The Thursday Group Writing Blog

I received an interesting email recently asking me for my thoughts and advice on the use of software and apps to help with writing.  I think Grammarly is the kind of thing that was being asked about.  Before I post my reply, I'm genuinely curious to know if any of you use / have used such software and what your experience has been.  Is it helpful?  What would you recommend and how would you recommend using it?   I look forward to reading your responses...

Lukes (February 2020) discusses of how to actually write a sentence. As I have been attempting to progress my skill in writing, I am taking more time analysing what I am reading to recognise patterns. First, there seems to be chronological approach to link to previous works, quotes, and conclusion. Next, giving another example, with another conclusion. This example is simplier than academic papers due to its use of words, however, it doesnt follow the lpeec approach within a paragraph. The lpeec approach helps me understand easily where one idea starts and stops. When the lpeec pattern is spread across many paragraphs, or doesnt follow the lpeec pattern, I get confused. The introduction mentions the problem, and instead of signposting within a paragraph, a table of contents is presented, is this a normal approach? From the table of contents I am trying to recognise the macro writing patterns, 1) defintion, 2) problems during writing, 3) after writing concerns, 4) how to write a se...

I'm a big fan of a little book called  They Say / I Say : the Moves that Matter in Academic Writing  by Graff and Birkenstein (it's in the UH library  here ).  The idea of the book is that academic writing is like a conversation that involves summarising and responding to what other author have written.  I speak about it around five minutes into  this video  (only accessible with a University of Hertfordshire login and password) and it's probably not hard to see how it influences the suggestions I make to any students looking to develop their writing skills.   Now, one way that typically respond to something we have read is by using it to aid our understanding of something else we have read, or something that we have experience.  We can consider this to be an act of APPLYING the ideas of an author to the focus of our own study or analysis.  Not easy to do, perhaps, with short general-interest texts and a blog, but I think  this...

Thank you to those of you who posted comments last week.  I thought that all of the contributions were thoughtful and well-written.  You certainly know how to write sentences, and I'm happy to note very effective use of paragraphing too.  So let's move on to some content. I guess that you'll be familiar with JSTOR from searching for academic texts, but I'm a big fan of JSTOR Daily , which features topical and accessible articles grounded in the kind of scholarship that can be accessed through the main JSTOR repository of digital academic articles.  The site features stories related to current events, and at the end of each article you will find links to full academic texts.  I think it's a good way to stay informed on current affairs, and it's also a great way to develop your understanding of the different ways texts work when written for general audiences and when written for specialist audiences.  You'll notice differences in style, structure, and certai...

As I explain in this Flipgrid video, the aim of this blog is to give you an opportunity to develop your writing by: 1. writing for a genuine audience; 2. writing about your reading, and more specifically, writing about your thinking about your reading; 3. writing LITTLE and OFTEN. As a starting point, I'd like you to read one or both of the texts below: How to write a sentence by Thomas Basbol  How to actually write a sentence : The building blocks of written language by Dominik Lukes After you've read your chosen text, just write a comment below telling us what you think.  Does it make sense?  Do you agree or disagree with anything either writer has said?  Do you have any questions?  Is there anything you don't understand and would like further clarification of?  Any response will be welcomed and read! If you would prefer to write a different topic, that's perfectly fine.  You can follow the instructions in the video above and write a post of your ...

The island story, as it is fondly called by everyone, tells the story of star crossed lovers. How in love they were, and how this love would be thwarted by outside forces. The main characters in this story seemed to have everything going in their favour, but distance and the gripping need to see each other; two powerful agents indeed united them again, and subsequently put a tragic end to their love story. This story sheds light on the concepts of choice and desperation, pinpointing that the decisions we make in desperate situations never yield perfect results. While Mark told the story, I automatically put myself in the girl's position. Being female and the hopeless romantic that I am, I was forced to see a girl who earnestly longed to see her partner again. A girl who would risk crossing seven sees, just to meet "the one." Despite the purity of her intentions, her desperation was a recipe for disaster, and an unwise decision was made. The compassionate female in me woul...