Teaching Methods for Strengthening Authorship in College Academic Writing －A Case Study of a Social Science Writing Class

Abstract

College academic writing education must focus on reinforcing authorship. Authorship means that one's identity as an author is reflected throughout the text. Authorship also refers to the identity of a subject who produces knowledge through a dynamic process. However, this process requires the author to actively participate in academic dialogues with other scholars, rather than simply act as a passive recipient of knowledge and discourse in the academic community. This is particularly true when it comes to academic writing. This study presents educational guidelines on how to strengthen authorship based on communication in the academic community. It further explores specific teaching methods by examining several instructive teaching samples. We propose an explicit and specific authorship-enhancing teaching method that could prove particularly useful in process-oriented academic writing. Through theory-based lectures and case studies that critically review previous research as a product of the academic discourse community, we propose explicit and specific educational methods, not only to strengthen authorship among our students, but to also teach them about the certain types and characteristics of academic writing. We also provide education regarding citations and plagiarism by applying explicit theories and using examples from the authorship-enhancement perspective. This study suggests that one-on-one consultations can help students address the difficulties inherent in academic writing. Furthermore, through the process of writing education which aims at strengthening authorship among our students, we can also expect other educational effects to naturally develop as well.