Study on academic writing techniques from poetic elements

Abstract

Academic writing is a fundamental skill that every university student must develop. However, students often encounter difficulties in aspects such as logical structuring of ideas, proper language usage, textual coherence and cohesion, among other challenges. This article presents a study that explores the use of poetic resources as a means to enhance academic writing techniques among university students. The research is based on the idea that poetry allows for the development of creative and playful skills that can be transferred to academic writing. Through poetic writing exercises, such as crafting free verses and quatrains, students can strengthen their ability to focus on language, choose precise words, play with rhythms and sounds, and utilize literary devices like metaphor or comparison, among other stylistic resources. These skills can subsequently be applied to the composition of academic texts. The study was conducted with a group of 50 university students who underwent a 3-month-long poetry writing training program. Participants attended weekly workshops where they engaged in individual and collective exercises of poetic composition guided by a professional writer. At the end of the program, academic texts written by the students were evaluated before and after the intervention. The results displayed significant improvements in areas such as clarity in presenting ideas, the use of richer and more varied language, coherence between paragraphs, and the handling of rhythm and cadence in academic prose. Additionally, in opinion surveys, participants reported increased motivation, creativity, and confidence when approaching the writing of academic texts after the poetic training. The study concludes that poetic writing, by demanding intentional and artistic use of language, can assist in developing skills that positively transfer to academic writing. It is recommended to incorporate exercises and creative poetry workshops within university courses on reading and writing. Similarly, there is a suggestion to expand research by exploring various approaches to teaching poetic writing and measuring their impact on the quality of academic texts across different genres.