Dr Goodier tips postgrad student on writing better journals

Academic writing specialist, Dr Caroline Goodier and Fine Art lecturer, Greg Streak.

Specialist in the field of academic writing, research and education, Dr Caroline Goodier recently held a journal-writing workshop with the Faculty of Arts and Design postgraduate students.

The workshop which was aimed at helping students excel in journal writing when at Masters and PhD level of study.

Addressing the students, Dr Goodier said a journal article needed not be highly theoretical or entirely original. “It is very important to read previous journals that are related to your idea, so you will know which approach to use and a writer’s attitude towards methods produces an excellent journal article,” she said.

Furthermore, Dr Goodier highlighted on common things that journal writers should know before writing their journal and methods to follow.

“Journal articles need not be original or focus so much on theory because you will find that if that is how it is written, the entire class could be writing on the same thing or doing a repetition of what has been written before but find that the subject is not same and the purpose is different. It is very important to read previous journals that are related to your idea, so that you know which approach to use and the methods towards producing an excellent journal article,” reiterated Dr Goodier.

The attendees were involved in a writing exercise where they were given copies of journal articles and they had to analyse those topics.

Dr Goodier is also an applied linguist and writing specialist at University of KwaZulu-Natal. She has had many years of experience teaching and mentoring postgraduate students.

-NOMFUNDO NGCOBO AND MONGI KHANYILE

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