Student Space: Writing Support Groups (by William Lynn)
Lisa Brown recently shared some excellent advice on planning and writing a research project.
Many of the readers of this blog are spending the summer writing their research project, thesis or dissertation.
One way of implementing her advice is to form a writing support group. Here are a few suggestions that I’ve accumulated over time.
1. Meet every two or three weeks. Weekly is too often, once a month is too long.
2. Take turns providing a writing sample for the group to read and critique. The sample must not be too long, and should be distributed well ahead of your meeting time.
3. Feedback on the clarity and content of your writing is an obvious benefit. Less appreciated is how reading and critiquing the work of another sparks new ideas about your own interpretation and expression.
4. Distinguish between questions of expression (e.g. how to say something) and conception (e.g. theory, method, data sources).
5. Get an experienced writer to attend some of your meetings. This can be a professor, editor, senior grad student, etc. The trick is getting the right person with the right experience for the topic under consideration.
6. Someone (or two) must take responsibility for planning and organizing the meetings. Great ideas and meetings can fizzle out for lack of organization and preparation.
7. Meet in a venue that facilitates your dialogue and has a minimum of disruptions.
I hope these suggestions are of some help, and good luck in writing up your research!
cheers, Bill
William Lynn :: Jul.02.2008 :: Student Space :: No Comments »