writing your thesis: workshop facilitated by debbie holley
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Writing your thesis: workshop facilitated by Debbie Holley. “Wason (1974) has described the procrastination and incoherence into which many doctoral candidates fall when attempting to represent results in written form”. Writing is …. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Writing your thesis: workshop facilitated by Debbie Holley
“Wason (1974) has described the procrastination and incoherence into which
many doctoral candidates fall when attempting to represent results in written form”
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Writing is …
Writing is easy – you just stare at a blank piece of paper till your eyeballs bleed! (Sinfield, Burns & Johnson 2009)
Writing is …
Thinking and Learning and Struggle
However!
We ‘write to learn’
Not learn to write
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SWOT: Reflect on your current piece of PhD writingStrengths: what do you like about your
writing?Weaknesses: what do you dislike about
your writing Opportunities: what’s in it for you ?Threats: what threat does not completing
this section pose for you?
Write for one minute on each…
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http://www.online-stopwatch.com/full-screen-stopwatch/
Developing writing
We benefit from being given or making opportunities to: Practise writing (general) what kind of writing do you
undertake daily/weekly/monthly? Practise writing in your discipline Free write Reflect on our writing - and other aspects of our learning
Reflect on feedback from our supervisors
(fabulous chapter in Phillips & Pugh 2000 ‘how to manage your supervisor’ !)
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Freewriting: Peter Elbow (1998)
Free-writing encourages us to write at length without fear of censorship.
Benefits:Freedom to explore a topic
Builds & demonstrates knowledge
Encourages understandingSpelling & grammar (3 min):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlL5W2qA0EA
On writing (9min):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDUn1c4uxUE
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Academic freewriting
Use for: Starting an assignment Overcoming a writing block Writing at length Writing in discipline Structuring writing Proof-reading Editing Reflecting on your day/learning
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Free writing: we all think differently
My favourite activity for removing writing block!
I am going to give you this sentence:
The boy walked down the street when…..
And an envelope containing a a ‘genre’ of writing
Please write for 3 minutes in the ‘genre’
Activities
Try freewriting:For 5 minutes on any lecture/presentation/talkA definition of a concept in 1 minuteFor 5 minutes on previous experiences that will be useful to
you for developing your PhD
Resources:Freewrite:http://www.cumquat.co.uk/freewrite/http://www.writethink.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/fwt/
Free_Write01.html
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See http://www.arts.ac.uk/cetl/visual-directions/
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And for your future writing?
the reflective learning journal
Supports your reflection on discipline specific readings
Promotes critical analysis
Encourages deep understanding through questioning
Is creative & appealing Documents turning
points on your PhD journey – great for preparing for your Viva!
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Suggested entries
Reflections on study sessions: what, why, reaction, learned, new goals …
Notes on readingsQuestions relating to readingsFreewriting on a topicGlossary of termsPlanning and draftingNotes from the press…
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Reflecting on THIS session
What have we done? What activities have we
undertaken? Why? What was your reaction? What have you learned –
about writing, about yourself as a writer, about yourself as a PhD student?
Will this change your approach? How?
What will you do next? Make notes for yourself – and
don’t forget to let me know: [email protected]
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And other ideas:
It's a long way to Tipperary PhD bloghttp://longwaytotipperary.blogspot.com/2010/02/
epistemology-and-research-design.html And google the three minute thesis, a
competition that runs in Australian Universities
http://www.gradresearch.unimelb.edu.au/programs/
3minutethesis/index.html
References:
With thanks to Sarah Johnson, Sandra Sinfield and Tom BurnsStudents’ Writing in Transition Symposium, NTU September 15th 2009
Elbow, P (1998) Writing without teachers (2nd ed) Oxford University press New York & Oxford
Phillips, E. and D. Pugh (2000). How to get a PHD. Buckingham, Open University Press.
Trafford, V. and S. Leshem (2002). "Starting at the end to undertake doctoral research: predictable questions as stepping stones." Higher Education Review 34(1): 31-49.*debbie recommends as essential reading!
Wason P.C. (1974) Notes on Supervisions of PhDs, Bulletin of the British Psychological Society, 20: 273-281