Impostor Syndrome and Academic Writing

Sean talks about impostor syndrome (Photo credit: akrabat)

by Sociological Imagination: http://sociologicalimagination.org/archives/14104

There’s an interesting post on the (excellent) Explorations of Style blog which discusses the relationship between ‘imposter syndrome’ and academic writing.

The author acknowledges that the description of imposter syndrome rings true for many - feeling like you’re a fake, worrying that you will be ‘found out’ etc.

However she raises a really interesting note of caution about how frequently and widely the term is applied, particularly as pertaining to academic writing:

I worry that treating dis-comfort as exceptional contributes to the notion that we ought to feel comfortable. In particular, I am troubled by the notion that we ought to feel comfortable about academic writing. Writers must learn to live with a great deal of uncertainty and vulnerability. Exposing our ideas to public scrutiny is uncomfortable, and recognizing that discomfort as inevitable can actually help make us more comfortable. The recognition of discomfort acknowledges the inherent and ongoing challenges of academic expression. It helps keep us humble, which matters if we are going to produce interesting and honest work. It makes us work harder than we might otherwise do. Academic writing is a struggle and not a realm in which confidence and complacency are ever likely to predominate. It’s not my intention to valorize any notion of suffering for art, but rather to accept the likelihood that producing good academic prose that we are willing to present to the public will be a struggle. Students often seek out writing instruction so that the writing process will become easier. However, in many cases, it’s more realistic to focus on writing better than to focus on lessening the emotional costs of writing. This acceptance of writing as an intrinsically challenging act seems particularly important for novice writers who often assume that the challenges come from their inexperience rather than from the very nature of academic writing.
http://explorationsofstyle.com/2013/09/11/imposter-syndrome-and-academic-writing/