The Around Writing Series is a series of 3 workshops open to the participation of any PhD student belonging to any university of the Transform4Europe Alliance. This first edition of this series is dedicated to three foundational and initiation topics around writing: 1. “Feedbacking” me & my writing: the power of clearly communicating what works and what doesn’t work for you; 2. Designing your own home brew system: note taking & reading for writing (and not the other way around!); 3. A.I. & You: effective prompts for ChatGPT, authenticity, and creativity in scientific writing.

While encouraged to take part in a critical forum to discuss these topics and challenges that come with them in a more scholarly and interdisciplinary fashion, this series also serves as a living platform for participants to experiment a few maps, tools, and distinctions to enhance their writing skills beyond the intellectual and critical terrain. This combination provides participants with a space to boost their existing knowledge while trying new tools to start their writing process with resources, motivation, purpose, and, above all, pleasure in engaging with their writing.

The ultimate goals of this series are:

• to co-create a lively forum for the discussion of the aforementioned topics
• to co-create a laboratory of experimentation to initiate participants into experiencing aspects, maps, resources, and distinctions of the aforementioned topics, creating therein a micro-community of practice
• to provide a space for the T4EU members to collaborate by encouraging participants to connect, support each other, and boost their critical and practical competences

Format

Each workshop will last 3 hours, with participants being exposed to a set of techniques, maps, and distinctions to think about, critically discuss, share their experiences, and, above all, experiment, experience, and practice the challenges concerning the selected three topics: Feedback; Note-taking and Reading for Writing; A.I. in scientific writing.

 

Requirements

General Requirements:

Participants must have had experience with scientific writing to participate in this series. Prior training in academic writing and skills is not a requirement.
Each workshop is autonomous. Participation in all of them is, thus, an invitation, not a requirement.

Language Requirements:

This series requires proficiency in English.

Technological Requirements:

A computer with good Internet connection to access Zoom, share and communicate with participants.

 

Program

Workshop 1 | Feedbacking me & my writing: the power of clearly communicating what works and what doesn’t work for you

• Introducing: positive, effective, constructive, or regenerative feedback?
• Feedback as a communication tool: How to ask, give, receive, and incorporate feedback effectively
• Feedback as a stylistic tool: macro & micro feedback + feedback guidelines for your writing
• Feedback as an inter-personal tool: declaring my necessities and having explicit agreements with peers, family, and advisors
• Feedback as a community-making tool: How to create and feed accountability on and off-campus

Workshop 2 | Designing your own home brew system: note taking & reading for writing (and not the other way around!)

• How much do I need to read to start?
• NotebookLM and Zotero: your note savers
• Writing in chuncks and block writing

Workshop 3 | A.I. & You: effective prompts for ChatGPT, authenticity, and creativity in scientific writing

• LLMs & ChatGPT: plagiarism, (re)creation, resource, or bullshit?
• A.I. for creating an outline, a literature review, and for revising/editing
• How to become a prompt expert

 

Application

Aplication via online form

Application Deadline: October 21st, 2024

Enrollment here

 

Basic Bibliography

Bailey, Stephen. Academic Writing: a Practical Guide for Students. London: Routledge, 2003. Print.

Booth, Wayne C., et al. The Craft of Research. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2017. Print.

Cirillo, Francesco. The Pomodoro Technique: The Acclaimed Time-Management System That Has Transformed How We Work. 2018. Print.

Gardiner, Maria. Turbocharge Your Writing: How to Become a Prolific Academic Writer. South Plymption: ThinkWell, 2010. Print.

Germano, William. Getting it Published. Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, 2001. Print.

Goodson, Patricia. Becoming an Academic Writer: 50 Exercises for Paced, Productive, and Powerful Writing. Sage, 2012. Print.

Gray, Tara. Publish & Flourish: Become a Prolific Scholar. New Mexico: NM State University Teaching Academy, 2015. Print.

Hayot, Eric. The Elements of Academic Style: Writing for the Humanities. Columbia UP, 2014. Print.

Kelsky, Karen. The Professor is in: The Essential Guide to Turning your PH.D into a Job. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2015. Print.

Rankin, Elizabeth. The Work of Writing: Insights and Strategies for Academics and Professionals. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001. Print.

Silvia, Paul J. How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing. American Psychology Association, 2007. Print.

---. Write It Up: Practical Strategies for Writing and Publishing Journal Articles. American Psychology Association, 2015. Print.

Swales, John and Christine Feak. Academic Writing for Graduate Students: Essential Skills and Tasks. Michigan University Press, 2012. Print.