The HSE University Academic Writing Centre (AWC) was created to offer linguistic support to researchers writing articles in English. We spoke to the head of the AWC, Svetlana Suchkova, about the centre’s current initiatives, whether it has had to change the focus of its activities, and why HSE University staff come to the centre.

— The centre was created in 2011. Its primary goal is to help HSE researchers and lecturers to improve their academic English skills, write research papers in English, and prepare for participation in international conferences and lecturing in English. How is this achieved?

— Throughout the academic year, we run courses, seminars, consultations and other educational events while trying to expand our range of topics and formats. After these events, the participants say that their immersion in the world of academic writing went very smoothly and that they got a lot out of it in the end.

Our services are used by beginners preparing their first articles and experienced authors alike. This is because we work with our colleagues’ direct needs and analyse the difficulties that Russian speakers experience when writing. After each event we request evaluations and feedback from attendees, and the results are consistently very good—more than 8 points out of 10. I think this high rating is due to the fact that we do not pluck topics out of thin air; we are interested in people’s needs and offer something that corresponds directly to them. We also invite top trainers and experts in the field of scientific communication, which ensures a high quality of service.

— Has there been a decrease in demand for your services?

— Fortunately not. I think all our colleagues understand that English is still going to be the global language of scientific communication. Articles keep getting published, scientific conferences continue to take place, and so on.

To illustrate this in numbers, last year, in 2022, we conducted almost 10 times more consultations than in the seemingly trouble-free year of 2013 (1,364 vs 139), and the number of event participants was 7.5 times greater (3,000 vs 400). This means that our colleagues are writing in English and preparing texts for publication in international journals, and we can help them.

So, we do not sense any decrease in demand or loss of interest in the centre’s work. We have no empty slots for consultations and people sign up weeks in advance. There is competition to participate in courses and our seminars are attended by large groups. Our colleagues are still interested in improving their academic English, which is very pleasing.

— So, your international activities continue?

— That’s right. At the moment, for example, the International Writing Centres Association has started putting together an interactive map of centres, and we are on it. We are part of the international community of writing centres, and there is a link to our site and a video about the centre.

The number of foreign experts we work with has increased. International specialists conduct training sessions and courses. We ourselves speak at international conferences, present seminars and offer courses, and people come to us for internships.

We have also launched a YouTube channel where people from other universities—including foreign ones—can find us.

— You mentioned various operating formats. What kind of innovations have there been and how do they originate?

— We traditionally start the academic year with an open day featuring speakers from various HSE University departments. This is important, as they use English as a tool for research work and can share their own trial-and-error experiences that are not obvious to English language specialists.

In addition a dozen courses (in part-time, full-time, and blended formats), we held 37 seminars last year. They were all about new topics. We have projects for various categories of colleagues, such as an educational and diagnostic module for staff.

In terms of new additions, we do indeed actively implement new formats. We created the Five-o’clock Tea at the AWC discussion club, where people can come along to discuss educational and education-adjacent topics that are not always directly related to writing. And this academic year, we added the three-day Writers' Retreat. We created it with our colleagues from writing centres in the US, and held it for the first time online. It also went very well. We have hosted an international conference attended by more than 100 people from 9 countries, and we organise various discussions, round tables, and meetings with editors from journals.

— Are there any specific difficulties encountered by Russian-speaking authors when writing academic papers in English? What advice do you give them?

— These kinds of difficulties definitely exist. Usually, they are not even related to the language itself, but to the particular expectations of English-speaking readers. English-language texts are structured differently from those written in Russian: they are more explicit, simple, and transparent. Russian speakers are guilty of using long sentences and the passive voice, digressing from the main point, and using vague wording. English writing follows the rule of linear organisation: ‘state what you’re going to say, say it, then state what you’ve said.’ It also follows the ‘KISS’ principle—‘keep it short and simple.’

What advice do we give? Come to our events and use the resource centre. We have also created self-study books, including those on the language and structure of scientific articles. This is a useful resource that has been very successful. And with the same goal, we are in our third year of running a blog in which writers give advice and share their strategies for successful publication.

Photos: Mikhail Dmitriev