ABSTRACT
Academic writing involves much more than the mechanics of putting words on the page, although clearly that is a crucial starting point. Mediation of doctoral writing development includes language, text, and shared activities. The Doctoral Writing Conversation (DWC) primarily disaggregates implicit aspects of expert academic writing and makes them explicit. It helps students understand that high-quality academic writing is neither straightforward nor quick to achieve, but that expertise can be developed through discursive practices both within and outside the supervisory relationship. Some supervisors are able to establish writing support groups within their schools or departments, because they have enough supervisees of their own. Generic doctoral writing programmes function to make the implicit explicit. A key strength of a generic writing programme is that it can disrupt the hierarchical nature of supervision in engaging and positive ways. The pan-university nature of the workshops also contributes to writing development, as students learn about academic approaches and paradigms from disciplines outside their own.
