Write On!

Creating an Online Dissertation Writing Group

Objectives
Learn about the UCEA Graduate Student Online writing group. Complete pre-writing group exercises in Writing Group Guide Become leaders for your writing group- either through UCEA or through your own institution.

Purpose of a Writing Group

Somewhere in the range of 30-70% (depending on the area) of students who begin their dissertation dont finish.

A.B.D

Being part of a group increases motivation, accountability, and decreases isolation.

Group members can give you a fresh perspective and valuable feedback

Our Experiences
What experiences have you had in writing groups?
What was good? What was terrible? What sorts of writing did you do? How did you critique? What was the format?

Format
3-5 students in each group, grouped by methodological or content interests. Students can be from the same institution, or from different institutions. Students will meet at least once a month in an online forum.

Possible Obstacles
Waning commitment Competition among members

Unaligned expectations
For feedback For timelines

Others?

Things to think about before st the 1 meeting

How often will the group meet and for how long? How will the group meet?
Google hangouts, iChat, in- person, etc

Will members have roles? Will those be permanent or change? For example:
A facilitator keeps the discussion on task.

A convener sends reminders, sets locations and calendar, and holds a copy of the Ground Rules. A time keeper monitors agreed upon time allocations. A note taker writes down keep points made during feedback.

Things to think about before st the 1 meeting

What format will you follow at each meeting? How much time is spent on the dissertation process and how much on writing feedback? Some possible 1 hour meeting schedules:
10 minutes for around the group updates, 2 minutes per person.

30 minutes of feedback each for Person A and Person B.

10 minutes of silent reflective writing 10 minutes to preview next weeks agenda

10 minutes for around the group updates, 2 minutes per person. 30 minutes of feedback each for Person A and Person B. 15 minutes of discussion about a writing process book 5 minutes reflection 5 minutes previewing

Things to think about before st the 1 meeting

What kinds of work will the group read?
Loose ideas, free writing, outlines, rough drafts, polished drafts, drafts that have been seen by outside readers? Dissertationrelated only? Or grant proposals, interview protocols, survey drafts, posters, conference papers, CVs and job letters?

When, how and how much work will members submit for feedback?
How many days are needed for thoughtful feedback? How will feedback be given? Ie, track changes, written comments, just orally, etc. How many pages can be given? How will documents by shared? Ie, Drop box, email, etc.

Things to think about before st the 1 meeting

What kind of feedback is reasonable to expect?
Feedback on ideas? Methods? Grammar? Flow? How detailed should feed back be?

What is the initial commitment?

You should expect the group to take a bit of time to become normal. Perhaps commit for 4 weeks and then reconvene to see if members need to leave, rules need to change, etc.

Complete the documents:

Writing group ground rules agreement, Personal goals, Writing inventory, Group work inventory, and Schedule (included in packet).

The First Meeting

Introduce yourself Discuss goals, habits, expectations, and prior experiences. Establish ground rules Set a schedule End with reflective writing

Reflective Writing
Write about your take-aways from that days session. Set goals
Things to do the next time you sit down to write Things to accomplish in a week. Things to do before the next session

Activities for Writing Group

Checking in: share what is going on with your work, obstacles, successes, etc. Give feedback:
Prepare comments before and let author ask questions, work through issues with the group. Provide feedback during your time

Go through a piece paragraph by paragraph.

What are some norms for constructive criticism? How can we be both good givers and takers of feedback?

Activities for Writing Group

Help a member brainstorm solutions to problems Spend time writing

Discuss a reading- something from a writing book, a well written article, etc.
Suggestions are included in your guide

Help each other create a writing plan

Sharing tips and tricks

We are all in different phases of our writing process, and all come with different work flows, outlooks, etc. Share your process with your members- this can be very helpful!
Evernote
Prospectus Writing Schedule

What are some tips and tricks you have discovered?

Intermediate Meetings
Once you have set up the ground rules, your meetings should stick to a certain format. Here is one way to do it:
Before meeting
Read and comment on persons work Read assigned readings if pertinent

During meeting
Touch base (3 minutes per person) 30 minutes of feedback for writer 10 minutes discussing reading or general problems (what are common problems we are having with writing? What are peoples strategies?)

Reflective writing 5 minutes

Evaluation Meeting
After a given amount of time, you may want to evaluate how the writing group is going, re-evaluate ground rules, set new priorities, etc. This meeting might follow this format:
Before meeting
Go through inventories again. Has anything changed? How can the writing group better meet your current needs?

During meeting
Discuss what goals you have reached in the last 10 weeks and what goals you still have

Determine if any members would like to leave the group- no judgment!

Go over ground rules again- does anything need to change? Should we revisit the structure?

UCEAs Role
Tell people about writing groups and help pair them up. Provide information about how to facilitate a writing group Provide a sign up survey

Signing Up
Go to the online sign up sheet: http://tinyurl.com/mwfuq5e Answer a few questions so we know how to form groups.