This article aims to contribute to the study of the production of academic texts and research projects by post-graduate students. It relies on the constructivist conception of knowledge, whereby learning is seen as a continuous process of recomposition of cognitive structures, with contributions from Humberto Maturana on the central role of emotion and language in coming-to-be. It is suggested that the metaphor of embryogenesis is an apt one for the evolution of a research project. The research project begins with a template and takes shape during the course of successive phases, like an embryo, attributing its components to undifferentiated cells, which simultaneously differentiate themselves, giving rise to the project as a whole. The article also presents a series of criteria for evaluation of writing and reflection based on flows of emotion and attitudes, as a way of overcoming the challenge posed by the blank page or screen, which can help us to use our creative process in a more productive, consistent and pleasurable manner.
creative process; text-production; writing research projects; constructivism; emotion; cognition
