surveillance
The writing process
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Pre writing
Composing
Revising
Editing
Releasing
The generic academic writing structure
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Introduction
Background
Research methodology
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
Underlying features of most academic
writing
• What’s the difference between academic
writing and other forms of writing?
Some key features
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Explication
Intertextuality
Objectivity/detachment
Rationality
Critical thinking
The benefits of freewriting
• Overcomes a sense of the reader over the
shoulder
• Digs into your real motivation and interests
• Helps you to feel and become more creative
and more engaged about your writing
• Generates more ideas and more possibilities
than trying to ‘get it right first time’
Mathematicians Writing
In this article we report on part of a study of the
epistemological perspectives of practising research
mathematicians. We explore the identities that
mathematicians present to the world in their writing and the
ways in which they represent the nature of mathematical
activity. Analysis of 53 published research papers reveals
substantial variations in these aspects of mathematicians’
writing. The interpretation of these variations is supported by
extracts from interviews with the mathematicians. We discuss
the implications for students and for novice researchers
beginning to write about their mathematical activity
Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 2000, vol 31
No 4: 429-453
Mathematicians Writing
In this article we report on part of a study of the
epistemological perspectives of practising research
mathematicians. We explore the identities that
mathematicians present to the world in their writing and the
ways in which they represent the nature of mathematical
activity. Analysis of 53 published research papers reveals
substantial variations in these aspects of mathematicians’
writing. The interpretation of these variations is supported by
extracts from interviews with the mathematicians. We discuss
the implications for students and for novice researchers
beginning to write about their mathematical activity
Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 2000, vol 31
No 4: 429-453
On the pedagogical insight of mathematicians:
‘Interaction’ and
‘transition from the concrete to the abstract’
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Paola Iannone ∗, Elena Nardi
School of Education and Lifelong Learning, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
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Abstract
In this paper we draw on a 16-month study funded by the Learning and Teaching Support Network in the UK and
entitled Mathematicians as Educational Co-Researchers. The study’s aims were two-fold. Primarily we intended to
explore mathematicians’ reflections on issues identified in the literature as highly topical in the area of teaching and
learning of undergraduate mathematics. We also wished to explore the conditions under which mutually effective
collaboration between mathematicians and researchers in mathematics education might be achieved. Participants
were 20 mathematicians from 6 mathematics departments and the study involved a series of Focus Group Interviews
where pre-distributed samples of mathematical problems, typical written student responses, observation protocols,
interview transcripts and outlines of relevant bibliography were used to trigger an exploration of pedagogical
issues. Here we elaborate the theme ‘On the Pedagogical Insights of Mathematicians’ as it emerged from the data
analysis. We do so in two parts: in the first part we present the participants’ reflections on issues of interaction and
communication within the context of teaching and learning in higher education. The data suggest that the lecturers
believe that mathematical learning is achieved more effectively as an interactive process and recognise that lecturing
is not a method generally conducive to interaction. However, they discuss ways in which interaction can be achieved
and refer to seminars, tutorials and feedback to students’ writing as other opportunities for interaction that must not
be missed. In the second part, we focus on the lecturers’ pedagogical reflections regarding the abstract nature of
university mathematics and, in particular, the ways in which teaching can facilitate the transition from the concrete
to the abstract. We conclude with a brief evaluation of the project by the mathematicians themselves
Common reasons why papers are
rejected
Reasons for rejecting by editor before
sending out for review
• Not relevant to that journal’s readers
• Does not make a contribution to new
knowledge in the discipline
• Does not meet established ethical standards
• Poorly written
• Has not been prepared according to the
journal’s guidelines for presentation
Problems with the research
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Paper describes a poorly conducted study
Research conducted was inadequate
Literature review is inadequate
Paper has methodological problems
The sample is problematic
Data has been interpreted poorly
Analysis is weak
Paper duplicates other work / does not report
anything new
Problems with writing/presentation
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Too technical/contains too much jargon
Exceeds the word limit
Carelessly prepared
Badly referenced
Repetitive
Disjointed
Other problems
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Timeliness
Space
High levels of competition in some journals
Recently published a special editition on the
theme of the paper
• Publication biases
Targeting a journal
Experts in effective academic writing strategies say: Do
not write and then plan to find an appropriate ‘place’ for
your writing - rather, analyse target journals carefully and
then write with the benefit of this analysis
Get several copies and scan recent editions of your
chosen journal
Read full instructions for authors, check website and
print off all relevant author info
Work out how you can mould your work to suit the
journal’s agenda
Write to the editor with an initial inquiry
Emailing the editor
‘I am writing a paper on XXX which argues that YYY…Do you
think this would be of interest to readers of the journal at this
time?
If you get a response, reply thanking the editor and letting
him/her know when the paper is likely to be completed.
This relatively easy exercise does several things:
It externalises your commitment to writing
It means that you won’t be ‘writing into the dark’, but that
you’ll have a specifi goal in advance of writers’ retreat
It has the pragmatic effect of differentiating your paper from
those that are submitted without an ‘initial go ahead’ from
the editor
Simple mistakes that all of us make at
some point
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Wrong journal
Wrong format
Not following instructions
Poor writing
Getting carried away with the discussion
Suboptimal reporting of results
Inadequate description of methods
Poor study design
Failure to revise and resubmit after peer review
Keeping track
• Commit to keeping a record of the ‘ecology’ of your paper.
(Versions, correspondence, feedback, reviews, ideas, changes in
direction and so on). This will become a helpful professional
development tool for yourself, and your students.
Some reading:
• Writers’ retreats for academics: exploring and
increasing the motivation to write, Jounal of
Further and Higher Education (Moore 2003)
• Murray, R & Moore, S (2005) The Handbook of
Academic Writing: A Fresh Approach, McGraw
Hill, London.
• Moore, S (ed) (2009) Supporting Academic
Writing Among Students And Academics SEDA
special
Planning an intensive period of writing
• What resource material do you need
• What data do you have to identify, gather or bring?
• What can you do to enhance your focus on writing in
an intensive atmosphere
• What conversations do you need to have and with
whom before finalising and scoping your writing task
• Where does the piece of writing you plan to do ‘fit’
with your bigger writing task and what can it tell you
about the nature of your larger challenges and
activities?
Your writing strategy
• Short term, medium term, long term?
• What ideas do you most want to pursue?
• Are you familiar with the structure and content of
papers in your target journals?
• What supports do you need to enlist to help you to find
time, space, skills to write?
• Who would you like to collaborate with?
• What existing successes can you build on, or what
quick wins might get you started?
• What are your ultimate goals? What would a successful
academic writing strategy look like?
Thanks!
• For more ideas on how to engage with writing,
see my UL40 talk on this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm2lW43Q
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