Most research into the development and acquisition of threshold concepts concentrates on development among undergraduate students. More recent work has focused on conceptual threshold crossing among postgraduates suggesting that at various stages in their doctoral work postgraduates begin to work at or settle into working at levels which can enable them to produce conceptual critical and creative work in their own projects, in their own discipline. Recent work (Wisker and Savin Baden, 2009) has concentrated on overcoming stuck places in the writing process and using liminal spaces to move writing practices forward, another example of conceptual threshold crossing. Research and practice shared here explores how academics and researchers on writing courses for professional development cross conceptual thresholds in the development of voice, ownership of their writing projects, authenticity in their argument and expression, confidence in their writing and writing practices.
Respondents on the programmes have constructed metaphors and other creative ways of expressing the moments of enlightenment, breakthrough, learning leaps or conceptual threshold crossing when they find they can achieve confident expression in their own writing, voice, and a sense of a repertoire of good writing habits. These metaphors I describe as vision/visions while the confident managed diversity of expression dependent on project, discipline, context and the sense of knowing what to say and how to say it I am describing as ‘voice’.
The workshop shares small scale research with colleague on a writing for academic publication module and other short courses and support practices of writing for academic publication and exploration of the ways in which support and development practices in the longer module are perceived to move colleagues forward in their writing so that they cross conceptual thresholds and achieve voice, good habits, confidence and articulation of their work.