Teaching Doctoral Students to Become Scholarly Writers: The importance of giving and receiving critiques

Data were gathered from 45 doctoral students through focus groups, observations, and written and oral reflections to ascertain their perceptions of a specific teaching process (the Scholarly Writing Project), which was designed to assist these students in learning how to do academic writing. It was found that preparing and receiving critiques from professors and peers was perceived to be the most influential element in helping them to understand the process of scholarly writing and in producing a better written product. More specifically, these students believed that two factors integral to the critiquing process were responsible for building their confidence as academic writers: personalized face-to-face feedback; and the iterative or ongoing nature of the critiques they received. In addition, these students emphasized that although the critiquing process was powerful and useful, it was also highly emotional and at times frustrating. The findings suggest that, in teaching scholarly writing, instructors should be very clear about the purposes and benefits of a strong and sustained critiquing process, and assist students in learning how to both receive and give useful feedback.