From Analysis to Text
Copenhagen Graduate School of Social Sciences
Course Objectives
This course aims to develop participants’ ability to produce and reflect on an academic text. You will learn how to develop an argument in a text (a draft of a chapter or an article), how to ensure validity, and how to place sub-arguments in the wider context of the overall argument of the thesis. The course will explore different writing styles, aiming to inspire your writing and to enable you to think critically about the implications of your stylistic choices.
Methodology
Day 1 presents analytical tools for dissecting the form and argumentation of academic texts. This will be applied to pre-circulated drafts of excerpts from participants’ theses (a chapter or an article, max. 15 pages) in the “aquarium model,” to identify specific strategies for improving the text. You will receive three constructive challenges or “benspænd” which should be incorporated and the revised text circulated before the second meeting. Two participants will be assigned as discussants for each paper at the second meeting.
On Day 2, revisions will briefly be discussed in the aquarium model. The course explores how the argument relates to the overall structure and the process of revision is analysed and discussed.
The second part of the day we will discuss the implications of different styles of writing based on readings of short paradigmatic texts. These are selected based on the needs identified at the first seminar.
Participants are requested to submit a thesis excerpt (maximum 15 pages) and a contextualisation (1 page). The deadline for submission of the text is Monday, August 26, 2024 at noon (via email to etnolouw@cas.au.dk) and tine.gammeltoft@anthro.ku.dk).
Before Day 2, all participants will write a revised text, prepare two “revised text dissections” and read one paradigmatic text. The deadline for submission of the revised text is Sunday, September 29, 2024 (via email to etnolouw@cas.au.dk) and tine.gammeltoft@anthro.ku.dk).
Language: English
Readings
Before day 1: Thesis excerpts from all participants, material on form and argumentation in a scientific text.
Before day 2: Revise your text, prepare two revised thesis dissections, and read one paradigmatic text.
Course lecturers
Maria Louw (etnolouw@cas.au.dk), Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Aarhus University.
Tine M. Gammeltoft (tine.gammeltoft@anthro.ku.dk), Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen.
Dates, times, and venues
Day 1: September 6, 2024 from 11:00 to 17:00
Aarhus: Nobelparken, Jens Chr. Skous Vej, 8200 Aarhus, Room: 1465-123
Day 2: October 4, 2024 from 11:00 to 17:00
Copenhagen: CSS Campus, Room: 33.1.18 (Building 33, First floor, Room 18)
Application deadline
Registration is closed. Please sign in via the link no later than August 16, 2024.