My Learnings from the National Workshop on Academic Writing (2026)

The National Workshop on Academic Writing 

I recently had the opportunity to participate in the National Workshop on Academic Writing (2026) organised by the Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University, under the Knowledge Consortium of Gujarat. The workshop was an intensive and eye-opening experience that reshaped my understanding of academic writing, research practices, and the responsible use of artificial intelligence in academia.

Here are my key takeaways and reflections from the workshop.

Inaugural Insights: Human Intelligence in the Age of AI

The inaugural session set a thought-provoking tone. One powerful message stayed with me: 'It is important to control AI before AI controls us.'

Speakers highlighted the distinction between natural intelligence and artificial intelligence, emphasising that while AI may simulate intelligence, it lacks human judgment, ethics, and contextual understanding. We were reminded that although India ranks among the top countries in research publication output, the quality of research — reflected in patents and citations — still needs improvement. The Vice Chancellor stressed the disciplined and accountable use of AI as a support tool rather than a replacement for human thinking.

Session by Dr. Paresh Joshi: Developing Academic Writing

Dr. Paresh Joshi clarified that academic writing is the language of research documentation — factual, objective, and evidence-based. Unlike literary writing, academic writing requires detachment from personal emotions and a logical, analytical approach.

He explained the research communication process as:

Listen (Research) → Report (Summarize/Synthesize) → Respond

(Analyze/Evaluate) → Argue (Present Research Claim)

A strong argument, he emphasised, is impossible without a solid literature review.

We also explored the stages of writing:

Plan → Draft → Edit → Revise → Proofread → Submit → Receive Feedback

Important contrasts were discussed:

Formal vs. informal language

Clarity vs. obscurity

Concise vs. wordy

Logical flow vs. repetition

Proper hedging vs. overgeneralization

One key takeaway: Academic writing values precision and reasoning over

decorative language.

Session on Prompt Engineering and AI in Education

This session focused on the growing role of AI in academia. We learnt that there are no universally fixed guidelines yet for AI use in education, making responsible usage even more important.

Effective prompts should:

• Be clear and specific
• Provide context
• Specify format and style
• Include examples where possible

We were introduced to zero-shot, one-shot, and few-shot prompting techniques, along with the importance of iterative refinement and bias awareness in prompt design.

A strong emphasis was placed on fact-checking AI outputs to avoid hallucinations. The message was clear:

👉 AI should assist research, not replace human critical thinking. Accuracy matters more than speed.

Dr. Kalyan Chattopadhyay: Foundations of Academic Writing

Dr. Chattopadhyay explained that writing is cultural, but academic writing must be purposeful and structured. He highlighted four pillars:

• Formality – Focus on argument and evidence
• Objectivity – Logical reasoning supported by citations
• Clarity – Clear structure (Topic sentence → Evidence → Analysis → Link)
• Precision – Accurate vocabulary, data, and references
• 

A memorable technique introduced was the card clustering method for organising literature by themes — an incredibly practical strategy for literature reviews.

He also outlined three stages of research writing:

Pre-writing: Brainstorm, research, outline

Writing: Use structures like PIE (Point–Illustration–Explanation)

Revision: Reverse outline, test logic, read aloud

Dr. Ndoricimpa Clement: Publishing in Scopus & Web of Science

This session focused on writing research papers for indexed journals. Publishing, we learnt, is not only about academic contribution but also about professional recognition and visibility.

The standard structure IMRD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) was discussed in detail. Dr. Clement emphasized the importance of identifying a research niche — a gap that your study uniquely addresses.

A valuable hands-on activity involved drafting an introduction, after which

Participants received individual feedback on:

Citation practices

Title design

Academic vocabulary

Language accuracy

Dr Nigam Dave: AI Hallucinations and Academic Integrity

This session was particularly eye-opening. Dr Dave defined AI hallucination as confidently presented but factually incorrect information generated by AI.

A striking idea shared was, 'It is not enough that AI has said so.'

He explained that AI often produces statistically probable language, not verified truth, making humanities students especially vulnerable due to abstract, theory-heavy writing.

We discussed strategies to:

• Detect hallucinations
• Cross-check information
• Use AI critically rather than blindly

AI, we learnt, should be used as a tool for verification, idea refinement, and process guidance, not as an unquestioned authority.

Final Reflection

This workshop transformed my perspective on both academic writing and AI in research. I realised that good research writing is not about complex language but about clear thinking, strong evidence, structured arguments, and ethical responsibility.

Most importantly, I learnt that AI can support scholarship, but human intelligence must lead it.

The workshop was not just informative but deeply empowering. It strengthened my confidence as a researcher and reminded me that discipline, reading, critical thinking, and integrity remain the foundation of meaningful academic work.

Mechanis in Writing

Hello! This blog is a response to an assigned task by Megha Trivedi ma’am. It deals with the Mechanics of Writing. This blog is based on the recorded video lectures by Dr. Kalyan Chattopadhyay and Prof. Atanu Bhattacharya. It deals with my learning from the videos. 

 MECHANICS OF WRITING

What is the mechanics of writing?

Writing is the process of creating written communication using a writing implement, such as a pen or pencil, and a writing surface, such as paper or a computer screen. The mechanism of writing involves the physical movements of the hand and fingers to form letters, symbols, and words on the writing surface. There is also a cognitive aspect to the mechanism of writing, which involves generating ideas, organizing them in a logical order, and expressing them in language.

The difference in academic and non-academic writing skills

1. Academic Writing:

Academic writing refers to a piece of writing which focuses on a specific academic subject/topic. Through academic writing, the writer intends to prove a theory or viewpoint in one way or the other. Mainly academic writings are based on academic findings and academic research and is intended for a scholarly audience. The writer can explain a specific subject matter by providing his/her own point of view. It includes scholarly essays, research papers, dissertations, etc.

2. Non-Academic Writing:

Non-Academic writing refers to a piece of writing which focuses on a general topic rather than any academic topic. It is not intended for an academic audience. It is intended for a lay audience or the mass public. Nonacademic writing focuses on lay audiences or the mass public. These types of articles are mostly personal, impressionistic, emotional, or subjective in nature. It includes magazine articles, personal or business letters, novels, websites, text messages, etc. are some examples of nonacademic writing.

Dr. Kalyan Chattopadhyay talked in the Ph.D. coursework session on Academic Writing. He talked about the importance of linguistic markers to identify formal and informal writing and shared his views on Critical Writing.

One can easily understand the difference between formal and informal language by comparing the Language used in text messages in everyday life and the organized language in the book. Basically, to know whether the write-up is formal or informal we need to know the pitches of the write-up. A story pitch is a succinct way of explaining what your story is about, what makes it right for the person you are pitching it to, and why it will sell.

Features of academic/ formal writing:

• Formal vocabulary
• Cautious language- not stating clearly
• Objective language
• More use of passive voice
• Use of questions
• references/ citations
• Objective, formal- Your research will be assessed by professors like me
• Subjective, informal- I will assess your research.

Academic writing is divided into paragraphs that are hooked with each other, the paras are divided into topical sentences, supporting sentences, and concluding para/ sentences; does not have topic sentences but concludes everything.

Academic writing uses signaling expressions/ linguistic markers which are True, as a result, however, although, because of, etc. it needs to be used significantly and cautiously because it gives a turn to the arguments.

Academic writing is writing critically. Writing critically means making the best use of the material one has consulted, it involves careful thinking, analysis, comparison, and decision-making. It involves questioning the arguments done by the seminal critics. Research writing is establishing one’s own idea otherwise it is a jumble of ideas.

A talk by Prof. Atanu Bhattacharya was delivered in Ph.D. Coursework is divided into two parts. In this first part, he talked about the basics of Academic Writing for the specific purpose of Research in English Studies.

A basic principle of the way of writing is to question and understand What not to do? What can be done? What are the useful Web tools and the case study?

One can create a paper full of formal writing, and Jargon. Alan Sokal showed that people are writing extremely theoretically using a lot of jargon and they don't read a lot because of difficult language. He published a paper Transgressing the boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics which was only a meaningless combination of jargon and was accepted and peer-reviewed. The same was repeated in Serbia; they made a source of false arguments with Ron Jeremy and Michae Jackson.

The picture of academic writing we see is extremely complex, and formalized, and uses jargon and technical terms. It has its own structure but it does not necessarily mean that it should be understandable only to academicians.

The publication Scale: Not so harmless

Siddharth Mukherjee in The Emperor of the Maladies claims that the first cure for breast cancer came from South Africa. The Doctor gave a surgery that claimed to cure more than 20 patients. Later the doubts were raised and realized that in most cases it relapsed. It was later known that it was fake and in meantime, many women lost their lives. Academic writing can have great consequences, especially in the case of data forging and imagining data, making arguments about what does not exist.

Few takeaways-

• Writing has material effects: Data forging can lead to loss
• Avoid massive jargonization
• Research and publication ethics
• Carefully choose topic

Writing tips:

• Writing an introduction of at least
• Create an indexed literature review: whether you use it in your work or not
• Be sure of the triangulated methods (looking at the same sets of data from various approaches)
• Do not repeat the same arguments
• Use available digital tools
• Follow the literature: do an act of writing something new

Making a choice in selecting authentic journals for publication. Web of Science and Scopus are the good ones and one can check out the authentic journals at the UGC Care website, and one can get the Journal rank in it.

Some digital tools for reference management

• Zotero
• Mendeley
• MS Word
• Language help
• Grammarly
• OWL (Online Writing Lab)
• Reverso
• Excelsior Online writing lab

Plagiarism

Read my blog on Plagiarism CLICK HERE

Types

• Verbatim or rephrasing without acknowledgments
• Inappropriate collaboration
• Other assistance with acknowledgments
• Cheating
• Duplication
• Research fabrication and falsification
• Using computer networks for false attribution

In this second part, he talked about the mechanics of Academic Writing for the specific purpose of Research in English Studies.

Formulating propositions/ Defining- stating or defining some things and on it, the whole thesis/ dissertation is based. Its linguistic structure in

Key term + verb (be)/ is defined as/ Can be defined/ may be defined as/ is often defined as + [in] which/ that/ where/ when + Defining features.

We are not stating the truth we always state what we think is true. We should write in a way that we are not claiming anything. It's an important framework that guides us through our write-up.

Genre: classification (Swales’ CARS model)

Definition

↓

Purpose

↓

Justification

↓

Literature Review

↓

Method

↓

Argument

↓

Conclusion

Classification of academic writing is a very important step.

Organizing ideas

Paraphrasing

• It's really important in academic writing.
• Avoid repeating yourself. words/ ideas/sentences.
• Avoid quoting someone else exactly
• Change your vocabulary
• Develop Your own ‘Voice’ in your writing

Introduction

The rational points- why are doing this research? Why this literature is important? how are you interested in that research? What is your position in that research? What is a personal point of interest?

• The thesis statement/ the topic sentence- what the research is about supported by other evidence. The sentence provides an idea of what research is about.
• Contextualizing material- what is another kind of research done around this area?
• A statement to gain the reader's interest.
• A basic definition.

Noun Phrases and nominalizations

Defining the noun which we have used in spite of it can be said in the simplest language.

In 1835, Lod Macaulay who was an essayist, historian, and colonial administrator, produced his ‘Minute on Education’.	In 1835, Lod Macaulay produced his ‘Minute on Education’.
This report focuses on countries that have high birth rates.	It focuses on Africa and India but in the academic form, it generalized the countries by giving a specific idea (high birth rates).
In Britain, in 1807 a bill was defeated which would have brought elementary education to everyone.	In Britain bill was defeated for elementary education.

Noun phrases help you to expand your ideas.

Stance

• Our personal point of view. Try to provide a point of view in a sentence.
• The internet and the WWW have provided a new medium of culture, generally labeled cyberculture, because it exists in cyberspace.
• Generally- I think it is a general acceptance and there might be other points also. One clears their points that he agrees on the major definitions but also agrees that there are other points.
• Apparently- it creates a point of view that at least from literature this is the aids.
• It may be argued/ Arguably.- one completely agrees with

Hedging language

The phenomenon of keeping the window open for other possibilities, ideas, and instances is called hedging. Modal verbs like can, may, and verbs like seem, appear, etc helps not to give absolute facts and keep the voice uncertain.

My way of classifying- This way of classifying

Passivization

The process of changing a verb or sentence into the passive: The subject of the sentence is hard to identify because of passivization. The research included transitive verbs that allow the passivization

Structure of arguments.

Importance of Reading Non-Academic Texts or Books.

I hope this blog is useful. Thanks for visiting

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