Are you unsure about how academic publishing works in the UK and USA? Would you like to learn more about how to edit and improve your writing? This two-day workshop covers the foundations of editing and publishing in English. It’s designed for scholars working in the humanities or qualitative social sciences.

Day 1, 10:00 am – 4:15 pm: “Academic Editing and Publishing in English”

The first day will cover general editing skills and the publishing process in these areas. Also, there will be a group work session with feedback on a couple of submitted texts from the participants.

Day 2, 10:00 am – 3:30 pm: “Storytelling and Fiction Craft Techniques for Ethnography"

The second day will focus on cultural anthropology and examine to what extent anthropologists can learn and apply fiction craft techniques to their work. You will gain knowledge you can apply to your thesis and future academic writing and publishing projects.

• Understand the academic publishing process and the different kinds of editing
• Understand the importance of the book proposal and how books get acquired by academic publishers
• Be able to pitch a basic summary of your project to publishers
• Apply developmental editing skills (day 1) and fiction craft techniques (day 2) to your academic writing, where appropriate

Diese Veranstaltung wird von der Gutenberg Graduate School of the Humanities and Social Sciences (GSHS) angeboten. Die Veranstaltung ist für alle fortgeschrittenen Studierenden und Promotionsinteressierten, Promovierenden und Postdocs der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften an der JGU sowie auch für Angehörige der RMU-Partneruniversitäten und der Partnerinstitutionen des mainzed-Netzwerks geöffnet.

GSHS-Mitglieder werden bei der Platzvergabe bevorzugt berücksichtigt.

• B2 English skills
• Basic familiarity with writing and publishing conventions in English
• Essay writing and research skills (Master’s level and above)
• Cultural anthropology (Master’s level and above – day 2)

You can choose to participate on one or both of the two workshop days.

For workshop day 1, you can submit a text (in English or German) for the groupwork session, and you will also receive written feedback on the text. You can choose between the following options:

1. Write a short academic essay that introduces and explains a key concept in your research.
2. Answer the essay question: “Compare and contrast the opportunities your generation has with that of your parents’ generation. Provide specific examples.”
3. Write a short ethnographic vignette grounded in your recent everyday experience or PhD project. (Please don’t pick a topic that has caused you significant emotional distress.)

The text should be no longer than 1500 words and must be submitted by e-mail via gshs@uni-mainz.de by February 27, 2025.