A Review of Research on Academic Writing for the Creation of an Online Writing Center in Higher Education

Abstract

Disciplinary or transdisciplinary research focused on enhancing competencies for academic-scientific writing in higher education present multiple theoretical and methodological divergences, especially when variables related to academic culture and the use of digital technologies are included. This article presents a review of studies associated with academic writing in higher education, which could contribute to the design of a digital writing center. The data are made up of 58 texts, analyzed with the Python 3.7® programming language, using the Natural Language Toolkit library and discourse analysis techniques. The results of this review show the consolidation of two lines of research: (a) the pedagogical-didactic components for the promotion of academic writing, and (b) strategies to strengthen the learning of the main language. These results suggest that there is no convergence among postulates required in the design, foundation and implementation of experimental strategies for a digital writing center, such as: (a) epistemological postulates, related to the forms of construction of knowledge; (b) pedagogical postulates, associated with the educational purpose of writing in science and culture; and (c) methodological postulates, connected to the integration of writing with digital technologies.