Learning to write by writing to learn

The main aim of this study was to obtain insight and understanding of the demands of academic writing at postgraduate level and to develop an effective intervention to assist in the development of proficient academic research writing. Thus, the development of an academic research writing intervention, deemed most appropriate for postgraduates in education, was designed and developed to assist students during the first stages of their research, that of conceptualising, writing and successfully defending the research proposal. The premise is that during this first year of study, acquiring and developing academic literacies in order to become competent academic writers, would provide the scaffolding for the move into the second phase of the research process, that of academic research writing.