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Workshop Scenario:

Please think of yourself in the following scenario as you complete this workshop:

You are a student working part-time as a writing tutor. A college student named Hannah approaches you for help. 

She mentions that she is struggling with her academic writing and expresses frustration with her recent essays, which she feels are poorly structured and lack clarity. She strongly desires to improve her writing skills but feels overwhelmed by the expectations of academic writing. 

As you wrap up the 24/7 Teach workshop with your newfound knowledge and resources, you feel ready to add academic writing to your tutoring schedule but also want to create a portfolio showcasing your expertise.

Today, you will learn the steps to starting an academic portfolio, how to effectively reflect on your work, and create an effective academic essay

Lesson Objective:

Your objective today is to create a short well-supported academic essay using one of the academic writing types outlining what you learned from this course.

Lesson 5: Introduction to Effective Academic Writing Workshop Project

5.1 Creating your Academic Writing Portfolio

If you're an aspiring academic or writer, you know how important it is to showcase your skills and accomplishments. One of the best ways to do this is by creating an academic writing portfolio.

A writing portfolio is a collection of your best writing samples, demonstrating your range, ability, and expertise to potential employers or academic institutions. It's a powerful tool that can set you apart from the competition and help you achieve your professional or academic goals.

Creating an academic writing portfolio can be a challenging but rewarding process. It’s essential to showcase your best work and present yourself in a manner that sets you apart from the competition and helps you achieve your academic or professional goals.

In this section, we'll explore three basic steps to creating an academic writing portfolio that will set you up for success.

• Gather your best writing samples. Look through your previous work and select the pieces that represent your strongest writing skills and your ability to think critically, analyze data, and effectively communicate your ideas.

• Organize your work into a cohesive and professional-looking format. This can be done either digitally or in hard copy form, depending on your preferences and the specific requirements of the institution or employer you're submitting to. You may want to consider creating a table of contents or an index to help your reader navigate your portfolio.

• Tailor your portfolio to your specific goals and audience. For example, if you're submitting to a potential employer, you may want to include writing samples highlighting your relevant skills and experiences for the specific position you're applying for. If you're submitting to an academic program, you may want to include research papers or writing samples demonstrating your expertise in a specific field or area of study.

5.2 The Reflection Process

Now that you’ve learned the basics of academic writing and the steps to starting your portfolio, it’s time to ask yourself a very important question: “Is this the best I can do?” Even the most experienced writers struggle with producing perfect work on the first try. That's where the process of reflection comes in. 

Reflection is like taking a step back from your writing and looking at it from a different perspective. It's a chance to evaluate your work critically and identify areas where you can improve.

Reflective Cycles

There are several reflection cycles that you can use to help guide your thinking and improve your writing. Here are a few different reflection cycles to consider:

1. The Gibbs Reflective Cycle: This cycle involves five stages, including description, feelings, evaluation, conclusion, and action plan. This cycle encourages you to think deeply about your writing, consider your emotional response, and create an actionable plan for improvement.
   

2. The Kolb Reflective Cycle: This cycle includes four stages, including concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. This cycle emphasizes the importance of taking action and experimenting with new approaches to improve your writing.
   

3. The Rolfe Reflective Cycle: This cycle involves three stages, including what happened, what were you thinking and feeling, and what else could you have done. This cycle is a simple and straightforward way to reflect on your writing and consider alternate approaches to the writing process.
   

4. The Borton Reflective Model: This cycle includes three stages, including what, so what, and now what. This cycle encourages you to think about what happened, why it matters, and what you can do next to improve your writing.

Try it Out!

Think about a recent event that affected you either at home, work, or school. Answer the attached reflective cycle questions to help you understand and practice your reflective skills.

5.3 Future Goals as a Writer

Congratulations on completing our Introduction to Effective Academic Writing workshop! With your newfound knowledge and skills, the possibilities for your future as an academic writer are endless.

Publishing your work in academic journals

If you're interested in sharing your research with a wider audience and making a name for yourself in your field, publishing your work in academic journals is a great way to do so.

Writing research papers

If you're pursuing a graduate degree, incorporating academic writing into your program is necessary for writing assignments, theses, or dissertations.

Teaching academic writing

If you're interested in sharing your knowledge and helping others improve their writing skills, you might consider teaching academic writing.

Pursuing a career in academia

If you're interested in pursuing a career in academia, strong writing skills are essential. Whether you're writing research papers, grant proposals, or other types of academic writing, the skills you've learned in this course will be invaluable in your career as an academic.

Continuing to improve your writing skills

No matter what your future goals as an academic writer might be, the most important thing is to continue improving your skills over time. There's always more to learn and ways to grow as a writer, and with dedication and hard work, you can achieve anything you set your mind to. So keep writing, keep learning, and keep striving to be the best academic writer you can be!

Closing Assessment: Your turn to show what you know

Write a 500-word essay on the best academic writing practices that you learned from this course.

Please keep in mind the following questions while writing your paper:

• What were the most important things you learned about academic writing?

• How will these practices help you in future writing projects?

• What specific examples from the course can you use to support your claims?

Project Steps:

Step 1: Review the lessons in this workshop. Identify the information you want to include in your essay.

Step 2: Create a rough draft. Outline your information and brainstorm your thoughts and ideas.

Step 3: Using Google Docs, write a 500-word essay outlining the best academic writing practices that you learned from this course. You can use the academic writing outline and essay writing rubric attached below to help guide your process.

Step 4: Share with your family and friends for feedback.

Step 5: Share your lesson with us and receive your certificate of completion. We’d love to see what you’ve taken away from the workshop. Please send and share the Google Drive link to your paper below:

Congratulations on completing your Introduction to Effective Academic Writing Workshop!

Post-Assessment

Now that you’ve completed the workshop, please re-assess yourself on your experience with academic writing.

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