During our first week in this Academic Writing course, the assigned reading of Unit One in Swales and Feak's Academic Writing for Graduate Students framed writing as a sort of performance for a specified audience, for whom the writer develops an “author persona” (2).

As we, as students, navigate the realm of academic communication, we must position ourselves appropriately when we write, both for the academy and for the general public as well. In either case, Swales and Feak consider this positioning as “the means by which you create in writing a credible image as a competent member of your chosen discipline” (1).

Works Cited:

Swales, John M., and Christine B. Feak. Academic Writing for Graduate Students, 3rd Edition, The University of Michigan Press, 2012.

Athabasca University. Academic Writing-Grad Studies. Course materials, MA-IS 606, Athabasca University, 2025. Brightspace.