Conference organization and abstract writing

16 Outubro 2019, 15:00 • Marta Pacheco Pinto

The PhD candidates worked collaboratively in the creation of a checklist of procedures for conference organization. We then discussed how to write a CFP and build a budget, and explored potential funding schemes. Attention was also given to strategies for effective conference abstract and bionote writing.

Academic writing and referencing styles

9 Outubro 2019, 15:00 • Marta Pacheco Pinto

During this session, we carried on examining the main conventions and features of academic writing, in addition to pointing out the main differences between English and Portuguese academic discourses based on K. Bennett’s article “Epistemicide! The Tale of a Predatory Discourse”. Several checklists for guaranteeing coherence across the PhD thesis were also presented. The use of quotations – how and when to use – was also covered in the discussion. The last part of the session was on citation styles used in the Humanities (MLA, the Chicago Manual of Style, Harvard, the 405 Portuguese norm) as well as on citation management software.

Speed-presentations and academic writing

2 Outubro 2019, 15:00 • Marta Pacheco Pinto

Students made a 5-minute presentation of their PhD research work, which was followed by up to 10 minutes of peer discussion. Students focused in particular on their research question(s) and hypotheses, explained the theoretical and methodological framework of their work, and presented a brief state of the art of their PhD research.

After these “speed presentations”, we started discussing the conventions and main features of academic writing, including the distinction between opinion and critical thinking. We covered issues concerning abstract writing and keywords, in addition to exploring different abstract typologies (structured vs. non-structured abstracts, and video abstracts as well), and also furthered the discussion about the internal organization of thesis chapters and articles. 

Several resources (both online and in-house) were presented for students to improve their (English) academic writing.

PhD research planning (tasks)

25 Setembro 2019, 15:00 • Marta Pacheco Pinto

This session focused on PhD research preparation tasks and processes. It introduced students to more general features of the academic discourse and main text types; different models of PhD presentation were discussed (i.e. the classical model of the “big book thesis” vs. the paper-based model), and advice was given on how to plan PhD research (including the construction of a timeline). A macrotextual approach to PhD writing was first followed by discussing its structure and formal organization (into parts and sections). Then, we discussed how to formulate research questions and hypotheses, how to write an effective state of the art (emphasis was put on the need to carefully select information and make use of reliable sources), and also how to build a sound theoretical and methodological framework. At the end, several online bibliographic resources for research were presented and explored by the students in class. Overall, a checklist of good practice was provided relating to each of these topics.

Introduction to the Seminar and discussion of Comparative Studies as an area of research

18 Setembro 2019, 15:00 • Marta Pacheco Pinto

Students' self-presentation and introduction to the Seminar, its objectives, syllabus, schedule, and evaluation criteria.

Assessment includes active participation and in-class activities; an oral presentation (of a paper or a poster) on an aspect of individual research, which will be followed by peer discussion (it will take place on November 13); a review article of a book chosen according to individual academic interests (c. 800 – 1,800 words) to be submitted on November 27; and a written paper resulting from students' PhD research that meets the requirements to be published (c. 6,000 words including footnotes and references) to be submitted on December 18.

After presenting the overview of the seminar, Ali Behdad's article "The orientalist photograph: An object of comparison" (2016) was discussed in order to promote reflection on the field of Comparative Studies.