The Writing Workshop: Write More, Write Better, Be Happier in Academia - Softcover

Sarnecka, Barbara W

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1733484604 ISBN 13: 9781733484602

Publisher: Barbara W. Sarnecka, 2019

Synopsis

Research is all about writing, but most PhD programs don't teach students how to produce the writing needed to get a PhD, publish research, or win fellowships and grants. Plus, the academic environment can feel as cold and harsh as the South Pole. But just as penguins form social huddles to survive the Antarctic winter, researchers can form writing groups to help them learn how to write more, write better and be happier in academia. The Writing Workshop tells you everything you need to know about forming and running a successful writing group, and provides invaluable tips on how to become better at and more comfortable with academic writing. Written by a professor of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, this friendly guide is aimed at early-career researchers such as PhD students, postdoctoral scholars and new faculty members. Chapter topics include: How to form and run a writing workshop; how to plan research and writing projects over the long (one to five years), medium (ten to fifteen weeks), and short (one week) terms; how to establish and maintain a regular daily(ish) writing practice; how to write a literature review, research article, funding proposal or presentation; and how to revise for clarity at the document, paragraph, sentence and word levels. There are templates to help students set writing goals and log their writing practice, plus in-class exercises to help writers learn to hear the difference between effective and ineffective writing. Running through the book is the theme of well-being, and the idea that creativity comes from self-compassion rather than self-punishment. Writing is not only a way of producing scholarly output, but also a way of thinking, learning and generating new ideas. A regular writing practice grounded in a supportive community is something that every early-career scholar deserves and, with this book, it's something every early-career scholar can have.

About this title

About the Author

Barbara W. Sarnecka is a Professor of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. She is the creator of the graduate Writing Workshop seminar, guiding dozens of doctoral students and postdocs to produce their best writing while maintaining their health and sanity. Professor Sarnecka is currently conducting randomized controlled trials to investigate how doctoral writing groups affect writing productivity, skill development and well-being in doctoral students across the sciences and humanities. Other research in her lab focuses on conceptual change and cognitive development from infancy through adulthood. This includes studies of numerical cognition in early childhood, social cognition in infancy through childhood, exploratory play and decision-making in middle childhood, conceptual change in science education, and adult moral cognition and reasoning.

Review

"This book is practical, funny, easy to use, and effective. Reading this book is like sitting down with a close friend who also happens to be a writing expert."--Sarah Lawsky, Benjamin Mazur Summer Research Professor of Law, Associate Dean of Academic Programs, Associate Dean of Finance, Pritzker School of Law, Northwestern University

"Academics all have to write, but nobody helps them learn how to do it. Barbara Sarnecka's warm, witty and, of course, exceptionally well-written guide to academic writing workshops will be an invaluable, indispensable help to students and new faculty, and to older ones too." --Alison Gopnik, Professor of Psychology at UC-Berkeley and author of The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children

"With a friendly, arm-around-the-shoulder stance, Sarnecka shows us how to cultivate and nurture our inner muse. This book is a godsend to every scholar who wants to write clearly, regularly, and powerfully." --Sam Wineburg, Margaret Jacks Professor of Education at Stanford University

"Packed with advice that extends well beyond the fundamentals of good scientific writing. . . I can't think of a better book to support new and emerging writers." --Laura Shulz Professor of Cognitive Science, MIT

"Essential reading for any academic who wants to be more prolific and write better." --PAUL BLOOM, Brooks and Suzanne Regan Professor of Psychology at Yale University and author of Against Empathy

Edition details

• Publisher: Barbara W. Sarnecka
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1733484604
• ISBN 13: 9781733484602
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 368