As graduate students, we understand that the writing process is an intricate part of our scholarly requirements. Whether we like to dip our feet in first, or plunge right into it, we understand that either way it requires a lot of time, energy, patience, and determination.

One of the major struggles that we face in the process of writing is finding our own voice; a voice that is able to negotiate the use of citation, language, and narrative voices. In this issue of the Graduate Newsletter, I want to offer you a look into several articles that discuss techniques that writers should implement and/or avoid when working towards producing a document that is worthy of publication. While these articles do not provide information on citation, grammar, or style - all of which are available on the Graduate Writing Resources webpage on the Graduate School website - they do offer important commentary on questions regarding the choices one has to make when writing in order to find one's own voice in the process.

The article, "Finding Your Academic Voice Means Making Choices," published in "The Graduate," a newsletter publication of the University of California Berkeley, discusses the debates surrounding scholarly writing. Prior to the "modernization of academic style," students were encouraged to write difficult to read essays that were loaded with jargon and complicated sentences to ensure that they produced scholarly work. However, recently, professors are encouraging students to use "an active voice, first-person narration, and personal anecdotes" to produce more readable works, thus challenging the former models of scholarly writing. According to the article, the dichotomy of scholarly writing requires that students must make choices in order to assert a voice that will best convey their research. The article also lists some techniques of writing that students should consider to find the academic voice that suites their writing style.

Jeffrey J. Williams, in "Confessions of a Journal Editor," also engages the question of stylistic choices by cleverly exposing some faux pas of writing. According to Williams, some writers use the techniques of, "false-difficulty," "excessive citation," "indirection," and "lazy language" to produce a scholarly document. However, these techniques convolute their work. Also, Williams notes, "It's hard not to feel some irritation when it seems I pay more attention to other people's words than they do," to indicate the need for writers to spend more time editing their projects. He further suggests that writers should possess some flexibility in their writing style. Although some writers may have established a distinctive voice, certain aspects of their writing may still need improvement. By following Williams' advice of avoiding the faux pas of writing, spending more time editing, and having some flexibility in their writing styles, writers will be able to better assert their voices in their work.

As graduate students, we understand that our writing is essential to conveying our research. For this reason, we are challenged to make choices about the style of writing we use to ensure that we produce a scholarly recognized work. While this process can often feel overwhelming, the final product will place us on a path to obtain our academic goals.

For more information about these articles or the articles listed below, click on the following links:

Links:

"Confessions of a Journal Editor"

http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i05/05c00101.htm

"Finding your Academic Voice Means Making Choices"

http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/thegraduate/fall98/f98voice.htm

Additional Links:

"Tips for Writing Graduate School Essays" by Dr. Barri Gold

http://www.muhlenberg.edu/careercenter/grad/essays.pdf

"A Graduate Student's Guide to Publishing Scholarly Journal Articles" by Donna Lee Van Cott

http://www.uiowa.edu/~gaps/publishing-articles.pdf

Information and quotes in this article can be found in "Finding Your Academic Voice Means Making Choices" and "Confessions of a Journal Editor."