WriteFest 2023
Write Fest is an academic write-a-thon that happens during November every year, catering to the specific needs of research and academic writers.
Drawing on the format of academic writing retreats, the festival aims to provide protected time and space to help researchers to develop good writing practices and strategies; overcome writing blocks with a proactive approach; and spend some time out writing with others and broadening one’s professional network. Here at Liverpool, we will be joining the celebration with a month of writing related activities.
Join the WriteFest Community!
Join the WriteFest Teams channel and share your writing goals for the month with a friendly community of peers who can provide support, encouragement and accountability. Share your daily or weekly writing progress and celebrate your achievements! Join the WriteFest Teams community here!
Shut Up and Write Retreats
Each week during WriteFest 2023 there will be two Shut Up and Write virtual writing retreats: 2 hours of protected time allowing participants to focus on a writing project of their choice, strengthened by accountability and supported by a community of peers. The sessions involve a quick introduction where participants set out their writing goal, followed by two writing blocks with a short refreshment break in the middle to catch up on progress made and reset for the next creative interval. Join the Shut Up and Write Teams group here!
Programme
Please note: In order to view some of the videos on this page, you may be asked to sign in to Panopto using your University sign in details.
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Warm up to WriteFest! |
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Here are some writing-related activities happening in the run up to WriteFest: The Educator & Scholarly Writing- The Art of Collaborative Writing Practice – Tuesday 17th October, 12:30-13:30 – Teaching and Learning seminar (in-person) – Register here Writing at University – Tuesday 17th October 11:00-12:00 – Library KnowHow webinar – Register here Developing PGRs as academic writers – Wednesday 18th October 12:00-13:00 – PGR Supervisor Network hybrid seminar – Register here (for PGR Supervisors only) Writing a Literature Review (in-person) – Tuesday 24th October 12:00-12:45 – Library KnowHow workshop (in-person) – Register here Writing at University – Tuesday 24th October 11:00-12:00 – Library KnowHow webinar – Register here Writing a Literature Review (online) – Tuesday 24th October 12:00-12:45 – KnowHow webinar – Register here |
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Week 1: 30 October - 3 November |
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Monday 30th October |
Get Writing! The value of #AcWriMo for getting writing done Blog post by Dr Eli Saetnan |
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Tuesday 31st October |
Shut Up and Write Virtual writing retreat |
14:00-16:00 |
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Writing at University This Library KnowHow webinar aims to build on your existing academic writing skills and develop your ability to express and support your ideas clearly and concisely. Each session will focus on a different aspect of effective academic writing and include small-scale practice exercises to develop your writing skills. Presenter: Chris Wyatt, English Language Centre |
11:00-12:00 |
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Wednesday 1st November |
How to beat digital distraction and write more A podcast series in 13 brief episodes Presenter: Dr Andy Tattersall |
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Thursday 2nd November |
Combatting Writer’s Block Learn the common roadblocks for writing and how to combat them in this online live workshop Presenter: Dr Amy Birch, Researcher Development and Culture |
10:00-12:00 |
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Friday 3rd November |
Shut Up and Write Virtual writing retreat |
10:00-12:00 |
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Week 2: 6 - 10 November |
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Monday 6th November |
Strategies to help make the power hour work for you Presenter: Dr Eli Saetnan |
Pre-recorded video. |
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Tuesday 7th November |
Shut Up and Write Virtual writing retreat |
14:00-16:00 |
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Writing at University This Library KnowHow webinar aims to build on your existing academic writing skills and develop your ability to express and support your ideas clearly and concisely. Each session will focus on a different aspect of effective academic writing and include small-scale practice exercises to develop your writing skills. Presenter: Chris Wyatt, English Language Centre |
11:00-12:00 |
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Wednesday 8th November |
Writing without discipline How can writing change your thinking? And how can understanding how people write, change the way you think about and approach writing? This interactive in-person workshop uses video and face to face materials to help participants get to grips with creative writing methods and techniques to introduce new ways of building writing into your daily routine. Presenter: Dr Amy Birch, Researcher Development and Culture |
11:30-13:30 |
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Getting started with academic publishing and open access This session will introduce the basics of academic publishing and provide you with the knowledge and confidence to choose the most appropriate outlet in which to publish your work. We will provide guidance on how to publish, including: The publishing lifecycle, the different routes to open access publishing, and funding options for open access. Presenters: Karen Blower and Melissa Clasper, University Library
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11:00-11:45 |
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Thursday 9th November |
Developing effective writing practices This interactive in-person workshop will introduce postgraduate research students to different tools and techniques to boost their writing productivity. Presenter: Dr Antoinette McKane, Researcher Development and Culture |
11:00-13:30 Register here (open to postgraduate researchers only) |
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Friday 10th November |
Shut Up and Write Virtual writing retreat |
10:00-12:00 |
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Week 3: 13 - 17 November |
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Monday 13th November |
Academic Reading for Academic Writing This session is designed to help participants develop skills and strategies for academic reading which feed into their academic and research writing. Participants can then apply the reading method learned in the session to multiple reading texts in order make comparisons across texts and build up a picture of the literature of their field. Presenter: Dr Jeni Driscoll, English Language Centre |
10:00-13:00 |
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Tuesday 14th November
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Shut Up and Write Virtual writing retreat |
14:00-16:00 |
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Writing at University This Library KnowHow webinar aims to build on your existing academic writing skills and develop your ability to express and support your ideas clearly and concisely. Each session will focus on a different aspect of effective academic writing and include small-scale practice exercises to develop your writing skills. Presenter: Chris Wyatt, English Language Centre |
11:00-12:00 |
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Narrative CV Clinic Submit your narrative CV for an externally-funded scheme and receive feedback from the Research and Partnerships team. Places are limited, and CVs and draft proposals must be sent by Monday 6th November. Presenters: Hannah Dutton and Lydia Nicholson, Research and Partnerships |
Registration will open on Thursday 26th October. |
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Wednesday 15th November |
Desk Yoga Sat at your desk writing? Need an energy boost? Desk Yoga is accessible for all levels and abilities that you can use at your desk throughout the day to energise, stretch and refocus the mind, instantly change mood and boost overall wellbeing. |
Pre-recorded video. |
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Thursday 16th November |
How to write yourself into an interview: effective cover letters and applications Attend this online workshop to get tips on how to make your cover letters and application forms the winning ticket for your next job application. Presenter: Stefania Silvestri, Prosper |
13:00-14:00 |
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Copyright and your PhD thesis What copyright issues should you take into account before submitting the final version of your thesis? What’s high risk and what’s low risk? How will readers gain access to your thesis after graduation? In this online webinar you will learn about the issues to consider when including material created by other people in your PhD thesis. Presenters: Martin Wolf and Melissa Clasper, University Library |
10:00-11:00 |
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Friday 17th November |
Shut Up and Write Virtual writing retreat |
10:00-12:00 |
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Week 4: 20 - 24 November |
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Monday 20th November |
Choosing the right journal to publish in Video by Researcher KnowHow |
Pre-recorded video. |
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Tuesday 21st November |
Shut Up and Write Virtual writing retreat |
14:00-16:00 |
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Systematic Reviews (part 1 of 3) This session will introduce participants to systematic reviews and highlight the steps required to conduct a systematic review. It will cover formulating a review protocol, review question and defining inclusion/exclusion criteria. Presenter: Melissa Clasper, University Library |
11:00-12:00 |
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Wednesday 22nd November |
The PhD Thesis – What does it actually look like? November is Academic Writing Month, and many PGRs will be busy making progress on their thesis at this time. But what does a good thesis actually look like? In this online session for the PGR Supervisor Network, we will discuss some of the different thesis format options available along with strategies for supporting PGR students to design their own PhD thesis. Presenter: Dr Eli Saetnan |
12:00-13:00 Register here (open to supervisors of PhD students only) |
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Think, Check, Submit This session will introduce the 'Think. Check. Submit.’ set of resources and equip you with the knowledge and tools to recognise trusted journals and publishers for your research. The session will consider approaches to assessing: Predatory journals, peer review, and citation and responsible metrics. Presenters: Liam Kaye and Melissa Clasper, University Library
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10:00-11:00 |
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Thursday 23rd November |
Possible futures for academic publishing Presenter: Martin Wolf |
Pre-recorded video. |
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Friday 24th November |
Shut Up and Write Virtual writing retreat |
10:00-12:00 |
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Week 5: 27 November - 1 December |
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Monday 27th November |
PGR Writing Retreat One day in-person writing retreat for PGR students to carve out time and make progress with their writing. Presenter: Dr Antoinette McKane, Researcher Development and Culture |
09:00-17:00 Register here (open to postgraduate researchers only) |
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Tuesday 28th November |
Shut Up and Write Virtual writing retreat |
14:00-16:00 |
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Systematic Reviews (part 2 of 3) This session will introduce participants to developing a search strategy for a systematic review. It will cover selecting appropriate sources to search, identifying key concepts to search on and how to search (using subject headings, free-text terms, use of AND/OR and limits). The session will feature a demonstration of how to undertake a systematic search using the MEDLINE (Ovid) database. Presenter: Melissa Clasper, University Library (part 3 of Systemic Reviews is on Tuesday 5th December 11:00-12:00. Register here) |
11:00-12:30 |
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Wednesday 29th November |
How to craft a successful policy briefing Pre-recorded video Presenter: Dr Tom Arnold |
Pre-recorded video. |
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Thursday 30th November |
Advanced Endnote This online session is aimed at anyone who is familiar with the basics of EndNote and wants to know more about this referencing tool. The workshop will cover organising your library, PDF handling and merging thesis chapters. Presenters: Louise Minta, Sam Gill and Melissa Clasper, University Library |
10:00-11:00 |
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Writing for public audiences: communicating your research clearly Presenter: Dr Sophie Morris |
Pre-recorded video. |
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| Friday 1st December |
Shut Up and Write Virtual writing retreat |
10:00-12:00 |
WriteFest 2023 Playlist
Listen to the WriteFest 2023 Playlist, especially created to celebrate Academic writing. The playlist has some background instrumental songs, some that are slightly upbeat to recharge energy as well as some that are linked to writing. Enjoy!
Researcher development resources
- Prosper's Communication Playlist
- Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Postdoctoral Fellowship
- Blog post Making time for writing
- Turbo Charge Your Writing video
- ResDevInYourPj’s bitezised video on Academic writing and WriteFest
- Free templates and planners to help with your writing, planning and collaboration.
- Data Statements – after you have cracked writing up your research and are pleased with your article, don’t forget that to maximise its impact and to comply if you are funded you need to add a data statement.
- Open Access – Now you have your article, you need to consider how to publish open access. If your research is funded you should be aware of your funder’s policy too.
Further resources
Researcher KnowHow at the library
LDC Development Team resources
Back to: Researcher Hub