Call for Applications for “Academic Writing Workshop V” at Martin Chautari [deadline extended]

Martin Chautari (MC) requests application for Academic Writing Workshop V. Coordinated by Pratyoush Onta, one of the Research Directors at MC, the basic idea behind the series is to provide collective support to a few young academics and researchers who are enrolled in Nepal’s universities at the MPhil/PhD level or who, after having finished their MA/MPhil/PhD with a thesis, are now doing independent research and writing to publish original research articles for journals and/or books. Workshop V will start from January 2018 and run for six-eight months, meeting periodically on Sunday mornings for a three-hour class session at MC premises in Thapathali, Kathmandu.

I. Eligibility Criteria

1. Participants will have at least an MA degree in one of the social science disciplines (except economics/psychology with a quantitative bent) with thesis writing or equivalent research experience. Those who have completed all of their MA degree requirements including the thesis but are waiting for official formalities to be completed before they receive their degrees are eligible provided they can document their status as such in their application.
2. Participants must be able to read academic Nepali and English writing at a high competence level. These two languages will be the languages used for generating academic articles and commentary on them in the workshop series.
3. Participants must be writing an original academic article (in English or Nepali) suitable for publication in a journal or an edited volume. The written text must be based on original research (field, archival, etc.) and not be a literature review essay. This workshop is not for those (i) who want to take a course on academic writing before they begin their research; (ii) who are still in the design phase of their research; and (iii) who want to augment their CVs with another course.
4. Participants must be willing to re-write their article/chapter many times during the workshop series and should be able to devote at least 12-15 hours/week for their writing during the workshop period. This workshop is not for those who are very busy doing other activities and/or looking for a short-cut for academic production.
5. Participants must be willing, when designated, to submit their work (in soft and hard copy) for discussion two weeks prior to the class session meeting in which their writing will be presented and discussed. For details, please see the attached guidelines.
6. Participants must be willing to read others’ work and provide substantial written and oral comments before and during the workshop meetings.
7. Participants must be willing to coordinate, by rotation, parts of the workshop proceedings. They will be expected to build a collegiate out of the workshop group in which respect for differing opinions will be accorded in a democratic and professional manner. Those failing to adhere to this basic requirement will be asked to quit the workshop series.

II. Application Process

Please submit the following in a closed envelope with “Application for Academic Writing Workshop V” written on top:

1. A one-page CV: Please mention your name, contact information (one email address only), educational achievements, relevant work and writing experiences, and list your academic publications;
2. All necessary documents that confirm that you meet the eligibility criteria mentioned above;
3. Writing sample: A full draft of the stand-alone academic article that you are trying to re-write that you want to submit to the workshop for consideration by other participants and mentors. This piece (without counting the ‘abstract’ and ‘challenges’ sections, see below) must be between 5,000-8,000 words in length (excluding the bibliography). The full draft means (i) you have completed at least one attempt to write your full analysis based on the original research you have done; and (ii) it represents your best effort at the time of submission. A thesis/report with multiple chapters, a chapter of your thesis or report as it exists, and research proposals do not constitute a writing sample for the purposes of this application. Sloppy and incomplete samples of writing will also not be considered and your application will be rejected.
4. Guidelines for how the writing sample should be formatted: Please follow the following format precisely:

              i.        Please give the title of your paper at the top of the first page (all pages should be numbered at the bottom) followed by your name, email address and date of submission (single spaced).

             ii.        Please provide a 300-word abstract of the paper on the rest of the first page with word count at the end (single spaced). An abstract is a summary of what the paper is about.

            iii.        Please provide an outline of the structure of the paper, namely, its section and subsection headings in a numbered list (1, 2, 3, etc. for main sections; a, b, c, etc. for sub-sections) on the second page (double spaced).

            iv.        Please provide a 800-word summary of the challenges you are facing as you try to revise the paper as a stand-alone journal article or book chapter. Describe how the article was generated (e.g., is it an extract from a thesis or a larger work?), where it is located in the related academic (comparative/theoretical or area studies) literature, what are the challenges you are facing as you try to write and/or re-write the piece, what kind of help you have sought from others, etc. While describing the challenges you are facing, please demonstrate that you are engaged with the written sample text beyond some generic challenges all of us face when generating academic writing. Instead be specific with details. For instance, write some details about revision options you have considered and chosen (or not chosen), what theories you have considered and why have you adopted them or not adopted them, etc. Please add a word count at the end. This should be your pages 3 and 4 (1.5 spaced).

             v.        Please begin your paper on page 5 (double spaced). The main section and sub-section headings of the paper should be numbered and should correspond exactly with what you had provided in the outline section (iii) above. There should be a word-count at the end of the main text of the paper before the ‘References’ section.

            vi.        Please use footnotes for ease of reading (single spaced) and not endnotes.

           vii.        Please make sure that the citations are complete. There should be a complete list of all references used in the paper at the end under a section with the heading ‘References’ (single spaced with indented second, third, etc. lines for longer entries). All publication details must be provided. That includes full names of authors, year of publication, title of the article, journal volume, issue number, page number (publisher information is not needed for entries from journals); for the case of books, you also need to provide the location of the publisher, publisher name, etc.). All these information must be provided accurately by checking them online or against the original.

          viii.        Please choose any standard citation style-method but be consistent throughout the paper. 

Please submit the above in person at MC’s office (27 Jeet Jung Marg, Thapathali, Kathmandu; tel: 4238050/4102027) or by mail (GPO Box 13470, Kathmandu). Email applications can only be accepted if all the documents requested are submitted as one single attached file sent to chautari@mos.com.np with “Application for Academic Writing Workshop V” on the subject line. The deadline is 6 December 2017. Successful applicants will be notified by mid December 2017. The first class session will be held in January 2018. The course fee will be NRs 4,000.