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: d.holley@londonmet.ac.uk

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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