Sustaining communities of practice around

writing

Rowena MurrayUniversity of the West of Scotland

Rowena.murray@uws.ac.uk

Purposes of writing communities

to write specific projects to make time to write to get into the writing habit to write regularly to develop a discipline for writing to receive and give peer support to develop confidence

Formats for writing communities

Writers’ group Writing retreat Structured writing retreat Structured writing day Micro-groups Writing meetings

Do academics really need this?

‘I don’t consider that this article should be published. The irony of a [lecturer] producing such terrible prose would be embarrassing. Even if the prose were improved, and the article better organised, it is difficult to see what it adds to our knowledge… I find it rather astonishing that such tuition is required - how did these staff get good first degrees and then higher degrees? If any further help is required in shaping an article, does not the head of department provide this for junior staff?’

What writers say: making time

‘… by the end of the [writers’ group] meeting, I had thought of so many things that I need to do that I began to panic about when to do them all…. I was a bit envious when most of the others spoke of how they intended to set aside some time during the working day. That unfortunately is a bit of a luxury as far as I am concerned’.

What writers say: pre-peer review

‘At the very early stages of the writing process, the step between an idea for a paper and the actual publication is enormous. However, as the topic and themes are developed, target dates are set and initial drafts are subjected to peer review, the enormous step is transformed into a series of more gradual steps interspersed with landings or stages for review and reflection. The whole process becomes more manageable’.

What writers say: peer review

‘So what of the confidence that is necessary to produce a paper for publication? Here we have a problem of committing ideas and views to paper and exposing them to a wide audience. Furthermore, that audience will include people who have extensive knowledge of the subject of the paper and may disagree with the views expressed’.

What writers say: getting started

‘There are many obstacles to the writing process. These include priorities of work and home life, inappropriate conditions for writing and the inability to get started. The greatest difficulty for me personally is in overcoming the need to have the essay or paper fully researched, planned and a framework set out prior to starting to write’.

Writing to prompts

What academic writing [for publication/thesis] have you done, and what would you like to do in the long, medium and short term?

5 minutes’ writing In sentences Private writing -- no one will read it To be discussed in pairs/groups

Prompts for generating text

Warm up prompts, e.g. 5 minutes taking stock and goal-setting.

Generic prompts, e.g. ‘The purpose of this paper is to … This suggests that …’

Journal prompts, e.g. …? Questions, e.g. ‘What do I want to write?’ In outlines, detail to headings and sub-headings. Revision prompts, e.g. ‘Define other approaches’.

Writing as social practice

Communities of practice legitimise writing and writers (Lave & Wenger 1991, Murray & Newton 2009).

Writing can be ‘made visible’ through dialogue (Lillis 2001).

Organisational structures enable reflexive exploration of task complexity (Ruch 2007, MacLeod et al. 2012).

Social writing

Containment theory explains social structures that

(1) contain anxiety(2) clarify the primary

task and(3) prevent anti-task

behaviour.

Perennial questions around social processes

What is the place of writing in academic work?

How do academics position writing and themselves in relation to writing and to others writers?

What are the social processes around academic writing?

What do productive, successful academic writers do?

Productive writers’ attributions

4 categories of attribution: collaboration, passion/curiosity, research skills, time management.

‘Time management was found to have three sub-categories: elimination of distractions, scheduled time to write, and social deadlines’ (Mayrath 2008: 53).

Isolation is essential

‘All of the surveyed authors are extremely busy with

institutional duties, meetings with graduate students,

teaching classes, responding to emails from

colleagues and students around the country, and, of

course, maintaining a personal life at home. Thus, to

produce academic work they must isolate

themselves and block out distractions…’

Sustained concentration is critical

‘… I think the key to academic productivity is the

ability to ignore, screen out, and avoid

distractions. Scientific work takes great

concentration - sustained concentration. The

enemy of research is the modern world of e-

mails, cell calls, faxes, endless committee

meetings… and all the wheels and gears of

modern bureaucracies’ (Mayrath 2008: 51-52).

Problems with the concept of disengagement

Implies that writing is not part of academic work.

Implies that academics cannot position writing in their work and workplaces.

Fractures relationship between writing and other tasks and between writers.

Ambivalence

‘I would like to legitimately send apologies for not attending meetings [in order to write].

‘there is some sense that writing is a selfish activity’. ‘I prefer to write in spaces and times when nobody

knows what I’m up to … I diarise writing as meeting-free days rather than writing days’.

Structured writing retreat(Murray & Newton 2009)

Fixed programme over 2 or 5 days

Off-campus Regular discussions Talking about writing-in-

progress Developing peer relations

around writing Sharing writing experiences Non-surveillance

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Black Bull Hotel, GartmoreThe Trossachs, Scotland

Group writing

Fixed programme

Day 1 (6 hours)

9.30-11

11.30-12.30

1.30-3

3.30-5.30

Day 2 (4 hours)

9.30-11

11.30-12.30

1.30-3

What is a writing sub-goal?

Specific content Specific length -- number of words. Specific time -- number of hours/minutes required

to do the task. What can you write at writers’ group? What can you write between meetings?

Strengths of the structured approach

‘The structured, focused nature means you can’t just bow out’.

‘I achieved more in that one weekend than I had for the months prior to that’.

The facilitator ‘kept order’ and ‘ensured you remained focused’.

‘We would not have achieved the outputs without the facilitator’.

Changing writing practices

‘I am actually more disciplined when it comes to writing practice’.

‘I now have a more realistic sense of what I can achieve in a given time’.

‘Change is slow, especially when it comes from deep-seated anxieties’.

‘Retreat has encouraged me to prioritise writing and recognise it as part of my job’.

Sustaining change: ‘repeat retreat’

‘If I had three or four retreats a year I would never ask for study leave’ .

‘When people buy into … or see that additionality, then they can accept quite easily the guided, directional nature of retreat’.

‘I think it’s important in terms of underlining the importance that the department puts on research and publication’.

Impact of the structure

‘The structure of the group acts as a physical barrier to distractions. Sticking with the writing process, not being distracted, not checking emails, not looking up references on the internet are all part of the process of writing in a group’.

Having a ‘group writing ethos’

‘… this isn’t just sharing a space together (sharing an office or the like) it needs to be that both are engaged in the group writing ethos -- because you create tacit rules and obligations -- to show up, to keep to time, to make good use of the time, to be supportive. These norms are powerful and need to be enforced by the group leader or in established groups by the group itself’.

Multi-disciplinary groupings

‘I used the organised writer’s retreats to write up my entire doctoral thesis. During a period of 18 months I attended nine of these 2 and a half day retreats…. The groups of students who attended these retreats were very varied, with none of them coming from the same background as myself …’.

Thinking

Talking

Outputs at a 5-day, pre-research assessment retreat

1. Revised paper for submission to journal + wrote 5,000 words of book chapter

2. Completed conference paper and journal article + half of second chapter of thesis

3. Revised article (following reviewers’ comments) + completed 80% of dissertation by pulling documents together

Retreat outputs (continued)

4. Drafted book chapter, received feedback from group and revised + wrote 2 conference posters + results section of a journal article

5. Completed journal article + 1st draft of another paper + conference poster + 80% of another poster + outline for next journal article + 750-word assignment

6. Wrote first draft of methodology chapter of thesis (10,000 words)

PhD by retreat

• ‘I used retreats to write chapters of my thesis and found I could get to a first draft at retreat, which I’d then amend and edit over three or four group writing days, and I used this model for four of my thesis chapters’.

• The micro-groups, wherever they were, whenever they met, created a ‘writing environment … dedicated time’.

Micro-groups and ‘RetrEat’

‘… Off the back of these writer’s retreats I got to know other writers who were keen to continue the retreat structure back home. I met up with one other writer on approximately four occasions outwith the organised retreats to do more structured writing. On one occasion we met in a coffee shop. We keep to the retreat timetable’.

‘ReTrain’: thesis writing on the West Highland Line

Developing individual capacity

• ‘Sometimes after our weekly writing meeting I book a room on another day and write on my own’.

• ‘It also strengthens the capacity to write at an individual level (when alone)’.

• ‘I regularly use [these] techniques when writing at home and set an alarm to go off after an hour’.

Developing self-reliance

‘… you feel as though you and those around you are engaged in the same endeavour. This makes it a bit easier to feel as though what you are doing has meaning and is mutually beneficial’.

‘Writing in a group removes the associated self-pity I often experience, which in itself acts as a writer’s block. It changes my emotions associated with the task from being negative to more positive ones’.

Key messages

The practice of community can be more important than the community of practice (Lave & Wenger 1991).

Academics’ writing can be made visible through dialogue and communal writing (Lillis 2001).

A containing structure can facilitate reflection on writing (Ruch 2007).

A Social Writing Framework

To initiate and sustain social writing. Central programme of dedicated, defined,

fixed writing time slots. Containing three dimensions: physical, social

and cognitive engagement. Integrating components of structured writing

retreat. To accommodate the many demands of

academic writing.

10 principles of social writing

1. Writing is not always/only solitary -- it’s also relational.

2. Writing groups support emerging writerly identities.

3. Talking about writing raises rhetorical awareness.

4. Discussion is part of learning about (and doing) writing.

5. Discussions build writing into research and work.

Principles of social writing

6. Social writing involves changing writing behaviours.

7. Relationships in research and work develop around writing.

8. Social writing facilitates management of competing tasks.

9. Writing leaders hold the practice of social writing.

10. All these social activities and relationships constitute writing.

Follow up evaluation of Structured Writing Retreats @ UWS in 2013

Evaluation

2013: 9 monthly Structured Writing Retreats 109 participants 67 individuals (27 PhD students) 55% UWS, 45% other universities Education (46%), Nursing (30%),

Science (13%), Creative & Cultural

Industries (5%), Business (3%),

Social Science (3%)

Research Output: thesis chapters

27 PhD students: 25 responses 6 authors progressing thesis chapters 18 thesis chapters 121,703 words (for 5 authors) Approx. 2,500 words average 2 completed theses- 1 near submission 2 no progression: 14 nil response

Totals

Word count 242,000 for 13 out of 22 (not incl. JA)

13 participants wrote an average

of 18,500 each Possible 407,000 words written

Equivalent of 4 novels Or 5 completed social science

based PhD theses.

Findings

Increased attendance = increased output Different strategies used

Use of effective strategies? Writing groups

Multi-disciplinary/multi-siteSeasonal

Conclusions

SWRs provide containment, which reduces writing-related anxiety, makes writing the primary task and prevents anti-task behaviour.

Doing academic writing in a community of writers can increase productivity and reduce stress.

Participants at SWR are more than twice as likely to have research outputs if they attend more than one retreat.

References Lave, J & Wenger, E (1991) Situated Learning: Legitimate

Peripheral Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lillis, T (2001) Student writing: Access, Regulation and Desire.

London: Routledge. MacLeod, I, Steckley, L & Murray, R (2012) Time is not enough:

Promoting strategic engagement with writing for publication, Studies in Higher Education, 37(6): 641-654.

Mayrath, M (2008) Attributions of productive authors in educational psychology journals, Educational Psychology Review, 20, 41-56.

Murray, R (2012) ‘Social writing’ in L Clughen and C Hardy (Eds) Writing in the Disciplines: Building Supportive Cultures for Student Writing. Bingley: Emerald.

References Murray, R (2012) Developing a community of research

practice, British Educational Research Journal, 38(5): 783-800.

Murray, R (2013) It’s not a hobby: Reconceptualizing the place of writing in academic work, Higher Education, 66(1): 79-91.

Murray, R (2014) ‘Doctoral students create new spaces to write’ in C Aitchison and C Guerin (Eds) Writing Groups for Doctoral Education and Beyond: Innovations in Theory and Practice. London: Routledge.

Murray, R (2014) Writing in Social Spaces: A Social Processes Approach to Academic Writing. London: Society for Research into Higher Education-Routledge.

References Murray, R & Moore, S (2006) The Handbook of

Academic Writing: A Fresh Approach. Maidenhead: Open University Press-McGraw-Hill.

Murray, R & Newton, M (2009) Writing retreat as structured intervention: Margin or mainstream?, Higher Education Research and Development, 28(5): 527-539.

Murray, R & Thow, M (2014) Peer-formativity: A framework for academic writing, Higher Education Research and Development.

Ruch, G (2007) Reflective practice in contemporary child-care social work: The role of containment, British Journal of Social Work, 37: 659-680.

Acknowledgement

The Carnegie Trust funded follow up evaluation of structured writing retreats and structured writing days at Osaka University,

Japan, in 2014.