Mary Lea

Writing at University offers guidance on how to develop the writing you have to do at university along with a greater understanding of what is involved in this complex activity. Writing is seen as a tool for learning as well as a product to be assessed. The importance of what you yourself can bring as a writer to your academic writing is stressed throughout the book.The book looks at an array of writing projects, including essays, reports and dissertations, and analyzes what is expected of each form of assignment. The authors provide examples of student writing and reflections on writing by both tutors and students.This edition includes new sections on:Making an argument and persuading your readerUsing sources creativelyAvoiding plagiarismWriting onlineFurther sources of information about academic writingWriting at University is an essential resource for all college and university students, including postgraduates, who wish to develop their academic writing. It will also be an invaluable aid for tutors in supporting their students.

"Informed by an intimate knowledge of a social literacies perspective, this book is full of profound insights and unexpected connections. Its scholarly, clear-eyed analysis of the role of new media in higher education sets the agenda for e-learning research in the twenty-first century" Ilana Snyder, Monash University "This book offers a radical rethinking of e-learning … The authors challenge teachers, course developers, and policy makers to see e-learning environments as textual practices, rooted deeply in the social and intellectual life of academic disciplines. This approach holds great promise for moving e-learning past its focus on technology and 'the learner' toward vital engagement with fields of inquiry through texts."Professor David Russell, Iowa State UniversityChallenging e-learning in the University takes a new approach to the growing field of e-learning in higher education. In it, the authors argue that in order to develop e-learning in the university we need to understand the texts and practices that are involved in learning and teaching using online and web-based technologies. The book develops an approach which draws together social and cultural approaches to literacies, learning and technologies, illustrating these in practice through the exploration of case studies. It is key reading for educational developers who are concerned with the promises offered, but rarely delivered, with each new iteration of learning with technologies. It will also be of interest to literacies researchers and to HE policy makers and managers who wish to understand the contexts of e-learning.