La Trobe's Academic Writing Month kicks off this November!

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For the past six years, La Trobe's RED team has coordinated a multi-campus Academic Writing Month – or AcWriMo for short.

This year’s AcWriMo kicks off on Thursday 1 November with a special Shut Up and Write (SUAW) at Bundoora, and runs through to the end of the month with a writing retreat at Albury-Wodonga (28-30 November).

Between these dates there will be a fabulous assortment of special events that focus attention on academic writing for La Trobe researchers (including graduate researchers). While some offerings are still in the pipeline, here is a brief snapshot of the month ahead:


All Campus Shut Up and Write (8 November, 9.30-12.00) – this event highlights the amazing work of Shut Up and Write coordinators on every campus and online, who help to create productive writing spaces for researchers at La Trobe throughout the year.

Tweetchat (2 November and 30 November; 10.00-11.00 each time) – Use the hashtag #LTUacwrimo to join a conversation about academic writing with the RED team (who are on Twitter as @LTUresearchers). If you'd like to join in, here are some basic tweetchat instructions. You can keep the conversation going throughout the month with #LTUacwrimo, and many previous participants have generously shared resources and writing inspiration!

Creative ways into academic writing workshop (13 November, 10.00-12.00) – This workshop offers creative ways into finding answers about our writing, and ourselves as writers. This is not an ordinary writing workshop! It is an experimental space where we play, listen, learn and reflect. All you need to bring is an issue with your writing and some curiosity about it. Register Here

AcWriMo Writers panel (28 November, 14.00-15.30) – The theme of this panel is “together”. It shines a spotlight on the fact that writing is not usually a solitary activity. Writing involves an audience, and sometimes collaborators, editors and a cheer squad/community that surrounds us. We will invite a cross-disciplinary panel of La Trobe scholars to reflect on the role of other people in their writing. Register Here

Bundoora writing retreat (20-22 November) - Run since 2015, this popular program offers an opportunity for you to work on your individual writing goals in a supportive environment. We take care of you so that all you need to do is to focus on your writing. The retreat will be particularly useful for researchers with a clear writing goal who can sustain three days of independent writing. This event books out fast, so please sign up quickly!

Albury-Wodonga Researchers Writing Retreat (28-30 November) - This retreat is designed to give you time and space to focus on an individual writing project: a journal article, a conference paper, a book or thesis chapter. Most of the time, you will be writing quietly in a room with others, towards your own writing goal.

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If you want to keep up to date with all the Academic Writing Month activities and news, please sign up to the newsletter by registering your interest here. You can also subscribe to this blog where we'll be focusing La Trobe researchers’ views about writing and publishing each week of November. You can subscribe to the blog - see the top of the right hand column!

During Academic Writing Month, we celebrate the amazing things that that Schools, Colleges, Research Centres, and central teams do to promote academic writing all months of the year. We make sure to highlight the regular workshops run by RED, the Library, the Research Office and LTLT, across campuses and online.

While RED coordinates #LTUacwrimo, we encourage folks all over campus to get involved with their own initiatives! Set up your own Writing Circle or SUAW, or talk to friends and colleagues about what motivates them and sustains them as writers. Come talk to us if you’d like any help starting something up in your local space.

So, this November, let’s celebrate La Trobe’s academic writers! We invite you to identify the goals that you want to accomplish – whether you have a set number of words in mind, need to polish a lurking draft, or hope to click send on a thesis, a chapter or a manuscript. We also invite you to consider what support you might need, and your own role in building writing community with others here at La Trobe and #AcWriMo writers around the world.

Whatever your writing plans, all the team at RED want to wish you a happy Academic Writing Month, and a productive and joyful 2019!

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