Writing up/Writing down: Making Sense through Sensory Engagement

McKenzie, V. (2017). Writing up/writing down: making sense through sensory engagement. ECU Researchers on Writing, Edith Cowan University.

Writing up research can be formulaic and conventional, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. We rely on certain formulae and conventions to clarify meanings, to create a common set of practices about how best to communicate knowledge. For example, it is considered good manners for many pieces of writing to have a beginning, a middle and an end. It is important to understand the formal conventions of writing up research, but I’m more interested here in the writing down that happens before the writing up. By writing down, I mean the reflection of our thinking that can be achieved through writing. In my experience, if I can engage my hands, eyes, and whole body in the activity, sense follows.