When James began his training course, he was full of enthusiasm and was looking forward to studying. However, he was very soon to become disheartened. He found many of the items on the ‘Recommended Reading’ list were very difficult to understand. This affected his confidence, as he felt that his difficulty confirmed that he was not intelligent enough to do the course. However, after discussing his concerns with a tutor, James felt better to have discovered that many students struggle in adapting to the style of writing often adopted by academic writers. He went back to the books with a renewed confidence, and a determination not to allow academic writing styles to stand in the way of his learning.