Writing ACTIVITY Writing is easy – you just stare at a blank piece of paper till your eyeballs bleed!

Student responses to writing: I’ve been humiliated in ways I’d never have put up with outside that institution I am still not sure if my work is considered academic, I still don’t know what makes one of my essays better than another.

And: Academic language, the kind of language that doesn’t readily flow off my tongue: the type of language I rarely use when speaking to my peers. The type of language that I don’t readily understand and the type of language that means spending hours at a computer turning something quite simple into something that sounds moderately impressive with elitist results.

Perhaps it is not that we cannot write, but … We need: Time to ‘write to learn’ To practice writing To write little and often To discover that writing gets easier with practice. So …

Participant Activity Free writing Each person should have in front of them: Two sheets of paper: One, blank, to write upon, One, the ‘commentary’ sheet, to note reasons for not writing Pens or pencils

Participant Activity The Activity When asked, turn to your blank paper and write for ten minutes without pause (on anything you see, hear, think or feel) If you stop writing for any reason, write that reason, no matter how trivial or insignificant on the ‘commentary’ sheet. After ten minutes we will discuss the exercise, leaving enough time at the end for the Q&A session

Participant Activity Collate ‘reasons for stopping’ Discuss solutions How will this help with future writing?

Some reasons for stopping: Thinking Searching for a word, spelling, tense Uncomfortable Distracted Couldn’t see the point

Some solutions … Get into a good physical & mental space: Be comfortable – your way Accept the task – or fake it! Brainstorm & plan before you write Once you start – go with the flow Don’t stop! Do not search for the right word – re-draft and improve later.

Writing … How will this help with your writing?

Writing … Useful websites: Quiz: Write Now resources – especially upon student authorship: EXCELLENT site for linking phrases and for WRITING: Resource to describe & support the reflective writing process Our Preventing Plagiarism – in WebLearn: