In 2007, an undergraduate psychology student at London Metropolitan University, Lynn Reynolds, used a blog and wiki to write a 1500 word essay in her discipline online and in real time. This venture arose from Lynn’s own struggles with academic writing and her frustration with generic study skills support. Having found model essays and finished examples of good writing to be especially unhelpful, by instigating the evolving essay project Lynn sought to create a model of her own ‘thoughts in motion’ rather than attempting to impersonate somebody else’s ‘thoughts at rest’. In the blog, the writing process was broken down into its constituent parts and discussed as they were encountered. On the wiki, topic-related material was explored and drafts were constructed.

The project was conceived as a collaborative venture, intended to explore the process of writing as a manifestation of collective intelligence. It was advertised to university departments and writing centres worldwide, and attracted significant participation from academic staff, students and private individuals with an interest in the writing process. The blog in particular was found to be an excellent medium for collaboration. In the online environment contributions were overwhelmingly supportive, non-hierarchical and candid. There was also a refreshing amount of respectful dissent present, underlining that a healthy collaboration is the antithesis of groupthink. The content of the blog and wiki reflected the assertion by Cameron et al. (2009) that facility with academic writing depends on ‘know-how, emotion and academic identity’.

The finished project can be found online at www.anessayevolves.com.

For an account of the project, see Harrington, K., O’Neill, P. & Reynolds, L. (forthcoming 2010). Using wikis and blogs to support writing development: the online evolving essay project. In Little, S. (Ed.) Beyond Consultation: Staff-student Partnerships in Higher Education, Continuum Press.

Cameron, J., Nairn, K. & Higgins, J. (2009), Demystifying Academic Writing: Reflections on Emotions, Know-How and Academic Identity. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, Vol. 33, No. 2, 269-284.