WRITING FOR RESEARCH
For the last twelve years, I have been running free face-to-face workshops on writing, in
various universities and conferences. Not the kind of workshop that instructs you how to
Deliver A Competitive Product & Target Top Journals. Almost the opposite! My
workshops are built on the idea that the making of organized knowledge is an inherently
social, co-operative process, and that writing is central to this larger undertaking.
In this booklet, I outline the ideas developed in the workshops. Part One concerns
writing as a practice, its various genres in a research context, and the way research
communication operates in the world. Part Two describes the practical steps in writing a
research paper. Part Three discusses writing programmes, reflects on what makes it all
worthwhile, and points to some further resources I can recommend.
I’m grateful to all the participants in my workshops, who have wrestled with the practice
of writing and in doing so have taught me. I’m grateful to the many models of good
writing I’ve met in a lifetime of reading, some of whom I mention in the final section. And
I’m incredibly grateful to Rebecca Pearse, who has encouraged this project, designed
this booklet, set up the website, and given the advice and support without which this
couldn’t have happened.
Raewyn Connell, September 2015