Workshops at BERA

BERA Writing Workshop - Download Flyer (PDF File 100kb)
Wednesday 2nd September 09.30 – 14.30

Turning a conference paper into a journal article: a hands-on workshop for early career researchers
- Pat Thomson
The workshop will assist those relatively new to scholarly publishing to turn their BERA conference paper into a journal article. The workshop uses a conceptual framework for academic writing and publishing which looks at academic writing as textwork/identity work and as a discursive social practice (Kamler and Thomson, 2006). The workshop will focus on authoring a tiny text to become the basis for the article, and it will explore strategies to make the 'so what' and the argument of the conference paper stronger and sharper.

You will need to bring your conference paper and the abstract you submitted to get it accepted into the conference. Please bring 4 copies of your BERA abstract with you as we will actually workshop your text. You will also need to have a target journal in mind, so please check the word length and any other requirements the journal makes for papers and abstracts.  Don't be nervous - if this is your first time in a workshop setting. I promise you will find it productive.

The workshop caters for 20 people only. Please do not commit yourself to the workshop if you are not sure you can attend.

Session One:
Understanding academic journals and doing locational work: finding the contribution and the appropriate journal

Session Two:
Working with tiny texts: Hands on editing

Session Three:
Mapping the paper. Working with your abstract to develop the sections and word weightings.

Session Four:
Understanding the game of journal publication. An interactive conversation, managed by Professor Becky Francis, past Editor of Gender and Education, with three journal editors:
Professor Helen Gunter: Journal of Educational Administration and History
Professor John Holford: Editor: International Journal of Lifelong Education
Professor Meg Maguire: Journal of Education Policy

Pat Thomson is Professor of Education and Director of Research in the School of Education, The University of Nottingham. She is an Editor of the journal Educational Action Research. Together with Barbara Kamler she has published Helping doctoral students write: pedagogies for supervision (Routledge 2006) and several articles and book chapters on doctoral and early career writing and publishing. She is currently editing with Melanie Walker The Routledge doctoral student’s companion: getting to grips with research in education and the social sciences and a companion volume for supervisors (to be published in April 2010).

BERA Student Workshop - Download Flyer (PDF File 100kb)
Wednesday 2nd September 13.30 – 15.00

Using meta-analysis and other forms of systematic review in your PhD literature review
This session will consider the contribution that quantitative synthesis or meta-analysis can offer to the literature review section of a doctoral thesis in Education. The key issues are about summarising important literature in the field of study. The session will provide an overview of the concepts and techniques used in quantitative synthesis. These approaches to meta-analysis will be compared with other approaches to systematic (and non-systematic) reviews of educational literature. The session is offered as part of the ESRC-funded Researcher Development Initiative in Meta-analysis in Education Research based at Durham University. More information can be found at: http://www.dur.ac.uk/education/meta-ed/