On reflection: The role, mode and medium of the reflective component in practice as research

Abstract

A key criterion in the recognition of practice as research is the inclusion of some form of critical self-reflection as a component of the creative project. This requirement that some form of complementary/supplementary discourse is necessary to establish the research status of creative practice is currently the subject of scrutiny and contestation across a number of disciplines. Noting how much work has been done in this area within the doctoral degree in Creative Writing in Australia, this paper explores some of the problematic areas in the formal recognition of practice as research within the UK’s research structures and processes. It argues that the scholarly rubric expected of the reflective component is not always the most appropriate medium through which creative work may be recognised as research. It considers tensions implicit in the dual role of supplementary discourses: that of documenting practice for institutional purposes and that of articulating and generating new knowledge about practice. The disciplinary placing of Creative Writing in the UK context also complicates its relation to other forms of practice as research. This paper argues that the recognition of a wider range of modes and media for supplementary discourses would allow the generation of new and different knowledge about creative practice, and make that knowledge differently available to researchers.

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