{"id":42344,"date":"2018-02-05T09:22:34","date_gmt":"2018-02-05T17:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=42344"},"modified":"2018-02-05T09:22:34","modified_gmt":"2018-02-05T17:22:34","slug":"academic-writing-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/academic-writing-hard\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is academic writing so hard"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-42345\" src=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/academicwriting18.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"680\" height=\"453\" srcset=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/academicwriting18.jpg 680w, https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/academicwriting18-250x167.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Academic writing is a complex business. And it\u2019s that complexity that makes it tricky.<\/p>\n<p>When you sit down to write a thesis, book or paper\u00a0<strong>you start off with<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>material that comes from a well designed project<\/li>\n<li>a defensible analysis and possibly, depending on discipline, a cogent theoretical explanation<\/li>\n<li>a good grip on the relevant literatures in order to situate the work and designate the contribution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To\u00a0<strong>get ready to write<\/strong>\u00a0you need:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>well organised kit \u2013 files, bibliographic data bases, primary materials, transcripts and so on<\/li>\n<li>the right kind of gear at hand \u2013 a good computer, pens and paper, online access<\/li>\n<li>a place conducive to writing \u2013 this varies from person to person but noise, privacy or social are important considerations<\/li>\n<li>a manageable time slot \u2013 whether short or long, you need to be able to focus on the task<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And then to\u00a0<strong>the actual writing<\/strong>. You have to have:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>something to say \u2013 you need to know the point you want to make<\/li>\n<li>a clear picture of your readers \u2013 this is so you can connect what you want to say to their interests and prior understandings<\/li>\n<li>enough confidence to express in words your authority as an expert on the topic<\/li>\n<li>a view about what you want to happen as a result of the writing being read by your readers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As if that\u2019s not enough,\u00a0<strong>you can\u2019t do without<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>understandings of the particular writing form \u2013 its genre, conventions and disciplinary framings<\/li>\n<li>the secretarial stuff \u2013 you need to know how to write a sentence, paragraph, headings, handle meta-commentary and so on<\/li>\n<li>a sound strategy that you use to create the first draft \u2013 outlines, tiny texts, pomodoros, whatever works for you<\/li>\n<li>a diagnostic toolkit \u2013 a set of strategies that help you to sort out any drafting blocks and problems, and to undertake the revision and then editing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Whew. But wait, there\u2019s\u00a0<strong>even more.<\/strong>\u00a0It helps if you:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>are a student of academic writing and are steadily building your criteria about what \u2018good\u2019 academic writing means for you. These criteria are what you use to guide your revision and editing.<\/li>\n<li>understand how to use language to convey a sense of who you are as a scholar \u2013 your writing voice \u2013 any piece of writing is an opportunity to improve your own artisanal writing practice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Yes, academic writing really is all of those things and a bit more besides\u2026. well, like the identity work involved in writing, just for starters.<\/p>\n<p>But it is this totality, all these things combined, that makes up an academic writing practice.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s no wonder that it\u2019s hard to find the perfect bit of writing advice. Most writing advice addresses\u00a0<em>some<\/em>\u00a0of the above but not the lot. That doesn\u2019t make partial advice wrong \u2013 it\u2019s just not complete. Learning more about academic writing and finding the right help is always a matter of piecing together bits and pieces from various sources about all of the different aspects of writing.<\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s no wonder that what can seem to be a bit trivial \u2013 the lack of the right writing gear for instance, or half organised reference material or a fuzzy idea of what a journal actually wants \u2013 can make writing and finishing a paper really difficult. Most of the above list, if not all,\u00a0<em>do<\/em>\u00a0need to be in place and working together if the writing is to go smoothly and, yes, do its job.<\/p>\n<p>This academic writing business isn\u2019t simple or straightforward. It\u2019s complicated.<\/p>\n<p>So we ought not to beat ourselves up if we find it hard sometimes. It is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Academic writing is a complex business. And it\u2019s that complexity that makes it tricky. When you sit down to write a thesis, book or paper\u00a0you start off with: material that comes from a well designed project a defensible analysis and possibly, depending on discipline, a cogent theoretical explanation a good grip on the relevant literatures [&hellip;]\n&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/academic-writing-hard\/\" class=\"more\">learn more&rarr;<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":42345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15645],"tags":[13315],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-42344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-academic-writing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why is academic writing so hard - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/academic-writing-hard\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why is academic writing so hard - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Academic writing is a complex business. And it\u2019s that complexity that makes it tricky. When you sit down to write a thesis, book or paper\u00a0you start off with: material that comes from a well designed project a defensible analysis and possibly, depending on discipline, a cogent theoretical explanation a good grip on the relevant literatures [&hellip;]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/academic-writing-hard\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-02-05T17:22:34+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/academicwriting18.jpg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"453\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/academic-writing-hard\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/academic-writing-hard\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"Why is academic writing so hard\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-05T17:22:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/academic-writing-hard\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":603,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/academic-writing-hard\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/academicwriting18.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"academic writing\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/academic-writing-hard\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/academic-writing-hard\\\/\",\"name\":\"Why is academic writing so hard - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/academic-writing-hard\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/academic-writing-hard\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/academicwriting18.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-05T17:22:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/academic-writing-hard\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/academic-writing-hard\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/academic-writing-hard\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/academicwriting18.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/academicwriting18.jpg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":453},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/academic-writing-hard\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why is academic writing so hard\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer &amp; 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