Aalto Wellbeing Week - Online writing workshop for doctoral students with John Weston on 6 Oct 2020
Would you like to work on your academic English and improve the clarity, style, and flow of your text? Are you looking for tools to make your writing process less stressful and isolating?
Join us for the Online Writing Workshop with John Weston during Aalto Wellbeing Week!
At the workshop, we will go through the most common "issues" that students are facing while writing in English, look at text examples and refresh our understanding of the rules of academic English. Working together online can feel good! It can be authentic, nourishing, and uplifting – and it’s also a really effective way of developing your writing.
At the workshop, you will:
- refresh/learn key aspects of academic writing in English;
- get feedback on questions and short text samples;
- improve your own text and learn now to structure a complex writing project.
10:00–10:20 Coffee
Upon joining the Zoom meeting, you will be put into a small group. Make/have a coffee while on webcam/mobile. This is part of the writing retreat – do not skip it! Stand up for this part if you can!
10:20–11:00 Welcome and seminar 1: A crash course in academic writing
We will discuss SMART targets; talk about clarity, style and identity; and review the ideas of cohesion and flow in text.
11:00–11:30 Goal settings with peers
Discuss the seminar's takeaways with peers to set your own writing goals.
11:30–11:45 Coffee break
Don’t forget to stretch!
11:45–13:00 Writing session
It's time for individual work. Participants can have an opportunity to chat with John one-on-one if they would like to get any advice on their writing or about coping with a writing project.
13:00–14:00 Seminar 2: Student examples; common “issues” in English
We will review students' example texts, talk about tense, mood and aspect in English; refresh our knowledge of definite and indefinite articles; and discuss best practices for punctuation and citations.
In the end of our second seminar, we will walk you through the Aalto Language Centre support options: the Writing Clinic, peer groups, and courses for doctoral students.
How to prepare
To take part in the online writing workshop, you will need:
- a desktop device / laptop / tablet on which you can comfortably write and with Zoom installed;
- something to write about – this could be your doctoral research at whatever stage; a conference abstract or research proposal; an artist’s statement or personal biography; or something else.
This workshop is intended as a single continuous event, although students can drop in and out for different sessions if necessary – please see the schedule. This session works as a standalone event and is suitable for all Aalto doctoral students.
Workshop tutor and host John Weston
John is a University Teacher of English at the Aalto Language Centre. John has a Ph.D. in the sociolinguistics of academic discourse, and he continues to research the use of English across the arts, humanities, and sciences. John is also qualified as a physics teacher in the UK and is interested in the popularization of science. In addition to coaching technical and artistic students in academic writing at Aalto, John is currently developing new online teaching methods, and researching the use of creative writing and speaking for academic purposes. He produces interview podcasts for the New Books Network and is currently developing a new series about life and work in academia.
Twitter: @johnwphd
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-weston/
Supported by
FinnCERES - Flagship for boosting bioeconomy (external link)
Boosting the world’s bioeconomy by developing new bio-based materials with Aalto University and VTT, companies, and research organizations through a shared passion to create a sustainable future and a belief in innovations based on solid scientific foundations.
Have a question about the writing workshop? Get in touch!
Event Privacy notice
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