To receive course credit participants should attend at least 6 out of the 8 sessions (but can certainly do more). Some sessions are considered mandatory, as designated below, while others are optional.

Session 1: Monday 10 February (13.00-15.00): Understanding the Publishing Landscape

This session introduces the course and provides an overview of the academic publishing landscapes and different strategies for engaging with it.

Readings:

Loehle, Craig. 1990. A Guide to Increased Creativity in Research--Inspiration or Perspiration? Bioscience (40)2: 123-129.

Dunleavy, Patrick. (2003) “Publishing your Research. Ch.9 in Authoring a PhD: How to plan, draft, write and finish a doctoral thesis or dissertation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan

Session 2: Thursday 13 February (13.00-15.00): The Art of the Abstract

Writing a good abstract for an article or conference presentation is an important yet underappreciated academic skill. In this session we’ll discuss techniques for how to do this well.

Readings:

Sword, Helen. (2010) “The Big Picture.” Ch. 13 in Stylish Academic Writing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Session 3: Monday 17 February (13.00-15.00): The Literature Review

A good literature review demonstrates your command of the field while also establishing the originality and importance of your own analysis. Hence it is a key component of a good article and we will discuss how to do it well.

Readings:

Taylor, Dena. nd. “The Literature Review: A Few tips on Conducting It.” University of Toronto. Http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/

Becker, Howard S. 2008. “Terrorized by the Literature.” Pp. 136-149 in Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article. 2^nd Edition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Optional:

Bernard, H. Russell. 2004. “The Literature Search.” Pp. 96-108 in Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. 4^th Edition. New York: Altamira Press.

Session 4: Thursday 20 February (13.00-15.00): Outlining your Article/Dissertation (Optional)

This session will address how to create a detailed outline to guide the writing process of an article as a component of an overall dissertation or thesis project.

Readings:

Dunleavy, Patrick. (2003) “Planning an Integrated Thesis” and “Organizing a Chapter or Paper.” Chs. 3 & 4 in Authoring a PhD: How to plan, draft, write and finish a doctoral thesis or dissertation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan

Optional:

Sword, Helen. (2010) “Structural Designs. ”Ch. 11 in Stylish Academic Writing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Session 5: Monday 24 February (13.00-15.00): Writing Strategies: Planning and Executions

In this session we will delve into the mechanics of the writing process itself, discussing how to organizing your writing and how to keep yourself motivated and on track as you develop it.

Readings:

Becker, Howard S. 2008. “One Right Way.” Pp. 43-67 in Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article. 2^nd Edition.  Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Dunleavy, Patrick. (2003) “Developing your Text and Managing the Writing Process.” Ch. 6 in Authoring a PhD: How to plan, draft, write and finish a doctoral thesis or dissertation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan

Optional:

Emerson, Robert, Fretz, Rachel & Shaw, Linda (2005) Chapter Four: Writing Up Fieldnotes II: Scenes on the Page. Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press. Pp. 66-107.

Session 6: Thursday 27 February (13.00-15.00): Co-Authorship: Navigating When, Why and How to Do it

Guest presenters: Mindi Scheider & Nowella Anyango-van Zwieten

This session explores co-authorship and co-writing. We will discuss when and why it makes sense to co-author a manuscript, considerations for choosing co-authors, strategies for working and writing with a co-author(s), and politics and practices of publishing within uneven power relations (ie. with supervisors, senior academics, and others).

Readings:

According to WUR: https://www.wur.nl/en/article/Recommendations-for-authorship-in-scientific-publications.htm.

Some useful tips, though the intended audience is ‘natural science’/quantitative researchers: https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006508.

An illuminating thread on some of the controversies surrounding this topic:

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Who_should_be_among_co-authors_of_the_scientific_paper_TOPIC_CLOSED

Session 7: Monday 3 March (13.00-15.00): Presentation Preparation

This session will offer strategies and tips for delivering effective academic conference presentations and fielding questions in the discussion period after.

Readings:
http://www.nextscientist.com/improve-presentation-skills-of-phd-students/
https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ld/resources/presentations

Session 8: Thursday 6 March (13.00-15.00): Presentation "Boot Camp"

In this final session participants will deliver mock presentations of a research paper for feedback from instructors and peers