TOPIC 1. WHY IS ACADEMIC WRITING IMPORTANT FOR STUDENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION?
T1.1 Brainstorming
Welcome to the Academic Writing Course
This course is an opportunity for you to strengthen your academic writing skills, which are essential for your journey as future educators and researchers. Writing a scientific article is not merely an academic requirement, but also a way to train critical thinking, organize ideas logically, and communicate knowledge to the wider scholarly community.
In our first meeting, we will begin by reflecting on your experiences in reading and writing scientific papers. Why is this important? Because your prior experiences will serve as a foundation to better understand the challenges, needs, and expectations in learning how to write academic articles. Just as we learn to listen before we speak, engaging with journal articles through reading is a crucial first step before producing effective academic writing.
Academic writing is often considered challenging: the use of formal language, strict citation rules, and adherence to the IMRAD structure (Introduction, Method, Results, and Discussion). However, it is precisely through these challenges that we can develop critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and effective ways of presenting our research and ideas.
Throughout this course, you will be guided step by step: from asking questions (Questioning), gathering information, analyzing, drafting, revising, and finally preparing your article for submission and publication. In this first session, we will focus on the Questioning stage: reflecting on your journal reading experiences, identifying the most challenging aspects, and raising critical questions about how scientific articles are structured and written.
Worksheet 1.1 – Personal Reflection
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T1.2 Individual Exploration
The Importance of Journal Article Publication
In this stage, you are expected to explore the significance of journal article publication in the academic community. Publishing in reputable journals is not only a way to share research findings but also a means of contributing to the advancement of knowledge, gaining recognition, and building academic credibility. By understanding the importance of publication, you will become more aware of the expectations and standards required in academic writing.
Through individual exploration, you will use journal finder tools (such as Elsevier Journal Finder or Taylor & Francis Journal Suggester) to identify journals relevant to your area of interest. This activity will help you understand how to match your research topic with suitable journals, analyze different article structures, and reflect on how published works can guide you in writing your own academic papers.
This task is designed to encourage independent learning, critical observation, and self-reflection before engaging in collaborative discussion with peers.
Worksheet 1.2 – Exploring Journal Articles through Journal Finders
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T.1.3 Sharing and Group Discussion
Scientific article writing is a process that involves many stages, from developing an idea to submitting a manuscript for publication. Each stage requires specific knowledge, skills, and awareness of the expectations set by journals and reviewers. For many students, understanding these stages can be difficult without real-life insights from experienced scholars or journal editors. Therefore, discussing and preparing questions as a group will help students clarify their understanding and focus on what they really want to know about the publication process.
Through group discussion, students have the opportunity to reflect on their own experiences with academic writing and connect them with the challenges of publishing in journals. By working collaboratively, they can generate meaningful questions that not only reflect their curiosity but also guide them toward a deeper understanding of what makes an article publishable. This process also encourages students to think critically, compare perspectives, and learn how to formulate academic inquiries.
The questions developed in this session will serve as the foundation for the upcoming interview with journal editors, reviewers, or lecturers with strong publication experience. This means that the quality of the questions created here will directly influence the depth of insights students can gain in the next stage. Therefore, it is important for each group to take the discussion seriously, explore different angles, and prepare clear and focused questions. This way, the interview will become a valuable learning experience about the realities of scientific publishing.
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T. 1.4 Drafting and Refining
After completing the group discussion and compiling a list of questions, the next step is to refine and improve these questions so that they are ready to be used in a real interview setting. Since not all questions may be clear, focused, or relevant to the goals of scientific article writing and publication. Therefore, it is important to review, discuss, and polish the questions collaboratively before moving forward.
In this stage, each group representative presents their list of questions to the class. Together with the lecturer, the class engages in an open discussion to examine the wording, clarity, and focus of each question. Suggestions for improvement are recorded directly in the worksheet table. After the refinement process, the final version of each question is marked with a ✔️ to indicate that it is ready for use in the upcoming Interview stage with editors or reviewers. This activity ensures that all questions are clear, practical, and aligned with real academic writing and publishing challenges, making them effective tools for further exploration.
Worksheet 1.4 – Refining and Finalizing Interview Questions
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