Developing Academic Writing Skills of In-Service and Pre-Service Teachers

Abstract

This chapter reports on services created and implemented by a writing center in a large public university in the USA to assist to pre-service teachers and in-service teachers with academic writing as professional development activities while they are pursuing their degrees. Academic writing is a style of written communication that has become acceptable in institutions of higher education (Craswell, 2005). The services include: 1) a series of workshops to teach the requirements of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (American Psychological Association [APA], 2010), 2) a series of workshops around conceptualizing a research project and submitting a paper to a conference, 3) writing support circles, and 4) individual consultations. The chapter provides a description of each of this service, including the purpose and the design, highlights outcomes of these professional development services, and discusses challenges in its design and implementation.