1. The Writing and Research Workshop Series: An Overview
Martin Holock
Writing Centre Specialist
Learning Commons, University of Calgary-Qatar

2. The Writing and Research Workshop Series
UCQ Learning Commons
What is the Writing & Research Process?
Motivations
Steps and activities
Products
Evaluation
Next steps

3. 1. UCQ Learning Commons Learning Commons Writing Centre
Student Support
Projects
Research Projects
Student Publication
Conversation
Debate
AIWG
Instruction
Workshops
WRWS
Classroom
Library Services
Faculty Support

4. 2. What is the Writing & Research Process?

5. What is the Writing and Research Process?
A combination of the Writing Process and the Information Search Process
A joint project between Library Services and the Writing Centre
An opportunity for students:
To realize that writing and research are inextricable
To see that you cannot write without thinking about your research, and you cannot do research without thinking about your writing
To develop their critical thinking skills
To build on the knowledge they have acquired in class
To further hone their writing and research skills

6. What is the Writing and Research Workshop Series?
A nine-week series of workshops offered over the course of one semester
Each session is repeated twice a week to maximize student attendance
Each session is 50/50 information/student activity
Each workshop is related to the previous one, although it is complete and comprehensible on its own
The “product” of each workshop’s exercise is recorded, then used and developed in the next one

7. What is the Writing and Research Workshop Series?
Overall objectives of the series:
To support competent, evidence-based nursing practice through professional communication and strength of evidence.
To instill values of academic and professional integrity
To build on prior knowledge of the scholarly writing and research process, and understand the connections between the steps
To reinforce academic writing and research skills and knowledge

8. 3. Motivations This project was motivated by:
Identified gaps and connections
Previous work on the Writing Process, especially at the University of Ottawa
Further work for the English Teaching Excellence Conference at Carnegie Mellon
Partnership with Library Services at UCQ (Chief Librarian Chris Thomas and WISPR)
Strong support from faculty and higher administration of UCQ, especially the EAP department and the Dean

9. The incentives for students to come
What we would like to think is enough
An opportunity to further enhance their classroom skills
The possibility of improving their writing, which may increase their marks
What really worked
Offering a Certificate of Participation to students who attend all 9 sessions

10. 4. The Steps and Activities
The Phases and Steps of the Workshop Series:
Phase 1: Understanding
Getting Started
Phase 2: Planning
Selecting and Narrowing your Topic
Developing your Thesis
Searching Effectively
Choosing Appropriate Resources
Creating your Outline
Phase 3: Writing
Paraphrasing, Summarizing and Quoting
Citing your Sources in APA Style
Revising your Draft

11. The Question:
Using evidence from at least three scholarly sources, explain what you feel is the most important change that should occur within nursing in Qatar. You are to develop arguments that will support and explain the change and convince your audience that the change is necessary.
Your audience must be specific, but you can choose who it will be. Some examples include government employees or ministers, hospital administration, doctors, or patients. You must also clearly indicate the benefits of the change. Some areas you may consider are:
Health promotion
Doctor-nurse relations
The role of the nurse
Nurse-patient relations
Education
The public and private health care systems
Sponsorship
Government policy

12. Phase 1: Understanding 1. Getting Started
Activity: Read and analyze the question.
What are the choices?
What type of assignment is it?
What are the research requirements?

13. Phase 2: Planning 2. Selecting and narrowing your topic
Activity: Reread question and explore ideas through several brainstorming formats.
3. Developing your thesis
Activity: Take the brainstorming ideas, then:
Decide on a topic area
Develop a thesis question starting with “Should……?”
Determine an appropriate audience
Identify some key search terms
Find synonyms and identify related terms

14. 4. Searching effectively
Activity: Take the brainstorming ideas, the thesis question, and the key search terms.
Go to a search tool, i.e. relevant database or Google Scholar
Write down your sources, tools and search strategy
Find and print an article on the topic
5. Choosing appropriate resources
Activity: Take the articles that were printed.
Assess their quality based on criteria discussed.
Go back to the assignment question. Do they meet the requirements?
Go back to your thesis question. Will they help answer it?

15. 6. Creating your outline
Activity: Go back to assignment instructions. Is your argument relevant, and does it meet the requirements? Then:
What is the answer to your thesis question?
What will your main points be?
How will you defend them?
Create an outline using the template.

16. Phase 3: Writing 7. Paraphrasing, summarizing and quoting
Activity: Take one article from #5 and summarize the main argument. Then indentify a relevant passage, paraphrase it in your own words.
8. Citing your sources in APA
Activity: Give the proper in-text and bibliographic reference for an article from #5, as well as a website and a chapter in a book.
9. Revising your draft
Activity: Go back to the instructions. Are all requirements met? Then identify an area that you know you can improve (grammar or structure), based on results of previous assignments.

17. How are the outcomes of each session captured?
5. Products
How are the outcomes of each session captured?
Powerpoint presentations for imparting information
Audio recording using Tegrity
Student activity outcomes transferred from whiteboard into Word
All of these products uploaded onto website

18. How do we measure success?
6. Evaluation
How do we measure success?
Take attendance at each session
Average weekly attendance to date: 32
Ask students to provide feedback on website (Survey Monkey)
Weekly meeting between facilitators to discuss:
What worked and what did not
The results of student feedback
How to tweak next week’s session

19. Where are we going with this?
7. Next Steps
Where are we going with this?
Integration into the curriculum of the fledgling Foundation Program at UCQ
Further research to determine what, if anything, has been done
Possible publication?

20. Questions? Contact me at mholock@ucalgary.ca