Helen writes for #AcWriMo: lay a solid foundation

Before each new academic year, I go through the PowerPoint slides I use for teaching and give them a bit of a refresh. Although we offer a variety of workshops in the Academic Skills Team, my focus is almost always writing, in some shape or form. This semester however, I’d picked up some teaching slightly outside my usual remit, concentrating solely on how to read and critique an academic article.

In developing new materials for this, I realised not only how much more space and time I seemed to have focusing on one very specific topic for a workshop, but also how much content I seem to pack into my academic writing teaching. I usually preface writing workshops by explaining that generating good writing depends on groundwork. It is almost impossible to write well if we haven’t read and researched extensively, thought deeply, developed an argument and planned in detail. Looking over my standard ‘Introduction to Academic Writing’ PowerPoint, I realised I don’t focus on the writing itself until over 60% of the way into the session.

Searching for advice on ‘the writing process’ yields an array of opinions. Coventry University’s excellent Centre for Academic Writing suggests that there are five key stages to the process, listing six sub-tasks within each stage (the actual writing beginning in stage three). The University of York comes up with ten stages. For thesis writing, the journey is of course even more complex. As Pat Thomson points out on her doctoral writing blog, the inherent problem with describing writing as a series of stages is that it suggests linearity. This is seldom the case for undergraduates, let alone doctoral students. Drawing on Graham Harper’s Critical Approaches to Creative Writing, Thomson talks of three overlapping modes of writing: foundation; generation; and response. Rather neatly, Harper suggests we visualise these modes like a plait – simultaneous, iterative, and running throughout the process.

‘Foundation’, unsurprisingly, is “all of the work that underpins the actual writing”. I have been thinking about this ‘foundation’ work more often recently – and not just because it comprises a hefty chunk of my PowerPoint slides. This initial stage tends to be where many students are (advertently or inadvertently) using generative AI (GAI). This may be because they are permitted to do so, and use it to plan, brainstorm, understand concepts, structure work, and so on. Or, because it is increasingly weaving itself into the technologies we use to research and write. Two students, one a doctoral student and the other an undergraduate, have recently made the same wise comment to me on this topic – that if, during this ‘foundational’ stage of work, students find themselves turning to GAI, the most useful thing to do is stop and consider why. Is there a more basic skill or capability they need to develop? Is there something they don’t understand? And, most importantly of all, who can help? So if, during #AcWriMo, you find yourself turning to GAI for this important foundational work, consider if there is an aspect of your own development or skills that you need to work on – and whether PGR Development opportunities can help.

For more posts on academic writing by Helen, see our archive of Helen writes posts.