Mind Habits of Academic Writers

Habits of Mind of Academic Writers
LANGUAGE AWARENESS 4 ACADEMIC YEAR 2023/2024 TRAINER: MOHAMED DIHI

The most important goal of writing
is to be clear without being boring.
-Aristotle, Poetics
Choose your words carefully and
place them strategically so that
even ordinary words will sparkle.
—Horace
The effectiveness of writers has always
depended on the knowledge and
understanding of their readers, so the
writers must adapt their work to the
audience they address.
—Cicero
Too many people think that the goal of
writing is pompous obscurity and that
writing that requires someone to explain
it must have been written by a master
of profundity. I, on the other hand,
believe that clarity is the most
important part of good writing.
—Quintilian
I will aim at a friendly style that others will
think is easy enough to copy. But those who
try will grind their teeth in frustration.
What they don’t know is that it is the
arrangement of the words that adds both
power and elegance to the friendly style.
—Horace
But true expression, like th’ unchangying
sun, clears and improves whate’er it
shines upon.
—Alexander Pope, Essay on Criticism
TASK (Group work/15 minutes)
Start to write down, fast, as many RELATED
CONCEPTS OR TERMS as you can associate
with habits of mind of academic writers. JOT
THEM QUICKLY. If you run out of similar
concepts, jot down opposites, jot down things
that are only slightly related, but keep
associating.
Once you finish the brainstorming process,

select 5 qualities/habits that represent
academic writers.
Instructions:
• Line up so everyone can be facing each other
• I will be shouting out ‘head’, ‘shoulders’ and ‘knees’ and you have to follow the
instruction
• When I shout ‘cup’, you have to grab the cup. First person to grab it wins!
• Rotate so you don’t continually face the same person
• Count how many wins you have!

• The person who has the most wins, is
the winner! Or, and the two people who
have the most wins compete in the
‘grand final’. Whoever wins, is the
champion!
1.Academic writers make inquiries.
Every piece of academic writing begins with a question about the way the world
works, and the best questions lead to rich, complex insights that others can
learn from and build on.
Steps to Inquiry
1. Observe. Note phenomena or behaviours that puzzle you or challenge your
beliefs and values.
2. Ask questions. Consider why things are the way they are.
3. Examine alternatives. Explore how things could be different.
2. Academic writers seek and value complexity.
When you observe, explore reasons why things are the way they are and how
they might be different, we should not settle for simple either/or reasons but
look for multiple explanations. Real-world questions don’t have easy for or
against answers. An issue is open to dispute and can be explored and debated.
Issue-based questions, then, need to be approached with a mind open to
complex possibilities.
Steps to Seeking and Valuing Complexity
1. Reflect on what you observe.

2. Examine issues from multiple points of view. Imagine more than two sides to
the issue and recognize that there may well be other points of view, too.
3. Ask issue-based questions. Try to put into words questions that will help you
explore why things are the way they are.
3. Academic writers see writing as a conversation.
As our exposure to other viewpoints increases, as you take more and different
points of view into consideration and build on them, our own ideas will develop
more fully and fairly.
Steps to Joining an Academic Conversation
1. Be receptive to the ideas of others. Listen carefully and empathetically to what
others have to say. When you refer to the opinions of others, represent them fairly
and use an evenhanded tone. Avoid sounding scornful or dismissive.
3. Engage with the ideas of others. Try to understand how people have arrived at their
feelings and beliefs.
4. Be flexible in your thinking about the ideas of others. Be willing to exchange ideas
and to revise your own opinions.
4. Academic writers understand that writing is a process.
• Academic writing is a process of defining issues, formulating

questions, and developing sound arguments.
• There are three main stages to the writing process: collecting
information, drafting, and revising.
5. Academic writers reflect.
Reflection is essentially having an awareness of our own thought
processes. What do I want to accomplish? Is this the right question to ask?
What other questions could I be asking? Where should I look for answers?
What steps should I take? Why?
Steps to Reflection
1. Monitor.
2. Evaluate.
3. Formulate strategies.
4. Apply what you learn about your own learning.
Blindfold Stroll
Blindfold Stroll is one of the best team building communication games. To do this activity:
1.Set up an obstacle course

2.Blindfold one player
3.Ask other players to guide the player through the course by shouting directions.
Game
Blindfold Stroll
To make the game more fun and exciting, you can time
course completion or introduce traps and penalties.
Whatever way you play, this activity emphasizes the
need to give precise instructions, and gives teammates
practice giving each other directions.
- What are the 5…
Habits of Mind of Academic Writers ?
Memory test
Thank you

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Habits of Mind of Academic Writers

LANGUAGE AWARENESS 4 ACADEMIC YEAR 2023/2024 TRAINER: MOHAMED DIHI

Once you finish the brainstorming process,

• Count how many wins you have!

Steps to Seeking and Valuing Complexity

1. Reflect on what you observe.

• Academic writing is a process of defining issues, formulating

1.Set up an obstacle course

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