Writing retreat as structured intervention: margin or mainstream?

Abstract

Academics across the world face increasing pressure to publish. Research shows that writing retreats have helped by creating dedicated writing time and building collegiality. A new form of 'structured' writing retreat was created to increase its impact by taking a community of practice approach. This paper reports on an evaluation, funded by the British Academy, in which participants were interviewed one year after structured retreat. They reported many changes in their approaches to writing and in their sense of themselves as writers and some of these changes were sustained on return to campus. This paper argues that structured retreat increases learning through participation and helps academics to mainstream writing in their lives and careers. We conclude by suggesting that, since publishing is a mainstream academic activity, it makes sense to mainstream this intervention in academic careers.

Developing a culture of publication: a joint enterprise writing retreat

“…To be effective, writing groups often call on and develop particular know-how or expertise that advances learning. They lend themselves to multiple formulations of expertise depending on the type of group and the needs of members, and can help individuals develop a sense of being part of a community of writers (Grant, 2006;Murray and Newton 2009). Existing models of research publication cultures at undergraduate level through educational programmes include Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Emory University and the California Institute of Technology.…”

“…Process-driven approaches to writing for publication regularly identify writing retreats and their benefits, including the creation of communities of practice that can be fostered in a retreat setting, and how these facilitate the developmental phases of the writing process (Wenger, 1998;Moore, 2003;Murray and Newton, 2009). The essential sociality of writing is a fundamental concept inherent within groups (Grant and Knowles, 2000;Moore, 2003).…”

Graduate students as academic writers: writing anxiety, self-efficacy and emotional intelligence

“…In a career where academic writing -that is, writing for academic purposes such as classroom assignments, theses, or publications in academic journals -is so central to the evaluation of one's success, understanding why graduate students struggle with writing and finding solutions to low writing productivity would benefit both the students and the institutions supporting them. Although studies have well documented the success of writing support groups at higher institutions in addition to providing frameworks for creating the writing groups (e.g., Boice, 1987;Murray & Newton, 2009;Murray & Thow, 2014), this study takes a different angle. Specifically, this study provides updated research on intrapersonal variables that previous scholars have noted to affect individuals' academic writing such as writing anxiety, self-efficacy, and emotional intelligence (Boice & Johnson, 1984;Shao, Yu, & Ji, 2013; Zimmerman & Badura, 1994).…”

The hidden benefits of writing retreats: Academic development and social interaction for nurses

“…The structure of the retreat was somewhat contrary to the recommendation of Murray and Newton [22] of a highly structured format with the use of a facilitator whose role should be to lead and manage the group meetings and writing sessions. Although the most senior academic facilitated discussions, it was very informal and the participants required little facilitation during writing time, which is borne out by the outputs during the retreat (see Table 1).…”

“…This is a new insight into the retreat process as the literature alludes to structured retreats being most effective in developing academic writing. [22] As a result of this retreat there have been four papers published in peer reviewed journals, completion of two PhD chapters and significant progress towards a PhD proposal.…”