Innovative Methods and Practices of Academic Writing and Writing Instruction
COLOUR AND COHERENCE: A NOVEL APPROACH TO TEACHING REVISION IN GRADUATE SCHOOL
Linda McPhee
Linda McPhee Consulting, (Clare, Suffolk, UK) and International Institute of Social Studies (The Hague, The Netherlands; retired )
As writing teachers, aside from explaining conventions and correctness, we help writers put relevant information where readers will expect it and help them to make sure the readers really do see it. This talk describes and demonstrates the latter. It will use examples to show an effective system of colour highlighting I have developed that allows them to see their text through a reader’s eyes. They can use this to clarify their scientific prose by locating logical gaps, less relevant information or poor information sequencing. While this method only incidentally assists in locating formal errors, with practice it can eliminate or greatly reduce problems of reader understanding, as making underlying structures visible to authors makes them more manipulable. Over the past few years, this system has become an important heuristic tool for my students (social and life science PhDs and postdocs) in their research writing. Qualitative assessments, particularly user reports, indicate improvement in editing ability, writing confidence and development of voice.
References
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