Year 1 Two-Day Online Writing Retreat 

17th Feb 2021 10:00am - 18th Feb 2021 3:30pm 

To attend this course please book on Inkpath. Inkpath is an app available to all Techne students, if you're not already using please click here to find out how to get started.

Year 1 Writing Retreat with Anne Wilson and Katie Grant - Transition: clarifying your project, developing your writing.

This writing retreat is for Techne students in the first year of their PhD (or first two years of part-time study). The retreat will run from 10am to 3.30pm on 17th and 18th Februrary, you need to be able to attend both days.

Year 1 of the PhD can feel chaotic and messy; imposter syndrome is common. In a constructive space away from the scrutiny of supervisors, this retreat offers you and your peers the chance to look objectively at your projects and how you write about them. With your projects centre-stage, you will refresh existing writing skills and hone new ones as you communicate your research and develop your academic writing to PhD level.

Day 1 activities include:

• common challenges of Y1 and how to tackle them

• demystifying academic writing

• what is your project really about?

• tools and techniques to improve your academic practice

Day 2 activities include:

• writing a literature review - why / what / how?

• developing good writing habits

• a one-to-one consultation with either Anne or Katie
  
  

  Anne Wilson has a background in journalism (features) and corporate communication (scripts, speeches, screen media copy), combining her writing with facilitating writing workshops in HE. She was Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Brunel University for three years, and now runs workshops on academic writing and professional communication for postgraduates and staff at Brunel and other universities. She also coaches students for the 3MT competition (won by Brunel in 2017). She has recently collaborated with the Brunel Occupational Therapy department to investigate what kind of feedback helps students to improve their academic writing.

  Katie Grant co-created the Advancing Academic Writing skills website for the University of Glasgow, where she was the Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow for three years, helping undergraduates, Masters and PhD students with their writing. A columnist, occasional broadcaster, author of ten novels (Sedition, her latest, is published by Virago), chair of the panel of judges for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, an occasional book reviewer for, amongst other publications, the New York Times and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, she runs writing workshops on improving the quality, reach and impact of academic writing for all levels of HE. Long experience of the practical, emotional and organisational challenges of writing for deadlines and for different audiences informs all her workshops. She understands from first-hand the value of getting writing done and getting it done well.