Drafting to Crafting

One day workshop

You have reams of research, numerous bits of writing that need to be joined into a single narrative, rough thoughts and notes, teeming references. How do you bring these into coherence and begin refining your narrative? Or – you ve got a first draft and parts of it you think are wonderful, inspired, original, while other parts look a bit raw or even wild, and you don t know how to tame the beast.

Writing is a dance between two processes: the creative process (drafting) and the critical process (crafting), which are separate, yet overlapping. The first half of this workshop will give you tools to get your raw material onto the page, to interrogate your ideas more deeply, and to find your own unique voice. Next, you will step into the shoes of your reader and revise your material so as to make your ideas clear to follow and compelling to read. Students are asked to have a draft section of their thesis in mind to work on during the course.

• Learn how to face the blank page fearlessly and generate first-draft material.

• Practice stepping back from your notes to see the ‘bigger picture’.

• Identify the core message in a piece of your own writing, and ensure it’s clear to readers.

• Develop strategies to add depth to your existing ideas and generate new avenues of research