Overview
Every scholar has to write, whatever their discipline.
Academic writing is always creative: putting words together to make sentences, sentences to make paragraphs, and so on, as nobody has ever done before. However, in any discipline, some academics write more creatively than others.
This online course will raise your awareness of the scope for creativity in academic writing, and provide you with the skills you need to use creative techniques in ways that will make your academic writing more engaging and accessible for your readers.
Meet your course lead
Dr Helen Kara has been an independent researcher since 1999 and also teaches research methods and ethics. She is not, and never has been, an academic, though she has learned to speak the language.
In 2015 Helen was the first fully independent researcher to be conferred as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
She has written several books and journal articles on research methods and ethics, including Creative Research Methods: A Practical Guide (2020 (2nd edn), Policy Press) and, with Richard Phillips, Creative Writing for Social Research (2021, Policy Press).
Course aims
This course will support you in reaching an understanding of:
- The role of fiction and fiction writing techniques in academic writing
- The role of poetry and poetic techniques in academic writing
- The role of play and screenplay writing in academic work
- The blurred boundary between writing and drawing
- Writing as a resource as well as a task to complete
By the end of this course you should know how to find time to write creatively, and how to use that time well. You should also be able to draft a piece of creative academic writing: for example a blog post, journal article, thesis chapter or section.
Any preparatory work or pre-requisites?
There is no requirement for preparatory work but attendees may find the following resources helpful:
- Phillips, R. and Kara, H. (2021) Creative Writing for Social Research: A Practical Guide. Bristol: Policy Press.
- Harper, G. (2019) Critical Approaches to Creative Writing. Abingdon: Routledge.
- Pelias, R. (2019) The Creative Qualitative Researcher: Writing That Makes Readers Want to Read. Abingdon: Routledge. (Also relevant for multi-modal and quantitative researchers.)
Course timetable
Please see below for the indicative timetable. The course begins at 1.30pm on Monday 24th June and finishes lunchtime on Friday 28th June 2024. Throughout the week there are also scheduled one-to-one sessions with the course lead.
Costs
- Full price: £360
- PGR/reduced rate: £240
Book your place
Places should be booked through the Methods@Manchester e-store by clicking the button below (payment by card only).
Bursaries for PGR students
We are pleased to be able to offer a limited number of bursaries for Summer School applicants eligible for reduced fees.
The main bursary scheme is limited to PGRs from the North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership, but we also have a very limited number of bursaries for other applicants eligible for reduced fees who are facing exceptional circumstances.
Please see the main Summer School website (bottom of the page) for details of these bursaries and information about how to apply.
Any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us on methods@manchester.ac.uk
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