For faculty members, academic writing is a career requirement that requires time and focus.

However, there are always pressures as schedules fill up and distractions, both at the office and at home, are ever-present.

It can seem an impossible task at times. But there is help available.

On April 20 the Office of the Vice-Principal (Research) is hosting another Faculty Writing Retreat at the Donald Gordon Centre. Building on the success of previous retreats, the full-day event provides participants with the opportunity to hear from and meet colleagues as well as time for writing.

The retreat helps in three main ways, explains Liying Cheng, Acting Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research at the Faculty of Education, and a past participant.

Firstly and invaluably, she says, the retreat helps faculty members get away and focus on writing.

“The key point of the retreat is to physically remove yourself from the home or office, to where there is only one thing you can do – write,” says the professor of Teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language. “For faculty members it is really important to have that quiet time and focus.”

The retreat also provides an opportunity to network with colleagues from other departments and faculties, Dr. Cheng says. Those connections can result in faculty members working collaboratively for grant applications.

Another important element of the writing retreat is the opportunity for consulting on writing and ideas.

“To me thinking aloud and talking aloud is part of the process of writing,” Dr. Cheng says. “Thinking aloud is a research method, but talking aloud about your idea helps you put it into coherent writing. For the consulting part, most faculty members have an idea going into the retreat and they have a chance to talk about it and immediately put those ideas into writing.”

The result can be a more refined idea as well as a more defined schedule and structure.

This Faculty Writing Retreat will differ slightly from its predecessors, with a greater focus on supporting faculty in the preparation of research funding applications. There will be opportunities for putting the finishing touches on a proposal with an impending deadline, incorporating feedback into a proposal yet to be funded, or connecting with colleagues on starting something new and collaborative. 

The day will consist of stretches of uninterrupted quiet time to write and opportunities to meet with Research Projects Advisors from University Research Services.

Registration is currently open to faculty working on any publications, and it will close on April 11 or when all available spaces are filled. This is a first come first serve event.