Reading like a Writer: How Reading Can Improve Writing

For researchers, reading takes up hours of time. In that time we hope to increase our knowledge. But if we read only for information we’re actually wasting an opportunity: reading can also teach us how to improve our own writing style and generate confidence in our own voice. In this workshop we’ll look at, and practise, different ways of ‘reading like a writer’. We’ll start with efficient reading – information IS important so how to get the most out of a text. Then we’ll look at critical reading – what questions should you ask of a text? Then ‘emotional reading’ – how authors achieve their emotional purpose; and finally ‘gotcha reading’ – how authors keep us reading.