project writing workshop Room: Time table 1. session: Sept. 14 (Thurs.): session: Sept. 21 (Thurs.): session: Sept. 27 (Wed.): camelia elias

agenda  organizing a preliminary outline  developing a thesis  writing the first draft  creating the introduction  quoting sources  avoiding plagiarism

forming a group  2-4 students  meeting to establish points of interest  meeting with the supervisor  set a time schedule  when you meet with other students you are usually prepared  when you meet with your supervisor you will also be prepared

first meeting setting some deadlines, such as:  when to hand in your problem formulation.  The problem formulation includes a statement of your thesis/hypothesis, and what you aim to achieve with your research.  when to finish the reading process/when to start writing  when to hand in the final draft  when to hand in the final project

advantages to working in a group You learn to develop basic skills of cooperation plus:  how to listen  how to be critical  how to be tolerant  how to be reasonable  how to convince  how to maintain points of view  how to mediate between different points of view

the supervisor’s role  help you with the reading material  Evaluate the relevance of your topic and ensure that there is a difference between topic and thesis, or as it’s called here, problem formulation.  The problem formulation is specific, it indicates a specific angle  it’s a research question  give advice on the structure of the project.  read through the project and have comments related to structure, method, theory, language, style, and other problems  help with literature, both primary – if necessary – and secondary  support creative methods – brainstorming  point to the value of serendipity and chance

the student’s role  to come prepared to the meetings.  There is only a limited number of hours available, so you want the time with your supervisor to be optimal, efficient and thus beneficial to your work  to hand in drafts and written material at least a couple of days before the meeting with the supervisor  to be conscious and responsible for your work  to inform both the group and the supervisor in case of the necessity to skip a meeting, or cancel one

making roadmaps and dividing the labor  you simply translate your problem formulation into a table of contents, chapters, roadmap  you divide the labour  don’t make crude distinctions: ‘I do history, you do theory, you do analysis’.  collaborate on all the parts in your project if you want your project to be coherent and cohesive

developing the problem formulation  the thesis statement or problem formulation is that sentence or two in your text that contains the focus of your essay and tells your reader what the essay is going to be about.  the problem formulation is also a good test for the scope of your intent.  the principle to remember is that when you try to do too much, you end up doing less or nothing at all

types of questions for the formulation of a problem (topic) of interest  what, how, and why  what fascinated you about your topic?  what connections did you see among the various sources you read  how does your general idea match the other ideas in your preliminary outline  why is it significant to conduct a study on your topic?

the point of a problem formulation  a problem formulation will have to reflect the way in which you try to advance your own argument.  a good problem formulation will contain:  either an assumption, or a problem  a thesis  a method  a point of view

the problem formulation in context  make a general assumption  narrow down your premise  back it up with evidence  demonstrate by illustrating  limit the discussion to engaging with one idea at a time  the thesis statement should remain flexible until the paper is actually finished.

writing the first draft and creating an introduction  try to formulate an introduction in each part that asserts a straightforward thesis  the introduction:  establishes the focus of your subject  attracts the attention of your readers  asserts the purpose of your paper

things NOT to do in an introductory paragraph  apologize  let the reader guess what your purpose is  make unfounded generalizations  deviate from your focus  make irrelevant statements  quote uninspiring texts

quoting sources  you quote ad verbatim when a passage is essential to the advancement of your argument  or you need it to illustrate exactly what you need to demonstrate  you don’t want to quote uninspired and unintelligent writing  you don’t quote just for the sake of dropping names  if your quotation is less than 4 lines, than you may place it along your own writing (still in quotation marks and with a parenthetical source of reference)  summary and paraphrase also need to be accredited

plagiarism  is the use of a direct quotation without indicating the source  copying a table, chart or other data  summarizing and paraphrasing in your own words without mentioning what texts inspired you  read more here:

references  use the author/date system (the Harvard Style or the APA style)  see a webpage with examples here:   EX:  in-text citations  (Garner, 2003: 33)  in your bibliography list:  Garner, B. A. (2003). Garner's Modern American Usage. New York: Oxford University Press.