Aitchison, Claire Writing Groups for Doctoral Education and Beyond (0415834740)

Writing is the principal means by which doctoral candidature is monitored and measured; this, combined with the growing tendency to use publications as proxy measures of individual and institutional productivity, underlines the centrality of writing in academia. One of the central questions for scholars in higher education, therefore, is ‘How do we make writing happen?’, and it is this question which the book seeks to answer.

The book provides detailed illustrations of collaborative writing pedagogies which are powerfully enabling, and through theoretical and conceptual interrogation of these practices, the authors point the way for individuals as well as institutions to establish writing groups that are lively, responsive and context-specific.

Key topics include:

• new pedagogical responses for increased writing productivity and the ‘push to publish’;
• innovations for supporting academic writing quality, confidence and output;
• scaffolding the thesis writing process;
• new theoretical explorations of collaborative writing approaches;
• writing group formulations and pedagogical approaches;
• writing groups for non-native speakers of English;
• writing as women in higher education.

A particular strength of this book is that it showcases the potential of writing groups for advanced academic writing by pulling together a unique mix of authors and scholarly approaches, representing a wide range of new theoretical and pedagogical frames from diverse countries.

Writing Groups for Doctoral Education and Beyond will be attractive to academics seeking new ways to advance their writing productivity, doctoral students, their supervisors and those who are tasked with the job of supporting them through the completion and dissemination of their research.