‘Think in Ink’ Writing and Capacity Building Workshops for Humanities post-graduate students

‘Think in Ink’ Writing and Capacity Building Workshops for Humanities post-graduate students

National University of Lesotho

7-8 January 2025

Introduction

Academic Writing is an integral part of all scholarly endeavours across all disciplines. It is the face and final reflection of all academic processes such as research, data analysis, and synthesis. Thus, it is an important skill that all scholars should have. Mentorship is crucial in assisting post-graduate students and early career scholars to hone their skills and break into the world of academic writing. This has been sorely missing in parts of the Global South, where the intellectual and academic output has been relatively smaller compared to the Global North. Indeed, research has shown that the work of Africa-based scholars in the Humanities is underrepresented in high-impact international journals. This owes to several issues, such as inadequate funding, mentorship, and a lack of exposure, which have contributed significantly to this state of affairs. This has been exacerbated by the precarious economic position of most African countries, which has limited these young scholars, not only financially but in guaranteeing scholarly exposure. In this light, this project seeks to help build capacity for post-graduate students by holding a mentorship workshop in which students will be trained in advanced academic writing so they can tackle critical research themes in African socio-economic development.

Project Description

The proposed event is a two-day workshop that seeks to provide a platform on which the said challenges can be addressed to effectively capacitate postgraduate students with research and academic writing skills. Experienced scholars will be invited to make presentations on critical issues around the importance and relevance of academic research in Africa’s socio-economic development, the rigmarole involved in research, and the principles of academic writing in the Humanities. Training will also include inducting post-graduate students into the world of publishing, especially how to turn their theses into publishable material in reputable international journals. Thus, the first day will be devoted to presentations from experts to tackle various themes related to research, writing, and publishing. At the end of the day, students will be afforded an opportunity to discuss their personal experiences in a plenary session with experts. The second and final day will afford students who have already done research in their respective fields to present their research findings to the audience, including fellow students and mentors. This will enable them to receive useful and critical feedback.  Moreover, the second session of the second day will be set aside for one-on-one sessions between students and their allocated mentors. This will help students to fine-tune their work and knock it into shape in preparation for the next stage, which will either be the submission of a thesis or submission for publication with reputable journals.

On the whole, such interactions should contribute to better quality writing, increased publication output, broader networking opportunities, and the creation of productive academic collaborations, all of which will benefit young scholars as they seek to carve out a niche in the academic world. The workshop targets an attendance of 20 post-graduate students from the region. Participants will be selected from those who would have responded to the workshop call and are at the writing stage of the projects in Humanities. Preference will also be given to those who have their manuscripts ready for publication.

The objectives of this workshop neatly resonate with the mission and vision of the Young Scholars Initiative (YSI) which seeks to increase the research output of budding scholars and ensure that research provides answers to the continent’s economic and developmental problems. Further, the workshop seeks to bridge the gap between research and development on the African continent by training a cohort of upcoming scholars on research and writing, itself an opportunity that has been sorely missing in many parts of the African continent.  Equally important, the workshop will buttress the position of the YSI in Lesotho with the hope that most post-graduate students will become active members of the growing community.

Objectives

• To equip students with academic writing skills
• To endow participants with publishing skills
• To help students to appreciate the relevance of research in socio-economic development in African societies
• To capacitate PhD Students on how they can navigate life after doctoral studies
• To foster networks among Young Scholars

Activities

The workshop will take place over two days. The first day will be devoted to the keynote speech and four presentations from invited presenters. They will tackle topics ranging from the importance of research to the development, processing, and synthesis of research material, writing for academic purposes, and turning (parts of a) thesis into publications. The second day will be devoted to students presenting their research output to their peers and the invited experts. Students will also break away into groups in which they will receive face-to-face mentorship and feedback from invited experts.

Expected Outcome

By the end of this workshop, students are expected to have grasped thesis and publication writing skills. This will greatly assist them in their dissertation writing processes and also in breaking into the world of publishing.

Intended Sponsors

Young Scholars’ Initiative (YSI)

National University of Lesotho

Local Organisers

Godfrey Hove (National University of Lesotho)

Relebohile Letlatsa (National University of Lesotho)

Mokone Musi (National University of Lesotho)