Claiming Your Voice as an Academic Writer

Presenters: Dr. Julia Lane and Mohsen Hosseinpour Moghaddam
Mode: Zoom

This workshop begins by recognizing that students are often encouraged to find their own “voice” in their writing, but that it is much rarer to get a clear explanation of what “voice” in writing is or how a writer might go about trying to find theirs. Multilingual and international students may experience additional layers of challenge in this “quest for voice.” These challenges can be related to being raised with different socio-cultural expectations about who can “use their voices” and what it means to do so. They can also be related to having multiple writerly voices and styles—in different stages of development—connected to speaking and thinking in multiple languages. Finally, students may even be unfamiliar with the concept of voice and with ways of bringing their own voice into academic writing.

This workshop will focus on demystifying the concept of voice in writing and providing students with several writing techniques they can use to develop their own writerly voices. It will focus, in particular, on the challenges that Standardized Academic English can present for multilingual students looking to bring their own voices into their academic writing and will suggest opportunities for addressing those challenges.

The central aim of this workshop is to support students to better understand “voice” in writing and to empower them to make informed linguistic decisions as writers.

Educational goals:

• Develop your understanding of “voice” in writing
• Gain an understanding of Standardized Academic English and how it operates in some assignment guidelines and rubrics
• Learn ways to frame your writing for your audience, without giving up your voice
• Learn techniques for structuring your writing that can support you to bring your own voice into your academic papers