Viete, Rosemary, and Phan Le Ha. "The Growth of Voice: Expanding Possibilities For Representing Self In Research Writing." English Teaching: Practice And Critique 6.2 (2007): 39-57. ERIC. Web. 12 Mar. 2012.

In this article, Rosemary Viete explores the complexity behind students losing their voices when engaging in research writing by observing her student, Phan Le Ha who is "a young scholar…educated in Vietnam and then in Australia for postgraduate studies" (40). Viete illustrates how a writer's voice can be silenced based on conflicting differences between cultures, ethnicities, societal values, etc. She states that "literacy practices in the academy (of many Western universities) are ideologically underpinned by values of democracy and individualism, yet often deny the individual's right to write based on other norms" (40). Ones inability to write within the boundaries of social norms may cause researches to become self conscious about their own abilities, which shows the interaction between "language performance and sense of self" (42). Viete argues that we should create what was referred to by Homi Bhaba as a "thirdspace" or "a new space [that] opened up new possibilities for selfhood in the discourses" (47).

I liked this article because of its focus on the complexities that come with how students lose their voices not only when writing in separate areas of expertise, but in writing in their own areas of expertise. The fact that having a voice in one's work can be so political and must adhere to the cultural, social, religious, etc. norms of a given society shows just how excruciatingly complicated it must be for ESL students to adjust to this style of writing, as well as how amazing it is that native speakers have become so accustomed to these rules that they can just naturally maneuver in and out of them.

Hartley, James, James W. Pennebaker, and Claire Fox. "Using New Technology To Assess The Academic Writing Styles Of Male And Female Pairs And Individuals." Journal Of Technical Writing And Communication 33.3 (2003): 243-261. ERIC. Web. 12 Mar.

This article tests the hypothesis that "writing in pairs will lead to better quality papers than writing individually" (244), and that women writing academically write differently than men. In the United Kingdom, researchers found that women wrote more cautiously than men, which could be crippling to their academic careers due to the fact that many examiners "favor an assertive, self-confident, and bold academic style" (245). However, it was also acknowledged that women were more likely to write from a variety of viewpoints compared to men. In this research, academic papers that were written by 21 men and 21 women were analyzed, as well as papers written by groups of 19 men and 19 women. What the research found was that it was very difficult to distinguish between male and female writers, and also presented the idea that men may collaborate differently when working in groups than women.

While this article may seem tedious and pointless because of the results (or lack of results) that the article presented, I still felt that this article could be useful because it shows the possibility that there could be a difference between how women write and how men write. Even the fact that the results came up showing how difficult it was to differentiate between men and women writers could also be an indication that in the world of academic writing, even though there are many different styles of writing, perhaps underneath it all there is an underlying similarity in styles that all academic writers have and can use.

Cameron, Jenny, Karen Nairn, and Jane Higgins. "Demystifying Academic Writing: Reflections on Emotions, Know-How And Academic Identity." Journal of Geography In Higher Education 33.2 (2009): 269-284. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Mar. 2012.

This article discusses the difficulties that come with academic writing due to the fact that "academic writing" is not specifically taught, which causes writers to struggle not only with the "technical writing skills", but also with creating a sense of self in their writing. The academic writing that this article discusses is post-graduate styles of writing (meaning not the kind of writing that we do as undergraduates). Writers face the challenge of having to communicate their point of view on a topic to an audience. This can prove difficult because when a writer attempts to communicate what they mean to an audience, the meaning can slip away, which causes the writer to doubt themselves and whether or not they truly understand the topic that they are writing about.

Gocsik, Karen. "Dartmouth Writing Program." Materials for Students: Writing in the Humanities:. 12 July 2005. Web. 03 Mar. 2012. .

I thought that this website was interesting because it describes a certain style of writing (writing in the area of humanities), and actually acknowledges the difficulties that some students have when having to write in a style that is outside of their field of study. For instance, the article gives a scenario where a Chemistry major is asked to create an argument about at text. This could prove some difficulty for a Chemistry major because someone in this field is used to formulating reports around concrete facts and data. This article discusses why people in the humanities write, how they write, and the purpose for using that specific writing style.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/567/1/

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=b6a1f9d4-dcec-478c-bc57-6ba433671063%40sessionmgr11&vid=5&hid=11

The first webpage that I have attached is a very simple "how to" from Owl Purdue that mentions a few symptoms what one might undergo when experiencing writer's block, and what one can do to counteract this frustrating halt in their writing.

The second webpage is a study that investigates what is happening in one's psyche when they are experiencing writer's block, as well as what is happening when one is able to write fluidly. This article mainly investigates the flow and block that occurs in creative writers, but I still felt that this article could be helpful when trying to understand what exactly is happening when our minds suddenly go blank verses when they are full of thoughts.