Kursusinformation

Form and content are linked in academic writing. Thus, structure, coherence, and flow are important elements that support the quality of a PhD dissertation. PhD students must learn to make decisions about their research and writing while they are doing this research and while they are writing their PhD dissertation. Thus, the ’academic craft’ involves systematic reflection and choices about focus, research question, unit of analysis, theory and concepts, philosophy of science approach, design, methods, ethics, and analysis. However, the academic craft is also demonstrated through how those choices are presented and argued for in writing and through one’s capacity to develop a text in which these choices and their consequences are clearly presented and reflected upon. This work starts in the beginning of the PhD process and lasts until the defense. The course is therefor designed to be useful to PhD students at any stage of the process. While the course is open to PhD students from all disciplines, it is important to note that the course organizers will draw on research and examples from their own work and research fields. Moreover, participation requires active engagement with and reflection upon the course literature and one’s own work.

The Purpose of the PhD course is to focus on the academic craft that is needed to write and edit the constitutive parts of a dissertation so that these parts join to a structured and coherent academic text of high quality where the boundary conditions and contributions of the dissertation are clearly presented and discussed. During the course lectures, group and solo exercises, and shared discussions we will expand participants’ ’toolbox’ and experiences with making the necessary decisions about and in their writing.

The course material draws on social science and humanities research into academic writing, especially regarding clarity, concepts/constructs, form-content relationships, the role of theory, context, quality criteria (e.g., reliability, coherence, transparency, and analytical generalizability). It is also a very practical course with a strong focus on participants’ own PhD project and writing, with exercises and time for discussions and advancing participants’ own text. The course is open to PhD students from all disciplines, but it is important to note that the course literature and the lecturers draw on examples from social science and humanities, primarily qualitative research.

Course participants are – after acceptance into the course is confirmed – expected to submit a 10-page (max) paper/essay in which they present their own work in relation to one or more of the key concepts of the course (structure, coherence, quality, contribution) and reflect upon their own ambitions for and challenges with regards to writing