PhD Writing Workshops May-June 2007
The Graduate Centre and the HealthQWest Graduate School are running the following short course for PhD students.
WRITING AND THE PHD
This is a new course available for 20 PHD students, covering thesis and academic writing from the perspectives of planning, writing and critical thinking. The 6 part workshop series will work on an interactive format, using seminar materials, writing tasks and discussion. Participants will be encouraged to engage critically with the concepts and practices presented to them, while also working supportively with their peers in a collegiate environment. Workshops are for PHD researchers of all stages, though 1st and 2nd year students might benefit the most
Workshops will be held on the following dates: (PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU MUST BE ABLE TO ATTEND ALL 6 CLASSES)
Tuesday 15th May – 1.00pm – 4pm
Tuesday 22nd May – 1.00pm – 4pm
Tuesday 29th May – 1.00pm – 4pm
Tuesday 5th June – 9.30am – 12.30pm
Tuesday 12th June – 9.30am – 12.30pm
Monday 18th June – 9.30am – 12.30pm
Tutor: Dr Daniel Soule, HealthQWest Publication Coordinator
AIM: Toprovide students with the necessary tools to successfully plan and write their PHD
Objectives:
By the end of the workshop, participants will;
- think more critically about their own writing and the writing of others
- develop a writing project plan for their PHD thesis
- employ a number of different strategies for planning and producing writing for their thesis and other writing projects
- appreciate the stylistic and scholarly demands of a PHD as a piece of written research
- and usecritical feedback of their work as a means of developing their writing.
To book a place on this workshop please e-mail Diane Dickie - D.Dickie@gcal.ac.uk in The Graduate Centre by Thursday 16 March 07. Please include the following details:
- Member of HealthQWest yes or no
- Division/School
Workshop Programme:
1. What is academic writing?In the first part of this session we will consider: the nature of the academic writing style; what the purpose and audience of academic writing is and how these affect academic style and composition; how writing relates to research; and what constitutes good and bad academic writing. In the second part we will cover some different strategies for producing writing and practise using some of them.
2. Planning and managing a writing project. In this workshop participants will explore strategies for drawing up a plan for writing their thesis, and discuss ways of integrating this with their research activities. They will consider the obstacles in the way of completing their thesis and how writing might be an obstacle and a possible solution to these problems.
3.Literature reviews.We will chew over the rhetorical purpose of literature reviews in a PHD thesis and explore the problems students often face with them. In so doing, participants will discuss how to use their literature review as a strategically in the composition of their written argument.
4. Writing about evidence and data. In this workshop students will consider how best to present and discuss their data in written form. They will explore the demands of writing about different types of data, be it statistical tables, graphical representations or textual extracts. Participants will, therefore, be encouraged to think critically about how to write about their evidence in ways that support their argument.
5. Introductions and conclusions.We will consider the rhetorical purposes of introductions and conclusions. The seminar will present methods of developing and using models for introductions and conclusions. The group will discuss using these models to plan and produce text and as a means of ‘signposting’ their argument to readers.
6. Finishing off and the viva voce. The final workshop will look at the last stages of your thesis writing, considering how to finish off and submit the thesis and how to prepare for the next step – the viva voce.