Demystifying Academic Writing in the Doctoral Program: Writing Workshops, Peer Reviews, and Scholarly Identities

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-362
Author(s):  
Bjørn Sletto ◽  
Kristine Stiphany ◽  
Jane Futrell Winslow ◽  
Andrea Roberts ◽  
Marla Torrado ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Doctoral Program ◽  
Writing Workshops ◽  
Peer Reviews

scholarly journals Using Rubrics in A University EFL Process Writing Program: An Exploratory Case Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yamin Qian
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
English Language ◽  
Writing Process ◽  
Writing Programs ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Writing Classes ◽  
Peer Reviews ◽  
Reflection Data ◽  
Student Cohorts

While rubrics have been widely recognized as an effective instructional tool for teachers to evaluate students’ writing products, fewer studies explored how students use it for their writing process in an EFL university academic writing classes. This study explores the application of process-oriented rubrics in two EFL writing programs, and investigates whether English language proficiency, motivation to writing, and their previous experiences with writing programs would significantly affect the use of the rubrics. The participants (N=190) were from two student cohorts, each of which had 95 participants. The data set includes students’ self-, peer- use and the instructor’s use of the rubrics, and students’ written reflection upon peer feedbacks. The data showed that the rubrics can guide students to practice a writing process, and that the 20-item rubric was statistically reliable.  The data of rubrics also showed that the participants were more critical on their peers’ writing, and the reflection data showed students’ awareness of revision strategies. The qualitative data seemed to suggest that peer reviews and reflections upon such reviews could enhance students' revision strategies. This article will conclude itself by providing some pedagogical suggestions in EFL contexts

Summer Mentoring Experiences for Students in Online Doctoral Programs

2021 ◽  
pp. 109-131
Author(s):  
Julie Smit ◽  
Elizabeth Jones ◽  
Michael Ladick ◽  
Mellinee Lesley
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Doctoral Programs ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Doctoral Program ◽  
University Faculty ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Self Worth ◽  
Online Doctoral Programs

University faculty created the Llano Estacado Writers' Alliance (LEWA) in response to improving the quality and rigor of online doctoral programs. The goal for LEWA was to promote meaningful academic writing and transform doctoral students' identities as agentic academic writers. After LEWA's inception, the authors incorporated the perspectives of their alumni and advanced doctoral students to help address students' needs. This chapter documents the four-year journey of forming LEWA and developing new approaches to mentoring online doctoral students. Specifically, the authors recount the evolution from the faculty-led, week-long summer intensives that addressed students' anxieties and uncertainties about the doctoral program to the writing intensives that were more student centered, responsive, and primarily focused on the mores of academic writing. Results demonstrated the benefits of professor-led and peer-led networks in developing students' sense of belonging, sense of accountability to their peers, and a sense of self-worth as capable academic writers.

scholarly journals Impact of writing workshops on doctoral student wellness

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Buckley ◽  
Eli Saetnan ◽  
Amelia Gerber ◽  
Joanna Cheetham ◽  
Thomas Price ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Student Experiences ◽  
Writing Workshops ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Related Stress ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Survey Responses ◽  
Thesis Writing

Few interventions addressing student wellbeing have been designed or evaluated specifically with doctoral students in mind despite the doctoral experience being distinct from that of other students. We therefore explore the benefits of interventions designed specifically to address a key source of stress or anxiety for doctoral students, namely thesis writing. This research uses a mixed-methods approach to explore the ways in which doctoral thesis writing support sessions, in the form of writing workshops or writing retreats, can reduce the stress and anxiety associated with thesis writing specifically or academic writing more generally. Firstly, we quantified the reduction in writing related stress and anxiety associated with workshop participation using a survey completed before and after workshop attendance. Subsequently, we gathered student experiences of workshop participation through focus group interviews. Survey responses showed a clear reduction in participants’ levels of stress and anxiety related to thesis writing and focus group respondents described many clear benefits of participating in writing support sessions. We conclude that participation in thesis writing workshops and writing retreats is a valuable strategy for reducing stress and anxiety associated with thesis writing. The sense of empowerment and confidence that comes from discussing thesis writing in a supportive environment with others in the same situation, and the opportunity to experiment with new tools and strategies, is very valuable for improving the wellbeing of doctoral students.

scholarly journals Sword, H. (2017). Air & Light & Time & Space: How Successful Academics Write. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 98-100
Author(s):  
Cecile Badenhorst
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Harvard University ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Writing Workshops ◽  
Research Reporting ◽  
Extensive Data ◽  
Time Space ◽  
Rigorous Research ◽  
And Shifts ◽  
Successful Academic

Helen Sword, author of Stylish Academic Writing (2012) and The Writer’s Diet (2016), is a staunch campaigner for shaking the dust off academic writing. She advocates that style, elegance and readability are not incompatible with rigorous research reporting. In her most recent book, Air & Light & Time & Space (2017), Sword turns her attention away from texts and shifts the spotlight onto writers. She collected extensive data to explore the habits and experiences of academic writers – how they write, when, where and how they feel when they write. Drawing on 100 interviews with successful academic writers and 1,223 questionnaires from participants at her writing workshops, Sword showcases academic writing experiences. Through extensive quotations and profiling, she illustrates the mixed, mottled and varied practices that writers engage in.

Preparing for dissertation writing: doctoral education students’ perceptions

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katia Ciampa ◽  
Zora Wolfe
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Doctoral Education ◽  
Doctoral Program ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Dissertation Writing ◽  
Directed Learning

Purpose This paper aims to investigate doctoral students’ perceptions of and satisfaction with their doctor of education program, specifically related to dissertation writing preparation. The results offer a complex picture that has implications for the design of doctoral education programs that aim to help students prepare for culminating academic writing products such as dissertations. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative data, by means of an anonymous online survey with open-ended questions, were used to ascertain 115 doctoral students’ writing experiences in a doctoral program at one university in the USA. Findings The findings of this study suggest the importance of intrapersonal factors, specifically the ability to engage in self-directed learning; interpersonal factors, such as peer and faculty support; and institutional factors, namely, faculty’s writing-based pedagogical practices, in supporting doctoral students’ academic writing. Practical implications This study suggests in addition to selecting and nurturing students’ ability to engage in self-directed learning, there are a number of specific strategies and practices doctoral faculty can engage in and use to prepare students for successful dissertation writing. Originality/value This study provides the perspective of former and existing doctoral students to illuminate the needs they perceive as they engage in dissertation writing. The study provides practical strategies based on common themes in student responses.

scholarly journals Gender-based Responses to Peer Reviews in Academic Writing

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Listyani Listyani
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Central Research ◽  
Student Interactions ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Peer Reviews ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
Use Of Technology

We are living in a digital era in which everybody who is not participating will be left behind. Yes, that is true. We are all chased by the rapid changes of this era, and we are running faster and faster to catch up with the latest technology. It seems as if we are all haunted to go deeper and deeper into the “tunnel of the digital era”. The same thing happens in the world of education. However, if we notice more closely, there are still some aspects that can be done directly without necessitating the use of technology. One example is student-student direct interactions. Technology can be used to facilitate peer assessments, not replace student-student interactions. One central research question to be answered in this paper is: What are male and female Indonesian students’ points of views towards peer reviews? Despite all the sophisticated technology we are all exposed to in this era, peer feedback should still be done directly with real, face-to-face communication in a classroom setting. Indirect online communication or chatting through social media may cause a misunderstanding and misinterpretation of one’s ideas. Data for this study was taken from 39 students’ opinions in their journals. They were Academic Writing class students of the English Department of UKSW Indonesia, in Semester II, 2015-2016. Most students stated that direct and interactive face-to-face communication is still needed. It proves that digitation cannot replace everything. Real communication with real peers in the real - not cyber - world can enhance successful learning. The findings also reveal that differences were found between male and female students’ reactions or perceptions towards peer reviews.

Das (verhinderte) Potential der Mehrsprachigkeit

Fachsprache ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 175-192
Author(s):  
Eva Zernatto
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Education Sector ◽  
Academic Literacies ◽  
Writing Workshops ◽  
University Of Vienna ◽  
Multilingual Writing ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The University

This paper introduces the results of a series of writing workshops about “Mehrsprachig Schreiben” [Multilingual Writing], which took place at the University of Vienna between 2015 and 2017. The article poses the question, how individual, multilingual potentials can be used productively and creatively for the development and enhancements of academic literacies in the tertiary education sector. First it focuses on the linguistic landscapes at Austrian Universities such as the handling of multilingualism in this context, as well as it concerns the framing conditions and challenges of academic writing per se, before it shows the terms of the writing workshops and the methodical and didactical approach in connection with the concept of a multilingual process orientated writing didactic. On the basis of an exercise example (“Meine Sprachen und ich” [My languages and I]) it is responding in the end to the concrete challenges of multilingual academic writing at “German speaking” universities.

scholarly journals Examining Doctoral Student Development of a Researcher Identity: Using the Draw a Researcher Test

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Micki M Caskey ◽  
Dannelle D Stevens ◽  
Marie Yeo
Keyword(s):  
Identity Development ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Student Development ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Doctoral Student ◽  
Doctoral Program ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
First Year ◽  
Core Identity ◽  
Researcher Identity

With a core identity as working professionals, education doctoral students struggle with seeing themselves as researchers. Because research is essential in a doctoral program, the sooner doctoral students include researcher as an identity, the smoother and more successful their journey will be. To support doctoral student researcher identity development, we focused on scaffolding and embedding academic writing experiences in the first year seminar in a U.S. doctoral program.  The purpose of this study was to describe and explain doctoral students’ development of a researcher identity as measured by the Draw-a-Researcher Test (DART).  In the fall and spring, we collected drawings and narrative reflections about their drawings of researchers from nine students. We created a five-dimension DART scoring guide.  In the fall, the drawings revealed students’ uncertainty about the agency and the research process dimensions; in the spring, however, the drawings showed students’ clearer understanding of these two dimensions.  In the narrative reflections, students noted the influence of writing expectations and experiences on their role identity as researchers.  Implications, as measured by the DART, are that an embedded writing support model seems to assure the development of doctoral students’ core identity as researchers during the first year of the program.

scholarly journals Material Design for Teaching Citations Skills in Scientific Writing

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-34
Author(s):  
Kobra Mansourizadeh ◽  
Ummul K. Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Knowledge Construction ◽  
Academic Literacy ◽  
Material Design ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Writing Workshops ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
Research Findings

Citations are important rhetorical devices that when properly and strategically employed, allow writers to promote their current research findings persuasively and efficiently. As knowledge construction is progressive and cumulative, specifically in scientific disciplines, it is evident that acquiring skills for adequate and effective application of citations is essential for success. Scientific writers are required to possess advanced academic literacy skills in order to ably position their study within the framework of existing knowledge, and strategically employ citations to advance the acceptability of their research findings. This paper endeavors to propose materials for teaching the rhetorical functions of citations in advanced academic writing courses. The tasks are designed specifically to raise students’ awareness of citation norms, especially in their own specific disciplines. Since the practice of citing the work of others ethically is highly challenging for emerging research writers, materials suggested in this paper can be beneficial to instructors who are involved in developing advanced discipline-specific writing courses, or short-term academic writing workshops.

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