Academic Skills
WRITING FOR JOURNALS
These on-line workshops are for PhD researchers who want to develop a strategic approach to their publishing. Three weekly workshops explore benefits and challenges associated with developing a more strategic approach to publishing. They include a series of activities, guided reflection, discussion, and advice to help participants’ develop a writing and publication strategy which reflects their personal and career objectives. Workshop 1 will consider the benefits and pitfalls associated with writing in collaboration. Workshops 2 and 3 will explore approaches identifying and selecting appropriate journals and then delving deeper into the conventions and existing debates within those journals.
Week 1: Writing in collaboration or alone
26th February 2024
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- How do we write?
- Exploring norms in different subject areas/specialisms
- Discussing the advantages and disadvantages of writing with supervisors or colleagues
- Collaborative writing – approaches to setting out the rules/norms
Week 2: Targeting and researching your journal
5th March 2024
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- Understanding journal ranking
- Thinking about your research strategy – what are your personal objectives? What other factors are relevant?
- Starting to explore journals and select a shortlist.
Week 3:
Developing your message and a preliminary structure for your work
12th March 2024
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- Selecting your journal
- Exploring the conventions of that journal
- Starting to design a paper specifically for that journal
- Reflections and feedback
DIGITAL ACCESSIBILITY
Part 1
Has taken place – will run again in Autumn 2024.
Part 1 will consider accessibility practices that enable learners to navigate through resources more efficiently and read them more comfortably, including the following:
What are the accessibility requirements with headings, hyperlinks and tables?
How do you test them?
How do you remediate them?
How can fonts, colour and layout make reading more comfortable?
How does the format you provide influence the reader experience?
Part 2
1st March 2024
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Part 2 will explore how digital accessibility tools can make content easier to understand or more meaningful to people with sensory disabilities. We will consider such topics as:
How to check for reading level.
How to check content works with text to speech and reads in a logical order in documents and presentations.
Practical (and achievable) advice on dealing with images, audio, video and tables so they make more sense to more readers.
LITERATURE SEARCHING
4th March 2024
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A literature search is a considered and organised search to find key literature on a topic. Get top tips on how to get started with your literature searching by hearing from the experts in searching Learn how to get the best out of the library catalogue, subject specific databases as well getting an overview of other resources that are available to you beyond the collection at University of Westminster.
- define what you are searching for
- decide where to search
- develop a search strategy
- refine your search strategy
- save your search for future use.
- know where to find further help
CREATING and MANAGING EFFECTIVE RELATIONSHIPS for YOUR RESEARCH
5th March 2024
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In this workshop, we will discuss how we can best network with our colleagues, peers, publishers, funders, as well as the beneficiaries of our research and the wider public. Networking is all about building valuable relationships that can sustain and support us in our research journey. We will use this workshop as a space for you to develop your own individualised plan around networking, a plan that is tailored to your goals, needs, skills, and resources.
Through structured reflection both individually and as a group, we will help you identify your reasons for engaging in networking, the people and types of audiences you’d like to network with, as well as best practices for developing these relationships, from using social media and email, to striking up conversations in conferences, to presenting your research in a variety of venues, to building a public profile.
Please bring your laptop and, if you have time before the workshop, please reflect on your reasons for wanting to network more (or more effectively) and on the obstacles that you’re facing when doing so.
DEFYING WRITER’S BLOCK: Using Mind maps to generate, visualize and structure ideas
18th March 2024
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A mind map helps generate ideas before you make a formal plan and can reveal themes, gaps and links between ideas. This workshop will help you to develop a mind map on key words or themes so that you can use it as raw material for your earliest thinking and research. Mind maps are also a fantastic way to get started without the pressure of producing beautiful sentences, as such they can be highly beneficial in defying writer’s block. Additionally, they can also become the basis for creating a possible structure for your ideas!
HOW TO WRITE A LITERATURE REVIEW
12th March 2024
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The main purpose of a literature review is to situate new research (to be described in detail later), within the existing body (or bodies) of published knowledge. This requires the author to first undertake an analysis of all the relevant earlier and current research. This analysis is concerned with first describing the established knowledge, and then with identifying and articulating the earlier and current debates, inconsistencies, and tensions in the published work.
The analysis is followed by a synthesis, in which the new research is integrated creatively with the existing knowledge. This requires the development of arguments for justifying the new research undertaking, in terms of its contribution to progress in the field. Given that there are no precedents for the new research being described, this necessitates a greater presence of the author’s unique ‘voice’ in the writing.
Whilst the literature review in journal papers may be relatively brief in some academic disciplines, in a thesis it is always a more comprehensive undertaking. This requires the researcher to work continuously, in terms of planning and writing the review. Initially this may begin as an annotated bibliography, but later on it takes the form of an outline review that will be revised, edited and updated continuously as the research progresses.
This on-line presentation will describe how to write a literature review in five stages, and examples will be shown of reviews from different disciplines. In addition it will provide information and examples of some of the pitfalls that have been observed in reviews from the perspective of the reader (i.e. examiner/peer reviewer).
EFFECTIVE USE OF YOUR RESOURCES IN YOUR WORK
11th April 2024
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Doctoral researchers at all stages are welcome to attend this session. We will discuss the principles behind referencing, quoting, paraphrasing and synthesising to ensure sources are effectively and ethically integrated into your academic work.
CRITICAL THINKING AND ARGUMENTATION
27th March 2024
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To achieve a PhD you will present your original research in a structured, authoritative, academic thesis. You will need to master critical thinking, that is, reaching conclusions from evidence and reasoning.
This workshop will help you consolidate the notion of critical thinking, providing tools for critically analysing and evaluating information. Consideration will be given to the ontologies and epistemologies of different research philosophies. Special attention will be given to the analysis and evaluation of research methods.
The workshop will help you demonstrate critical thinking in your academic writing and present your arguments.
This online workshop will be delivered in a friendly and interactive format so we will welcome your questions and contributions!
ACADEMIC VOICE AND LANGUAGE
28th March 2024
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To achieve a PhD you will present your original research in a structured, authoritative, academic thesis.
This workshop will help you consolidate the notion of academic voice and refine your academic language.
This online workshop will be delivered in a friendly and interactive format so we will welcome your questions and contributions!
UNDERTAKING FIELD WORK/DATA COLLECTION – AN INTERCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
25th April 2024
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When undertaking data collection/fieldwork through, for example, interviews or questionnaires, we are interacting with our informants. These interactions could be on-site or on-line. The willingness of our informants to contribute, the way in which they will interpret our questions and answer them, as well as a myriad of ethical aspects will be influenced by their cultural background. You might be doing fieldwork in a culture you are very familiar with or one that you know only from a distance. At the same time, the way you are framing and phrasing your questions or request for information is influenced by your own cultural background (and that of your supervisory team). This workshop is designed to help you reflect on these important aspects, in order to fully consider cultural perspectives and their implications for your fieldwork. The workshop is open to all doctoral students preparing for their data collection who have already submitted or are about to submit their ethics application.
WORKING WITH OTHERS
All research involves working with others, whether that means thinking about what our reader needs when we are writing, engaging in discussion with supervisors and with others in our field, or joining with others to turn ideas into funding proposals or entrepreneurial schemes. This workshop will give you the opportunity to think about how best to work with others through your degree and beyond.
Click on the appropriate link below to book a place.
Working with Others in Social Sciences, Humanities and Architecture (SHAPE)
1st May 2024: book your place here
Working with Others in STEMM Subjects
8th May 2024: book your place here
Working with Others in Business
30th April 2024: book your place here
Working with Others in Arts, Media and Communication
13th May 2024: book your place here
WRITING RETREATS
Writing retreats are a fantastic opportunity for researchers to concentrate on writing in a supportive atmosphere in a way that can increase both productivity and confidence. The DRDP supports two different kinds of writing retreat – residential and on campus.*
Both kinds of writing retreat follow the model of the structured-writing retreat (Murray and Newton, 2009), and are facilitated by colleagues who have been trained in this method. The retreats are designed around a well-being model, and the aim is to provide and enforce writing time in a relaxed, supportive and peaceful environment. The group writes together, during prescribed time-slots.
The residential writing retreats are held twice each academic year (December and July). There will be 10 places available for doctoral students. Travel costs (train/taxi) will be reimbursed after the retreat.
Instructions on how to apply for the residential retreats will go out via email in the middle of the first semester for the December retreat and early summer for the summer retreat.
SUMMER RESIDENTIAL WRITING RETREAT 2024
19th-21st July 2024.
Full information and application form to be available soon
ON-CAMPUS WRITING DAYS
These take place monthly throughout the academic year. Lunch will be included. You can book as many of these as you wish.
If you cannot attend in person, you can book to join in online. Follow the booking link for the date in question below, and you will see an online booking page link in the VRE information.
Book a place on your preferred workshop below.
- 13th October 2023 – book your place here
- 9th November 2023 – book your place here
- 8th December 2023 – book your place here
- 15th February 2024 – book your place here
- 14th March 2024 – book your place here
- 4th April 2024 – book your place here
- 16th May 2024 – book your place here
- 27th June 2024 – book your place here
ACADEMIC ENGLISH FOR DOCTORAL RESEARCHERS (8ALDS001W)
The referral deadline for Semester 2 has now closed. The module will run again in Autumn 2024.
This is an accessible and inclusive module for all students who would benefit from extra support with expression in English at doctoral level.
The module is delivered in the first semester of each academic year. It is delivered in the form of seven taught group sessions followed by three individual tutorials. The latter will be based on your own written work.
The taught group sessions will take place on the following dates from 2pm- 4pm. All classes will take place online via Blackboard Collaborate Ultra.
The module will run in Semester 1, 2024-25, as follows (all sessions run from 2pm – 4pm):
Dates TBC.
Referrals from DoSs will need to reach Richard Paterson by Date TBC 2024. You will receive an emailing confirming your place on the module.
If you would like to register for the module in semester 1, you will need to be referred by your Director of Studies. They will need to complete the referral form: 8ALDS001WReferral 2023 24 SEMESTER 2 and email it to Richard Paterson (r.paterson@westminster.ac.uk). Once you have been referred, you will be contacted to make sure that the module is right for you.
The individual sessions will be organised at mutually convenient times between the Module Leader and students during the second semester.
The university also provides support around writing through the Academic Engagement and Learning Development Team. One to one sessions and Postgraduate Cafes are available through them. Information on all they offer can be found here
FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Where foreign language proficiency is deemed essential for carrying out doctoral research projects, the University will facilitate relevant training through Polylang, the university’s open language programme, which is open to all students as well as to members of staff, our alumni community and members of the public. All levels are catered for, from beginner to advanced. Doctoral researchers should seek advice from their Director of Studies and discuss support needs with their School DRDP Co-ordinator.
You may also want to learn a language beyond the demands of your doctoral research, but if you wish to learn a language beyond your research, you will need to cover the fees yourself.
For more information on what Polylang offers, see here.