Practical Writing Activities FoC

Sandra Sinfield & Tom Burns Education/LDU/LearnHigher

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Writing is …

EASY – you just stare at a blank piece of paper till your eyeballs bleed!

Writing is …

Something I didn’t think I’d have to do…

What is academic writing?How do we do it successfully?

Quick SWOT on your writing• Strengths: what do you like about your

writing?• Weaknesses: what do you dislike about your

writing or academic writing in general?• Opportunities: what’s in it for you ?• Threats: what threat does academic writing

pose for you?

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Writing is …

• Thinking• Learning• A struggle• We ‘write to learn’• Not learn to write

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Tips:

• Write little and often • Use writing as a learning/thinking

tool• Experiment with free writing

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Writing as a thinking/learning tool

Seehttp://www.arts.ac.uk/cetl/visual-directions/

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Reflective learning journal

• Who uses a reflective learning journal?• Is it creative like the CLiP CETL one?• Use your journal to:• Plan your projects• Reflect on your progress • Develop your thinking/writing.

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Suggested entries• Reflections on study sessions: what, why,

reaction, learned, new goals …• Notes on reading• Questions about your reading• Free writing on a topic• Glossary of terms• Planning and drafting• Notes from the press…

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Experiment with Freewriting• Peter Elbow (1998) argues that free-writing

encourages students to write at length without fear of censorship. Benefits:

• Freedom to explore a topic• Builds & demonstrates knowledge• Encourages understanding• Spelling & grammar (3 min):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlL5W2qA0EA

• On writing (9min):• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDUn1c4uxUE

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Free write:

• To start your assignment: read the title – just respond to it, without a plan for 10 minutes

• Write with two pieces of paper – one for work and one for what’s stopping you…

• If stuck – be rude… and write any way• To start anything – tear pictures from

magazines, make a collage – write about it…

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Free write for your Report - RADSE• We are now going to use Free write

techniques to get started on your report for this module.

• You will need paper and pen• I will ask you to write for two minutes on

each of the RADSE areas• Go with the flow• Do not search for the right word• Do not worry about spelling, punctuation or

grammar• Just respond to the prompts, write without

stopping – reflect and develop later. 12

Research

What research have you done around your object: visiting the British Museum, listening to podcasts, reading books? Other?

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Analysis•Why have you chosen the object you did? Why that one and not another? What do you want your audience to think about your object after your presentation/exhibition?

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Design

•What are the similarities/differences between the objects in your group? How are you going to showcase these in your exhibition space?

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Solution•What building have you done? Why? What problems …? What solutions have you tried? Which have worked? Which did you discard? Why?

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Evaluation

• How will you evaluate the success of your exhibition? Are you canvassing visitors’ for feedback? How are you going to do this? What criteria could identify your success or failure?

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Free write to start your Report

• Now you can review the free writing that you did under the RADSE headings• Now you have something to

draw upon to write your REPORT • Good luck – and enjoy writing

it!!18

Writing …• Quiz:

http://learning.londonmet.ac.uk/LMBS/study/reports_essays/ • DESK:• http://learning.londonmet.ac.uk/TLTC/learnhigher/desk/desk.html• • Our writing space:• http://learning.londonmet.ac.uk/TLTC/connorj/WritingGroups/•

EXCELLENT site for linking phrases and for WRITING: http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/

• Our Preventing Plagiarism course – in WebLearn:• http://learning.londonmet.ac.uk/TLTC/learnhigher/Plagiarism/