Academic Writing
Following this mornings academic writing session, I've been reflecting on my draft AOL essay that I've recently submitted. It's been an interesting couple of weeks shifting gears back into an academic head space and getting to grips with academic writing again.
I have to remind myself that the purpose of my writing is to aid the reader's understanding of my subject discipline, research and findings and in order to do this my structure must be correct.
When Peter spoke about Headings within essays I breathed a sigh of relief! I decided to split my first AOL essay using Two Headings as I was concerned my writing was digressing and not bringing together my related points and material in a logical order. I found that by splitting the essay, this helped me focus on making my points clearer, concise and more focused. By no means is my draft AOL perfect, in fact I've re-read it several times since submitting and by taking time to consider its contents through the eyes of a reader rather than writer, I realise I need to continue focusing on structure as I move forwards.
In Peters first academic writing session he suggested looking at essay writing using three words:
GENERATE >>> ORGANISE >>> PRESENT
List of ideas Find Common Themes Reform, review & rewrite
Using this as a tool, this afternoon I took time to reflect on my first AOL draft and tried the following exercise:
1. I gave myself the task of summing up the main points of each paragraph in my essay and tasked myself with writing them out in one sentence.
2. I then read each sentence back, which in turn presented me with the outline of my essay.
3. This then allowed me to see how logical it all sounded and review the structure where necessary.
Would recommend giving it a go if you're also worried about structure when it comes to your academic writing... please share with me your experiences!
Hi Natasha, thank you for sharing these structural thoughts about writing...like I mentioned in my latest blog I am using kind of structural floating. I am aware of idea, key words, going through theories and ways of writing. I literally use the Csikszentmihalyi's "concept of flow" (trying to have a clear goals, being creative, making a good balance between challenge and skill, and in the end a good absorption, concentration) and i can start playing with the words like in the studio with the somatic research or movement. When we forget ourselves, and when we are focused on what we are doing, than we are in control and this state becomes intrinsically rewarding. And afterwards, finding a good theory for our work is not even an issue:) well ok, maybe this sounds very simplified, the things are what they are, but in the middle of any research is a bit struggle and enjoyment, it must be, otherwise, we need to pay attention to something else. I guess all my work and writing and actually whatever i am doing in my life is related to the flow haha, so I guess, I am trying to be embodied through fluidity anyway and anytime:), through words, reading either moving.
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