Craft & quality in academic writing

In this session, we will discuss the relationship between craft and quality in academic writing. We all invariably draw on some notion of what constitutes quality in academic writing – whether we expressly articulate that notion or not – when we evaluate the quality of academic writing in peer review processes and when we read and use other people’s writing in our own texts. Yet questions of what counts as quality are by nature difficulty settled and perhaps this openness is a quality in itself?

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The academic craft involves systematic reflection and choices throughout the research process, and this is surely one important aspect of carrying out high quality research. In this view, craft and quality are also demonstrated through the way in which those choices are presented and argued for in writing and through one’s capacity to develop a text in which these choices and their consequences are clearly presented and reflected upon in nuanced ways. So, how do organise our writing processes to support this? How do we practice academic writing as a craft aimed at producing high quality publications?

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With this session I hope to open a lively discussion about the processes and products of academic writing, and about the difficult question of what quality in writing might be and how we work with quality in different ways.

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Topics can include:

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· Making and learning from decisions in academic writing

· Finetuning what works for you: writing rhythms, preferences, and inspirations

· Writing and editing: structuring; close up & far away

· Attention and disruptions