The Writing Group for Research Students is a small, informal group that meets on a monthly basis to discuss topics related to writing at doctoral level. The group meetings are organised by the Centre for Learning and Study Support, and delivered by dr. Arina Cirstea and dr. Emily Forster (Senior Lecturers in CLaSS).
Whether you've only just started your research or are in the writing up stages, all research students are welcome. We're always looking for new members, so please do join one of our meetings to see what we do.
The Writing Group for Research Students also has a dedicated Teams community space where you can receive communication about future meetings, access resources from previous sessions or simply chat.
Bookings for the Writing Group sessions are available via the Doctoral College Training portal,
ResJourney: https://resjourney.dmu.ac.uk/
For more details and/or to join our Teams community, you can also contact the organiser, Arina Cirstea, by emailing arina.cirstea@dmu.ac.uk.
In some of our meetings, participants are invited to take part in a peer review activity. To receive feedback on a sample of your writing from the presenters as well as fellow participants, please email a short draft (no more than 2 pages) to the organiser in advance of the workshop. We encourage everyone to take part, even if you do not want feedback on your own writing.
Writing Group for Research Students programme, 2024/25
This year, our meetings will take place on Mondays 10-12, live online via Teams. Our proposed topics are available below, but we always welcome suggestions for additional topics or activities that we can incorporate in our meetings.
Evidence of critical thinking is a key requirement of writing at doctorate level. This meeting will explore what we mean by criticality in the context of doctoral research and provide some practical strategies to approach reading for your thesis and develop a critical response to the work of others.
This session will look at planning the writing year ahead, with a focus on how you can use mindmapping tools to support you.
Monday, 9 December 2024, 10-12: Building an argument in your review of literature
This workshop will discuss and illustrate some practical techniques for articulating your voice and building an argument in your literature review.
This session will explore resources and strategies for neurodiverse students that can support you as you complete your PhD.
Are you new to creating research posters? This session will explain the structure of a research poster and will discuss some strategies you can use to design your poster effectively.
Monday, 17 March 2025, 10-12: Planning and writing your Discussion and Findings chapters (qualitative research)
This session will help you plan the Findings and Discussion chapters of a qualitative research project. It will explore the role that theory can play in these sections of your thesis, and introduce some commonly used strategies for developing a critical approach to your findings.
Monday, 7 April 2025, 10-12: Editing and proof reading techniques
This session will discuss revision and proof reading tools and techniques that may be useful to you when polishing individual thesis chapters as well as preparing your work for final submission.
Monday, 19 May 2025, 10-12: Writing and emotion
This session looks at the emotional side of academic writing and we discuss how to harness positive emotions associated with writing and how to keep going when things get tough.
Monday, 9 June 2025, 10-12: Working with your supervisory team to improve your writing
In this meeting, we will consider different approaches to working with your supervisory team to improve your doctoral writing. We’ll also discuss some strategies to interpret, evaluate and implement feedback received from your supervisors on various features of your writing.
Monday, 14 July 2025 10-12 Summer reflection: what kind of writer are you?
The final meeting of the academic year invites you to reflect on how your approach to writing compares to that of other academic writers. You’ll have the opportunity to share tips and consider what strategies that others use might help you improve your productivity and quality of your doctoral writing.