Drop and give me 20,000 words!
- Are you a late-candidature PhD student struggling with the writing-up battle?
- Do you put off writing tasks until ‘tomorrow’?
- Are you finding it tough ‘going it alone’?
We have just what you need – Thesis Boot Camp! Dedicated solely to getting words down on paper (or a computer screen), this program is designed to help late-stage doctoral students get over that final hurdle, or to kick-start their writing progress if it has stalled.
Sign up to join other graduate research comrades at the same candidature stage in a no-excuses, no-time-for-procrastination, take-no-prisoners intensive writing weekend. Not for the faint hearted, Thesis Boot Camp recruits will battle through third-year blues, writer’s block and thesis fatigue to achieve significant progress on their manuscript.
Introductory sessions will include motivational talks, goal setting and strategies for writing quickly and well. Support staff will be on hand and catering will be provided to ensure an encouraging, distraction-free environment. Attendees will be required to complete pre-program planning activities and to commit to their own tangible aims for the weekend, such as completing a thesis chapter draft or similar.
Are you up for the challenge?
More about Thesis Boot Camp
There are many ‘boot camp’ style writing programs at universities around the world, though the award-winning Thesis Boot Camp — designed and developed at the University of Melbourne in 2012— has proved a winning formula for hundreds of PhD and research higher degree students in Australia, the UK and beyond.
But don’t just take our word for it! After Thesis Boot Camp was introduced at the Australian National University in 2014, Dr Inger Mewburn of the popular Thesis Whisperer blog said:
The experience was amazing for me as an educator and the students loved it. They told others how great it was. Several people who had been contemplating quitting altogether actually handed in their thesis. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) kicked in again and students who missed out the first time around actually lobbied ANU for more. We’re now about to run our third one.
(you can read the full post here)
Now we’re bringing the programme to Royal Holloway with Thesis Boot Camp creator Dr Peta Freestone!
Who can attend Thesis Boot Camp?
Thesis Boot Camp is a free event provided by Royal Holloway. You are an eligible Thesis Boot Camp recruit if you are:
- In the final stages of completing your graduate research degree. That is, you have completed data collection (in whatever form is relevant to your project and discipline) and are currently ‘writing up’. The ultimate aim of Thesis Boot Camp is to write 20,000 words of first draft material. It is not for editing, revising, preparing presentations or grant applications etc. In other words, you must be able to identify the particular chapter or chapter(s) of your thesis that you will specifically work on as part of your Thesis Boot Camp goal.
- Able to clearly identify how you would benefit from an intensive weekend of drafting a particular section of your thesis.
- Willing and available to attend all sessions and to commit to the ethos of dedicated writing required at Thesis Boot Camp.
- Able to provide details of an academic referee to support your application (E.g. your supervisor or member of your supervisory panel; a more senior colleague in your research team etc).
The event is limited to 30 participants and we expect to receive more applications than there are available places. Please note that due to this, we cannot guarantee participation for all eligible applicants. This also means that you should complete all sections of the application in full, with the above eligibility criteria in mind.
Dates and times
The first Royal Holloway Thesis Boot Camp will take place from Friday 9 June to Sunday 11 June 2017.
All sessions will take place at the Windsor Building at Egham campus. The program outline is as follows:
- Day 1, Friday 9 June, 4.00pm - 8.30pm
- Day 2, Saturday 10 June, 9.30am - 8.30pm
- Day 3, Sunday 11 June, 9.30am - 8.00pm
A draft programme of the weekend can be viewed here
Applying
Applications open 27th March and closes 28th April 2017
Complete the online application form here
Successful applicants will be notified from 3rd May if they have been accepted into the programme.
09/06/2017 16:00
11/06/2017 20:00
Europe/London
Thesis Boot Camp
Drop and give me 20,000 words!
- Are you a late-candidature PhD student struggling with the writing-up battle?
- Do you put off writing tasks until ‘tomorrow’?
- Are you finding it tough ‘going it alone’?
We have just what you need – Thesis Boot Camp! Dedicated solely to getting words down on paper (or a computer screen), this program is designed to help late-stage doctoral students get over that final hurdle, or to kick-start their writing progress if it has stalled.
Sign up to join other graduate research comrades at the same candidature stage in a no-excuses, no-time-for-procrastination, take-no-prisoners intensive writing weekend. Not for the faint hearted, Thesis Boot Camp recruits will battle through third-year blues, writer’s block and thesis fatigue to achieve significant progress on their manuscript.
Introductory sessions will include motivational talks, goal setting and strategies for writing quickly and well. Support staff will be on hand and catering will be provided to ensure an encouraging, distraction-free environment. Attendees will be required to complete pre-program planning activities and to commit to their own tangible aims for the weekend, such as completing a thesis chapter draft or similar.
Are you up for the challenge?
More about Thesis Boot Camp
There are many ‘boot camp’ style writing programs at universities around the world, though the award-winning Thesis Boot Camp — designed and developed at the University of Melbourne in 2012— has proved a winning formula for hundreds of PhD and research higher degree students in Australia, the UK and beyond.
But don’t just take our word for it! After Thesis Boot Camp was introduced at the Australian National University in 2014, Dr Inger Mewburn of the popular Thesis Whisperer blog said:
The experience was amazing for me as an educator and the students loved it. They told others how great it was. Several people who had been contemplating quitting altogether actually handed in their thesis. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) kicked in again and students who missed out the first time around actually lobbied ANU for more. We’re now about to run our third one.
(you can read the full post here)
Now we’re bringing the programme to Royal Holloway with Thesis Boot Camp creator Dr Peta Freestone!
Who can attend Thesis Boot Camp?
Thesis Boot Camp is a free event provided by Royal Holloway. You are an eligible Thesis Boot Camp recruit if you are:
- In the final stages of completing your graduate research degree. That is, you have completed data collection (in whatever form is relevant to your project and discipline) and are currently ‘writing up’. The ultimate aim of Thesis Boot Camp is to write 20,000 words of first draft material. It is not for editing, revising, preparing presentations or grant applications etc. In other words, you must be able to identify the particular chapter or chapter(s) of your thesis that you will specifically work on as part of your Thesis Boot Camp goal.
- Able to clearly identify how you would benefit from an intensive weekend of drafting a particular section of your thesis.
- Willing and available to attend all sessions and to commit to the ethos of dedicated writing required at Thesis Boot Camp.
- Able to provide details of an academic referee to support your application (E.g. your supervisor or member of your supervisory panel; a more senior colleague in your research team etc).
The event is limited to 30 participants and we expect to receive more applications than there are available places. Please note that due to this, we cannot guarantee participation for all eligible applicants. This also means that you should complete all sections of the application in full, with the above eligibility criteria in mind.
Dates and times
The first Royal Holloway Thesis Boot Camp will take place from Friday 9 June to Sunday 11 June 2017.
All sessions will take place at the Windsor Building at Egham campus. The program outline is as follows:
- Day 1, Friday 9 June, 4.00pm - 8.30pm
- Day 2, Saturday 10 June, 9.30am - 8.30pm
- Day 3, Sunday 11 June, 9.30am - 8.00pm
A draft programme of the weekend can be viewed here
Applying
Applications open 27th March and closes 28th April 2017
Complete the online application form here
Successful applicants will be notified from 3rd May if they have been accepted into the programme.
Windsor Building