Science Communication: Around Writing Series| 2025

Program Description

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 be online and 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 and practice the challenges concerning the selected topics.

Calendar

  • Workshop #01 | November 24 – Monday, 2-5 pm*
  • Workshop #02 | November 26 – Wednesday, 2-5 pm*
  • Workshop #03 | December 1 – Monday, 2-5 pm*

*Lisbon time

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 necessities and having explicit agreements with peers, family, and advisors

“Workshop 2 | The Anatomy of the Text & Map Making”

  • Dissecting an article’s anatomy: which are parts and for what?
  • The physiology running through the anatomy: how parts correlate and function together
  • Map making as the gateway to possibility, creation, and empowerment
  • The art of structures, narratives, and bones

“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
  • Ethical and conscious purposes when using A.I.: which do you choose

Application here

 

Application Deadline: November 15th, 2025.

 

Basic Bibliography

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.

Contacts

Católica Doctoral School

Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Palma de Cima
1649-023, Lisboa

 

E-mail: cados@ucp.pt