Improve your Academic Writing Skills!

Academic Writing Skills - From PhD Paper to Publication for Business School Students

Improve your academic writing skills and improve your PhD papers!

This online course will take place over 5 days, during which time you will be working on one of your PhD papers. We will have 2-hour long interactive classes in the morning via Zoom and 3-hour practical writing sessions in the afternoon. In the classes, you will work on your own paper, give feedback to your peers, and have the opportunity to receive feedback from the teachers.

During the practical writing sessions in the afternoon, you will be working on the respective sections of your own paper that we cover in the morning. You will also give feedback to your peers and receive feedback in turn, which will help you get more from the process. There will be several opportunities to receive direct feedback from the teachers, too. By the end of the week, you will have revised your paper’s introduction, theory, and methods sections.

Learning objectives
By the end of this online course, students will be able to:

Signal to readers which academic conversations they are joining and contributing to.
Write effective introductions based on a step-by-step model.
Understand how to select and critically review the literature and write effective theory sections.
Write effective methods sections in terms of appropriateness, consistency, and reliability of the methods chosen.
Draw on various tips and lessons learned in the review process.

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Janina Klein is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Change at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, School of Business and Economics. Janina obtained her PhD from the University of Edinburgh Business School and holds a MLitt (Master) in International Business from the University of St Andrews. Her professional background is in change management where she worked for more than ten years in various roles. In her research, Janina is passionate about understanding how organizations can address societal challenges such as the elimination of poverty, reduction of inequality and move towards responsible production. Her research focusses on hybrid organizations and social enterprises which apply commercial strategies to create social value and in doing so experience unique organizing challenges.

View the profile of Janina Klein

I had a great time! I wish digital teaching would always be so enjoyable and well organised!

Course topics

Day 1: On the first day, we will cover topics such as how to engage in academic conversations and appeal to different audiences.
Day 2: Day 2 will be all about how to write an effective introduction. The introduction is arguably the most critical part of a paper, so we will spend time getting familiar with a template for writing introductions.
Day 3: On day 3, you will learn more about writing theory and how to revise drafts of your own paper.
Day 4: On the penultimate day, we will focus on the methods section. You will learn how to ensure your methods are both consistent and reliable.
Day 5: On the last day, we’ll address the revision process for journals and how to respond to reviewers’ comments. In the afternoon, we’ll go through an exemplary revision process based on a paper published in the Academy of Management Journal.
Course readings

The course draws on Huff’s (2008) book Designing Research for Publication and various articles on academic writing. A detailed reading list will be shared with registered participants.