At several stages during your PhD, you will have periods with lots of writing. Many struggle with writing efficiently and do not feel competent about their writing skills. This is why we welcome all DEEP members and Astrophysics scholars to an interactive course/workshop from Mathew Stiller-Reeve which your real-life, academic writing process.
By combining a physical workshop and digital solutions “Writing with Results” will take place over several weeks, instead of consecutive days over one or two weeks. In this way, we can follow an actual writing process. We start with lectures on basic writing skills, and then week-by-week work through the sections of a typical research article. At the same time, Mathew Stiller-Reeve will encourage and guide you and your fellow participants to give each other peer-feedback and support.
By the end of the course, you will hopefully have a research article (at least close to) ready for submission.
This is some previous participants have said about the course:
Alexandra Jarna from NTNU, "The course name definitely holds itself! This was absolutely the best writing course I have ever attended. I was thinking at the beginning that my paper was ready to submit, but ended up following the course schedule and rewriting chapter after chapter. Still today going back to the material when writing a new one. Not a single minute was wasted on this course - don't hesitate and join today."
By extending the length of the course to 1-day a week over 6-7 weeks, you will be able to develop and practice a writing process that works for you. We start with lectures on basic writing skills, and then week-by-week work through the sections of a typical research article. At the same time, Mathew Stiller-Reeve will encourage and guide you and your fellow participants to give each other peer-feedback and support.
The process
The DEEP “Writing with Results” course will start with a 2-day workshop in Oslo on 12th-13th October. Thereafter we will meet every Wednesday (with one week break on 1st November) until 22nd November.
Thursday-Friday 12th-13th October: Kick-off workshop, OSLO
All-day workshop, ONLINE on the following dates:
Wednesday 18th October, Wednesday 25th October, Wednesday 8th November, Wednesday 15th November, Wednesday 22nd November.
Each week, we will use a whole day for lectures, discussions, writing and feedback. The foundational lectures during physical workshop will cover issues like cutting clutter, using active voice, and planning structure. We will also discuss how to form concrete research questions that your article will focus on and work through several activities. During the rest of the course, we will use a recurring process to develop the different sections. This process will include discussions, brainstorming, planning, writing, and editing. We will also develop forums for peer-to-peer reflection and collaboration. Over the 6 weeks, you will develop as independent writers and practice a writing process you will remember and be able to apply to future writing projects.
Requirements
For those following the whole course, you need to have a writing project in mind. Remember this course targets the writing process of an article aimed at a peer-reviewed journal. Maybe you are about to start a new writing process, or maybe you would like to fully revise a draft you already have.
You need to be open to working with your peers and giving feedback to each-other. The power of peer-to-peer feedback has long been documented and we use it actively in this course. During the course, you will work in small groups to analyze each other’s text and give feedback.
You need to be willing to use a couple of digital tools. The first is Zoom, which I am sure you all have some experience with now. The other tool is Mural. This is an online collaboration tool, which are essentially fancy whiteboards with post-its and other useful functions. The following videos give a brief but useful overview of some of the functionality of Mural as an example
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBFFpsy-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBFFpsy-RUo).
More details will be sent out in good time before the course starts, when I will also inform you about the digital tool we will use. In the meantime, ensure that your calendars are free on the dates listed above.
Expenses for DEEP members
DEEP will organise tickets and accommodation for all members. Travel and accommodation is covered.
Sign up
Sign up within 19 August 2023 through our online form. Maximum number of participants 20 persons. We strongly recommend you register as soon as possible.
NB: This course is an offer to PhD students who are members of Norwegian Research School for Dynamics and Evolution of Earth and Planets (DEEP) and is not open to external applicants.
If you are a PhD student at UiO, UiT, UNIS, UiB, and NTNU and your field of study is compatible with DEEP themes you are welcome to sign up for membership.
The instructor
Mathew Stiller-Reeve has a PhD in Meteorology and has published several peer-reviewed articles on the monsoon as well as interdisciplinary and communication issues. He founded the SciSnack writing group community in 2012 and helped start several writing groups around the world. He and 12 international co-authors published their collaborative writing process in 2016, and since then it has been used by summer schools and communication initiatives around the world. Recently, he has become a Thematic Editor of the Geoscience Communication journal and has developed a peer-review process that he recently published on Nature.com. He has held writing seminars and courses over the past 4 years, both in Norway and internationally. Mathew puts emphasis on how we apply basic writing skills to our academic writing, and not least, how we can improve our writing together!