996011 Academic writing & publishing workshop (WS) (SoSe 2023)

Academic researchers spend a great deal of time trying to lay down their thoughts in a coherent and meaningful way. We repeatedly rewrite and rearrange our sentences and paragraphs, polish the style and vocabulary, choose among references, and adjust and readjust the argument to the publication of choice. Despite all those efforts, we still worry whether the outlet is the right one, whether the editors or supervisors would find our arguments convincing, whether our writing is clear, smooth, and nice to read, or whether it coveys our ideas as effectively as we would like it to.

If you have experienced something like this, you are not alone. Most scholars, early career or not, struggle with producing the kind of writing that will not only be published, but also widely read, cited, and hopefully have an impact beyond science. The struggle is not exclusive to those among us who wish to publish in, say, English, but who are not its native speakers. Mastering academic writing is something we are all expected to do and language proficiency is hardly enough. While many scholars will readily acknowledge this, in practice, most struggle with grasping what good academic writing is all about. Many academics, even very experienced ones, would produce very different answers when asked this question.

Developing one’s academic writing skills requires not only learning but also unlearning and relearning. There are countless books out there on the topic. Many will give you lists of rules, dos and don’ts, tips and tricks, and tell you what kind of language is right or wrong. Often, however, there are no right or wrong answers that will work the same for everyone. Rather, it is up to each researcher to develop their style of writing and find their answers to these questions. At the end of the day, academic writing is a medium through which researchers talk to each other about their work. Harnessing this function is precisely what we want to focus on in this workshop.

Participants:

The workshop is tailored for doctoral researchers and early-stage postdocs in the social sciences and humanities, particularly those writing and publishing in English. Many of the issues covered in the workshop, however, will be useful to those publishing (also) in other languages. Please note that although some workshop segments will be related to article writing, the workshop is also useful for those writing a monograph.

The deadline for signing up for the workshop is May 20.