Despite the prospect and existence of AI generated texts having been around for some time, the launch of ChatGPT has galvanized a debate around how it could or should be used in research and teaching. Putting aside the ethical issues of using AI in aca…
Category: academic writing
Is writing a book chapter still a waste of time?
How has digital open access transformed academic communication for the better? LSE Press’s Editor in Chief, Patrick Dunleavy, explores the impact of chapters in edited books. Once the Cinderella of academic publishing, doomed to obscurity under paywall…
From research to the mainstream – Judging the British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding
As nominations for this year’s prize open, Madawi Al-Rasheed reflects on the experience of judging the British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding and considers how research based non-fiction writing can reach beyond local and discipli…
Book Review: Written: How to Keep Writing and Build a Habit That Lasts by Bec Evans and Chris Smith
In Written: How to Keep Writing and Build a Habit That Lasts, Bec Evans and Chris Smith offer a concise guide to readers looking to develop effective writing practices tailored to personalised writing styles. ‘Written’ will be an invaluable guide to th…
2022 in review: Academic Writing
This post brings together ten of the best pieces focused on the practice and particularities of academic writing published on the LSE Impact Blog in 2022. New AI tools that can write student essays require educators to rethink teaching and assessment A…
The Lovelace Effect – AI generated texts should lead us to re-value creativity in academic writing
The continuing development of AI generated writing has led to a debate around its use in higher education. In this post, Simone Natale and Leah Henrickson, draw on their research into computational creativity and introduce the concept of the ‘Lovelace …
How academics review books (and each other)
The editorial guidelines for academic book reviews regularly instruct authors to focus on the content of the works being reviewed, rather than the authors. But, how far does this hold true in practice? Drawing on evidence from historical book reviews, …
The great convergence – Does increasing standardisation of journal articles limit intellectual creativity?
Drawing on a recent survey of forty years of research papers in the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) and interviews with authors, Wolfgang Kaltenbrunner, Kean Birch, Thed van Leeuwen and Maria Amuchastegui observe an increasing homogenisat…
Cutting and Pasting the Past
Drawing on her book, Cut/Copy/Paste, Whitney Trettien reflects on the history of radical bookwork and what it can teach us about digital publishing today. (This feature essay first appeared on the LSE Review of Books Blog). John Mansir Wing (1844-1917…
Aphorism and twitter – A distinct medium for constructing knowledge
Twitter can be written off as a distinctly unserious medium, a place for fads, bullying and the latest cat videos. However, as Steve Fuller discusses the unique format of a tweet can also be a space for concision, constructive ambiguity as well as a te…