Why would anybody want to watch someone else write? You might think that it would be tedious and boring, yet many people showed up at the University of Victoria’s David Strong Building on Jan. 26 to do just that.
Called a "bold adventure in teaching", Write Here in Plain Sight (WHIPS) was first launched by Halifax’s Dalhousie University in 2007 and explores the premise that learning how to write an academic paper can be significantly enhanced by observing expert behavior. Invited to join in this year by Dalhousie, UVic teamed up with the eastern school on the same day, keeping overlapping hours, to form a bicoastal writing campaign.
Here at UVic, seven hand-picked writers showcased their different writing styles to an audience made up of students, faculty, staff and community members, projecting their laptops onto the big screen for all to see. Their every move, every typo, every moment of inspiration was captured and projected for the audience, who were encouraged to ask questions and become involved in the writing process.
Topics and authors ranged from Jack Knox, a humor columnist with the Times Colonist who spent his time in the spotlight working on his column for the next day, to the English department duo of Dr. Mary Elizabeth Leighton and Dr. Lisa Surridge, who polished up an article they are submitting for publication to a well-respected journal in their field.
Writing can be a scary thing, and what better way to demystify the whole process by watching a professional work through it? One of the main things Laurie Waye, Writing Center Coordinator, wanted the audience to leave with, was a better understanding and a new perspective on the different writing processes.
“I think that the people that come are very interested in what writing actually looks like, it’s one of those processes, like thinking, that we can’t often see," said Waye. "Especially for those people who are writing within the university, we often don’t see each others [different stages of] writing, we only see published writing.”
Trying to measure yourself up to a published paper can wreak havoc on your self-confidence, and many students never consider that their professors might also struggle with the same blockages and barriers that they do.
University of Victoria psychology graduate student Janet Stepaniuk was grateful for the chance to see that different writing processes vary with every author. She came hoping to pick up some tips to apply to her own writing, but she left with a boost to her self-confidence.
“Other people struggle … these professionals [struggle]. Sometimes you sit there and you think that [professionals] must do it easy-breezy because they’ve been doing it for so long and now I know that they struggle with it, too," said Stepaniuk. "That makes me feel good.”
Based on the success of UVic's first shot at the event, WHIPS is poised to become an annual event on campus, hosted by the Writing Centre, the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Student Transitions.
For more information on the Writing Centre and the services it provides all students visit the Writing Centre website.
Originally published in Volume 1, Issue 2 of the Fountain, February 2008