This workshop will consider how researchers can support one another to improve their academic writing. Writing groups have clear benefits – when run effectively, their model of peer mentoring can improve your confidence and motivation as a writer, helping you to develop your ideas and original research, and make more effective use of the time spent with your supervisor. They can be a great way of dealing with the pitfalls familiar to many researchers, including writer’s block and procrastination. As an intellectual community, a writing group can also open the way to future research collaborations. After sharing some of the common problems involved in writing research, this workshop will suggest strategies for overcoming them through peer mentoring, and offer practical advice on establishing and maintaining a writing group.

1. writing with power also means getting power over yourself & over the writing process - Peter Elbow, U Massachusetts-Amherst Peer-Supported Academic Writing

3. Pat ThomsonPeer-Supported Academic Writing

4. And [Barbara Kamler] is right. Writing isn’t an activity that you do to whip up a study or report after understanding ideas and thinking up insights. Writing is the very route scholars take in order to think things through. As such, it isn’t such an extrinsic instrument, but an essential process in scholarly work. What is even more interesting, … is that writing is not only thinking, but it’s also forming your identity as a scholar. So today, I’m not just writing up my research proposal. I’ll be gathering the ideas accumulated from research, processing them and thinking them through. strugglingSCHOLAR blog: http://jcgosj.wordpress.com/

5. Read and respond like a real Reader - Cleo Martin, university of Iowa Peer-Supported Academic Writing

6. Write what you really think. What if you accept that you can do it? - Ilene d. Alexander, U Minnesota-Twin Cities Peer-Supported Academic Writing

7. Let’s Talk a Bit

9. How Is this Adult Learning? think dialectically decision-making moves between objective/subjective, universal/specific employ practical logic attend to internal features of a given situation to reason contextually “in a deep and critical way”; inferential reasoning) “know how we know what we know” conscious of own/others’ learning, ability to adjust styles situationally; know grounds for decision-making engage in critical reflection assessing match between earlier rules/practices/practical theories and emerging understandings in “interpersonal, work and political lives” Stephen Brookfield, 2000

10. Why Not Say, “Yes, and…”? I am going to say 'yes' to you, accepting whatever you have said I will add what I want to say via 'and,' build on what you have said 'Yes and' is a conversation; 'yes but' is a conversation stopper ‘I hate the beach!' 'Yes but I really want to go the beach today!' 'Yes, but I hate the beach!'- and on to infinity. 'I hate the beach!' 'Yes, and I think the park would be a better choice!' 'Yes, and at the park we could play baseball!' ‘Yes, and the big umbrella in the trunk will keep you out of the full sun.’ 'Yes and' … opens up your mind, helps you listen, and moves you mindfully forward in creating a supportive environment

11. Let’s Talk Again

12. What is your writing history? For those who like creating narratives, write for 5 minutes about one or two pivotal writing experiences – perhaps one you would call successful or challenging and one you would call unsuccessful or frustrating. For those who prefer lists, focus on listing (1) your strengths as a writer, (2) improvements you could make as a writer based on feedback from readers you trust, (3) attitudes and situations that lead you to spark or shut down as a writer. NOTE WELL: This isn’t a time or place to dwell on or generate put downs –assess skills and analyze problems openly and honestly. Only you will read this writing. And, we’ll all discuss ideas.

13. Where Am I as Someone Who Is “Writing Steady”? Where and when do you write? Why and when and where do you not write? What prompts you to write? to revise? What do you see as the relationship between writing and thinking, between writing and reading in your research process? Why is writing early important? Where and when in your writing or research process does writing seem an unmanageable process? What do you try to not do when writing – because someone told you to not do that thing?

14. Let’s Talk Some More

15. What Ideas Do I Have about Mentored Writing and Peer Support? Dialogue on/about/for writing Feedback on/about/for writing Generate exercises on/about/for writing Create, Share, Assess goals and action plans on/about/for writing Less of the formalities of crafting a “writing sandwich” (Rowena Murray) writing, talking, writing More about the process of “writing like a real writer” – push, extend, engage in meaning making

16. What Are Options for Setting Up Mentored Writing and Peer Support? Writing Partners Writing Dialogues - Panels, Forums, Conversations Writing Groups - Multidisciplinary, Multigenerational Writing Lessons – Practice, Mimic, Rhetorical Forms across Disciplines/Cultures, Processes of Writing Writing for Conferences Rehearsals Writing Retreats Writing Coaches Writing Supervision

17. What Might We Do? What Might We Talk about as Writing Peers? Revision – Content and Organization Where and why it’s needed Strategies for content development, overall organization and development of cohesive analysis / argument / knowledge construction Transitions Coherence Unity Surface Features Key sections, paragraphs, sentences Section, paragraph, sentence structures Conventions – of language, of citation style, of formatting Notice that this is dead last on my list – and Peter Elbows’ list!

18. What Might We Do? What Might We Talk about as Writing Peers? Audience – real readers Purpose – writerly and readerly concerns Research question – methods, organization Thesis statement – initially and carrying it forward Focus – idea(s) and argument(s) Flow – sign posts and transitions Readability – real readers, real audience Academic context – conversation around/launching So What? – implications, interest, integrity, impact

19. Let’s Talk About What YouWant from Peers

20. So, How Might Peer Mentoring and Feedback Groups Be Structured? Vision Driven – cannot be “another meeting” Optimal number of participants for type of group Same stage, range of stages Invited participants, open call; fixed group, revolving Shifting Facilitator, Fixed-term Convener Purpose Structured – fixed focus; participant focus Forward Looking Feedback – FIDeLity Ground rules – participation, conflict, competition Between sessions – check in routes, jealousy

21. So, How Might Peer Mentoring and Feedback Group Sessions Operate?

22. Let’s Try This Out

23. What Do We Need to Learn? Less about “how a dissertation works” and more about how “argument works.” Do study good dissertations. Do think about chunks, transitions, signposts, threads. Do compare across disciplines, cultures, methods. Do talk with supervisors and with peers. Do share discoveries – aloud and in writing.

24. What Do We Need to Learn? Writing with Purpose / Power / Intention “The writing process actually starts before you pick up a pen or place your fingers on a keyboard. It begins with defining what you are writing, for whom you are writing, why you are writing, and which writing approach to use. "Writing with Intention" addresses these defining matters, which you need to consider every time you sit down to write.” (www.ces.sdsu.edu/Pages/Engine.aspx?id=57) your full audience – characteristics beyond your committee (content) your real readers’ roles – cultural considerations beyond peers (org) your own scholarly tone – move beyond setting out ideas to asserting ideas by looking at word choices, attribution patterns, shaping ideas through evidence, strong verbs, crafted phrases (surface features)

25. What Do We Need to Learn? Ways of responding Summarizing – Narratives, Dialogues, Comparisons Telling – Stories, Scenes, Portraits Showing – Ideas, Options, Missed Moments Pointing – 1st Thoughts, Asking

26. What Do We Need to Learn?

27. What Do We Need to Learn? Good Questions – Good Questioning Open Ended Questions Asking for Information Diagnostic Questions Challenge Questions Extension Questions Combination Questions Priority Questions Action Questions Prediction Questions Generalizing and Summarizing Questions Bloom’s Taxonomy Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation

28. Let’s Try that Peer Feedback Again – and with a Question or Two

29. Resilience The healthiest, most creative, most productive work comes with moderation – not, as tradition would have us believe, with pressure for high rates of work and ever more output. Efficiency practiced efficiently requires patience and tolerance, not greed and intensity. - Robert Boice from Brandon Shuler’s Yahoo blog

30. Resilience a positive capacity to cope with stress & catastrophe an ability to bounce back after a disruption a capacity to use exposure to stress to provoke strategy to address future negative events / challenges a positive behavioral / cognitive / kinesthetic adaptation in encountering significant adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or sources of stress involves two judgments one about "positive adaptation" one about significance of risk or adversity

31. Resilience selection from Robert Boice’sHow Writers Journey to Comfort and Fluency (1994

32. Time for Action Planning