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.
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.