'Getting to Grips, Pinning it Down': Year 2 Writing Development Course (Day 1)

'Getting to Grips, Pinning it Down' is a two-day confidence boost for researchers facing Y2’s particular challenges – motivation, overwhelm and uncertainty – as well as the technical challenges of organising materials and deciding what to leave in and what to leave out. You'll choose, in advance, a chunk of text you want to work on over the two days and you'll look at this text through specific lenses: critical analysis, argument, voice, language and line by line sentence structure.

On Day 1, you'll describe and contexualise your chosen chunk of text, helping you articulate its contribution to your project. You'll identify sentences where you're describing and others where you're critically analysing, heightening your awareness of the differences; you'll then present an example of each in a breakout room. Before lunch on Day 1 you'll prepare 2 pages of your text-in-progress to share with another participant. Readers are invited to ask three questions and comment on what is strong /effective in the text. At the end of Day 1, you'll have made progress on your text and also explored techniques to apply as you move forward.

Day 2 morning is timed writing sessions and one-to-one consultations with Anne or Katie. In the afternoon, we consider voice in academic writing both generally and in your own work. By the end of Day 2, you should have made progress on both your development as a writer and on your thesis. Committing to both days is essential - the activities are part of your PhD process, not time away from it.

This is the first day of a event held over two consecutive days. You must ensure that you sign up to both days.