Jessica Moriarty

What can academic writers learn from creative writers? Developing guidance and support for lecturers in Higher Education

Writing and publishing are crucial to the development of a successful academic career. However, lecturers typically receive little guidance on this strand of their job. Any support that does exist tends to focus on the technical and practical aspects of scholarly writing. Advice is rarely provided on managing creative and emotional facets – factors that greatly contribute to writing quality and success. This article arises from a conversation between the authors: a Higher Education researcher and a Creative Writing lecturer at the same institution. The core of the article is a personal reflection by Author 2 on teaching Creative Writing to undergraduates. From this experience, we distil a model for supporting the writing of academic staff. We conclude that, whilst creative and academic writing enjoy their own styles and conventions, elements of the writing process are shared. We argue that Creative Writing lecturers hold valuable knowledge on the writing process, which is currently under-utilised in Higher Education.

Empowering Students as Researchers: Teaching and Learning Autoethnography and the Value of Self-Narratives

Helping students to connect their academic research with their creative writing processes is often a challenge but when achieved, can provide valuable pathways between their personal experiences and the social world under study. The author identifies supporting this connection as a potentially powerful teaching and learning tool, helping undergraduates to make the leap from student to writer and researcher. This chapter will identify possible ways in which the writing and sharing of autobiographical narratives can inform and enhance pedagogy in creative writing workshops with undergraduate students. The author identifies autoethnography as an evolving methodology that values and legitimizes personal stories and evocative academic work, and can facilitate recovery from personal events that have been difficult or traumatic (Richardson and St Pierre 2005). The chapter will explore how the study of self-narrative can empower students to make explicit links between these personal experiences and their academic research. This chapter will be of interest to teachers and students carrying out research in education and to those trying to develop their own teaching practice to incorporate student-focused approaches to creative writing. The author suggests that an autoethnographic approach can contribute to an increased confidence in students’ sense of their place within the discipline of creative writing and the place of their discipline within the wider world.