“Sharing strategies you won’t find in a textbook” are the magic words I often use to capture students’ attention in my academic writing class. From “trying free-writing and waiting for a basic structure to surface” to “letting a draft sit for a day before revising”, I regularly incorporate these hands-on writers’ strategies into my teaching. In fact, they often become highlights of the course.
A recent experience deepened my engagement with real-life strategies and inspired me to renew my teaching. The group I taught were visiting international graduate students, many of whom had already published several academic papers. At their home institutions, publishing in English is often highly valued because English-language journals are widely recognised and carry greater international prestige. To publish in such an unfamiliar language and rhetorical context, they approached academic writing from more diverse personal perspectives. As a result, their writing strategies tended to be more practical and helped to reveal the original purposes behind many ready-made rules.
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Throughout the semester, I found myself learning alongside these students. Below, I outline my observations of their academic writing strategies and suggest how these insights might enrich our teaching and learning with more realistic perspectives.
Their choices of source articles are more targeted
First, these students tailor their learning to specific goals, and they make more targeted choices when selecting sources for their research papers.
Influenced by their practical orientation, I have shifted my instructional focus away from basic distinctions (such as scholarly versus popular sources) towards more immediate concerns, such as publication trends and the selection of relevant research articles. I encourage students to connect their learning to their publication plans, so it is more grounded in real-world practice and more motivating.
They read strategically with clear practical purposes
The international students’ reading practices are highly focused and purposeful. They approach texts strategically, adjusting their focus at different stages of the reading process. During an initial reading, for instance, they often concentrate on the most factual sections – such as methods and results – before turning to other parts of the article. This enables them to become familiar with core research designs in a relatively short time. Beginning with data-driven and more concrete sections also helps to clarify their understanding of the study, which in turn facilitates their understanding of often more demanding sections, such as the literature review and discussion.
In addition, I have learned from them about innovative, locally developed channels that make academic reading more accessible. For example, summaries of research articles are often shared on social media, offering accessible overviews of research ideas and helping readers to determine whether a particular article is worth reading in full.
They engage in more realistic tasks when working with sources
Similar practical concerns shape their use of sources. We found that many textbook instructions may be insufficient for addressing real-world challenges, such as how to put sources into conversation rather than simply listing them in a longer paper.
Drawing on these students’ writing experiences, I have shifted away from lengthy explanations of citation formats (which they can largely learn independently) and towards more practical concerns, such as identifying recurring ideas across sources and understanding how each source relates to others. I emphasise that effective citation should be integrated naturally into the authorial discussion, helping to co-construct arguments and deepen insights, rather than serving merely as evidence. This, in turn, requires the writer’s professional proficiency and a precise grasp of the sources before they cite a book, chapter or article.
They revise through multiple drafts
Their writing process typically involves multiple rounds of drafting, revising and negotiating with editors. Through these interactions, they identify recurring patterns in academic writing.
In my teaching, I also highlight that writing is a process and emphasise the importance of multiple drafts. For example, the first draft helps to establish the basic structure of the argument and guides further reading. The second draft incorporates a wider range of sources and focuses on more accurate source synthesis, while the final draft focuses on language and grammar. This staged approach allows students to progress through different tasks from outline to completed article.
How I integrate writers’ strategies into my teaching
In general, these students’ writing strategies proved both innovative and practical, inspiring me to design course activities that incorporate students’ own writing experiences.
One example is a Writers on Writing workshop, in which we shared sample paragraphs from our own publications and discussed the writing processes behind them. This allowed us to engage with more true-to-life questions, such as how to maintain our own ideas and voice rather than becoming overwhelmed by numerous sources and whether scholars are “better to strike while the iron is hot and complete an academic paper while our ideas are still fresh”. These personal insights enlivened the classroom, often transforming it into a dynamic conversation rather than a traditional lecture.
Research interest versus quick learning strategies
Although strategies that support publication output can be productive, I believe it is equally important to encourage students to engage with their subjects out of intrinsic interest and through a natural learning process. In fact, interest-driven research often leads to more efficient knowledge development and can reduce the need for excessive surface-level strategies.
That said, I still find that these writers’ strategies enrich teaching and learning with more realistic perspectives. A balance between sustained professional interest and practical strategies can often foster greater creativity and productivity. One student, for example, shared that she regularly reads academic journals while using her own strategies to organise them for future use, even when she’s not working on a specific publication. Her consistent success in publishing may reflect the effectiveness and power of combining professional engagement with hands-on strategies.
Xinqiang Li is an associate professor in the department of writing, rhetoric and cultures at Michigan State University.
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