Objectives of the workshop

1. To clarify concepts and ideas related to one’s project.

2. To frame one’s thesis question in a clear and intriguing way for a
particular audience (including theoretical and design factors).
3. To identify ways to best organise, order and ultimately communicate
one’s work in text.
4. To identify the unique format and language that will best match the
writer and content.

Day 1 will be devoted to analysing and deconstructing current writing.

Day 2 will be devoted to synthesising lessons from Day 1 and applying them
towards a writing plan for the completion of the thesis.

Day 1
10:00 Introduction to workshop and forming groups of 4
10:20 Read each other’s work
10:40 Analyse the text according to the following questions:
1. What is the main argument that is being made?
2. Is it clearly stated?
3. Is it convincing?
4. Is it urgent?
5. How is the author making their argument?
a. What are their tools, tricks, techniques and methods?
6. What is the author adding to what has already been said/
done/researched?
a. Do they situate their thesis in terms of this groundwork?
7. Does the reader get an immediate and consistent feel of the
main content and how the text will be organised?
8. Does the reader feel confident that the author knows what
they are talking about?
9. What is the voice/tone?
10. Who is the audience?
10:40 If the answers to questions 2–4 and 6–8 are no, write down some
advice for the author
11:00 Analyse the text according to the following questions:
1. Is the research question sufficiently focused or too broad?
2. Does the research question intrigue or prompt interest? Or is
it lazy, banal and irrelevant?
3. Does the text fit the research question?
11:20 Consider the text in terms of the research question: Using your black
marker, delete any text that is repetitive, superfluous, irrelevant,
distracting from the main point, contradictory, etc.
11:40 Re-write the abstract in 5 sentences
12:00 Group presentations/discussion: nominate one rewrite per group

13:00 Lunch (print?)

14:00 Form new groups of 2–4 based on primary themes (some flexibility):
Body Jenni, Kuang-Yi, Louise, Marine, Robert
Politics Adriana, Alorah, Karolina, Vivien
Public space Elisa, Gabriel, Julia O., Mariangela
Making Amandine, Ellie, Julia L., Nane, Noud
Technology Camilo, Fanny, Jonas
14:10 Read the new abstract from Day 1, Part 1
14:30 Rewrite the abstract for a new audience, e.g. a technophobe, a
business owner, a funding institution, a PhD application, a
grandparent, a child
14:40 Present and discuss
15:00 Translate the abstract into a non-textual format, e.g. dance, theatre,
song, painting, activism, etc. Write a set of instructions, guiding
principles, script, setting, etc.
15:10 Present and discuss
15:30 Evaluate the style of writing, e.g. academic text, memoir, manifesto,
theoretical essay, speculative forecast, propaganda, journalism,
theatre script, short story, comic strip, etc. How would a very
different writing style change the communication of content?
15:40 Rewrite the abstract in a new chosen format. Who is the intended
audience, narrator, protagonist? What is the ideal framework and
title? Make clear the unique benefits of the chosen format.
15:50 Present and discuss
16:10 50 extra minutes of party time

Homework:
Go home and synthesise the feedback you got today:
• Write a 200-word reflection on the main advice or lessons you received.
• Re-write the abstract into 200 words.
• Review your table of contents. What works, what doesn’t?
• Reflect on the style of the thesis, what format do you want it to take?