How does one write coherent, authoritative academic texts? This course is intended for students in the process of writing their PhD theses, while advanced MPhil students, in their second year, are also welcome. We read drafts of each other’s work and engage in constructive criticism, focussing on clarity of writing, structure, and persuasiveness. The course also provides concrete advice on how to determine one’s audience, how to overcome writer’s block, choose examples, shorten texts, incorporate theory and deal with word limits. Each week, two students will present their work and have it discussed by the group. Small group size means that each student will present several times during the course of the term. Books on how to write academic texts, such as work by Michael Billig and Kirin Narayan, will be read as background literature, but the focus will be on the production and constructive criticism of texts produced by students enrolled in the course.

 

Each week, two students will present their written work for discussion and peer review. Every student will have their turn and have their work discussed several times over the course of a semester. The goal is that students learn from each other by critiquing each other’s work.

The course coordinator will provide guidance and discuss the following topics, among others:

• how to determine one’s audience;
• how to overcome writer’s block;
• how to shorten texts;
• how to choose examples, incorporate theory and deal with word limits.

Other topics may be supplemented as necessary and change from year to year and the needs of individual cohorts.

 

The course will teach students (a) how to construct narratively coherent and academically adept written texts; (b) how to critically engage with other people’s texts in a constructive, generous spirit that encourages better writing; and (c) how to determine the appropriate genre of writing for different topics and different audiences. The first objective will facilitate students’ ability to communicate their research; the second objective will hone their ability to distinguish between affirmative engagement and negative criticism; the third objective will familiarize students with different writing styles and demands. The course will focus on basic writing skills: How many examples are enough? How does one begin a chapter? Where should the author insert him/herself in the text, if at all? How does one create memorable characters in a text? How much detail is too much detail? Throughout the course, students will present parts of their postgraduate dissertation (introductions, theoretical frameworks, analyses, conclusions). These texts will be read in advance by all participants, who, together, will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the texts, in order to improve the writing so that it becomes clearer, more coherent, persuasive, academic and readable.

 

40%: Writing

30%: Peer Review

20%: Oral Participation

10%: Presentation

 

Billig, Michael 2013. Learn To Write Badly. Cambridge University Press.

Narayan, Kirin 2012. Alive in the Writing: crafting ethnography in the company of Chekov. University of Chicago Press.

Kulick, Don 1998. Travesti: sex, gender and culture among Brazilian transgendered prostitutes. University of Chicago Press.

In addition, each student must choose one academic monograph that they would like to have written themselves, and prepare a 5-min presentation about what it is that appeals to them.