Finding Your Way in Academic Writing, Second Edition

Preface to the second edition

When we revised this book we were again using what we have learned from
our students to advance our understanding of academic writing. We have
used the book for three years in our teaching and have also received feedback
from many readers. The need for some conceptual revision was clear:
firstly we learned that our short case studies at the beginning of chapters
were no longer all needed. We also learned that the sequencing of the book
required some attention. We have therefore restructured the order of
themes and also the way in which these themes are presented in different
chapters. We have, additionally, included a chapter on the writing of field
research and we removed sections that we believed to be superfluous. We
have added some figures and many new tasks. We trust that our revision is
exemplary of the revision process in writing!
Most importantly, however, we believe we have advanced our own thinking
about writing. We still see this activity as a process of knowledge making
and of “thinking in print”. We still emphasise the process and the iterative
nature of the activity. We still believe that in looking for the right word,
the right thought crystallises. We still believe that revision is inherent to
good writing and that the gateway to writing is through reading. What we
are adding to our own conceptual framework for this book is the notion that
writing is knowledge in performance and that this performance is rehearsed
and never ends in a completely final product. The final product of inquiry –
the revised and edited text – is one milestone in the author’s journey of
investigation of and writing about the social landscape.
We wish users of this book many fruitful hours and welcome enquiries
and suggestions for our own growth of scholarship. In January 2005 we will
be colleagues at the newly established University of Johannesburg, where
we hope to continue research in and teaching of academic writing as
inquiry-based knowledge performance.
To all our students, especially those in the B.Ed. (Hons) “Writing Composition
and Research” classes of 2001–2004, we say a warm THANK YOU!
Elizabeth Henning
Sarah Gravett
Wilhelm van Rensburg
Johannesburg, June 2004



Summary
In the first edition of Finding your way in academic writing, the authors focused on the theme of writing as thinking. In this second edition, the authors focus on a new theme: "applying knowledge to writing performance". This shift introduces readers to the notion of applying knowledge sourced from literature, as well as knowledge sourced from data in field research.