If you have attended a CSU Writes intensive writing retreat or workshop on either habit formation or scheduling your writing projects, you will have heard about the research and advice of Helen Sword. Trained as a literary scholar, Sword began researching the “styles” of academic articles—analyses that she turned into the book Stylish Academic Writing (Harvard 2012). She then went on to study “how successful academics write” and publish advice guides for researchers and scholars, most notably The Writer’s Diet (Chicago 2016) and Air & Light & Time & Space (Harvard 2017). Depending on the workshop or retreat, one or all of Sword’s books have been resources and references. Yes, her work is that good for researchers and scholarly writers!
Her most recent takes an overt turn to the creativity and pleasure of writing. Writing with Pleasure (Princeton 2023) is a response to Sword’s findings in surveying more than 1300 research and scholarly writers to discover a persistent expression of “frustration” among academics who build their expertise and careers through their writing. She also recognized articulations describing the pleasure associated with writing, even when challenging, among experts across disciplines.
Sword, who is Professor Emeritus in the Centre for Arts and Social Transformation at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, is touring the U.S. with her new book on the pleasures of writing. We are extraordinarily lucky at CSU to have been able to secure a full day with her on her travels!
Sword will host two workshops for CSU’s writers: one on “Writing Intelligently with AI;” another on “Creative Approaches to Research Writing.” Both workshops are open to all at CSU who have an interest: faculty, postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students, staff, administrators, affiliates, as well as emeritus and alums.
Descriptions of the workshops are below, and folks can register on the CSU Writes “Special Events: Guest Speakers and Panels” webpage.
Writing Intelligently with AI
OCT 24 | 10am -12pm | Morgan Library 173
How can you make the most of artificially intelligent chatbots such as ChatGPT without degrading your writing skills or selling your soul? In this interactive workshop – suitable for AI aficionados and newbies alike – international writing expert Dr Helen Sword will guide you through a series of exercises designed to help you find the why in your interactions with these ubiquitous, rapidly evolving research tools. By the end of the workshop, you’ll have developed your own personal strategies and guidelines for writing thoughtfully and effectively both with and without generative AI.
Creative Approaches to Research Writing
OCT 24 | 1-1pm | Morgan Library 173
In this playful, hands-on workshop, international writing expert Helen Sword will guide you through arts-based approaches to your research and academic writing. Following a brief overview of the research literature on the cognitive benefits of creative activity, you’ll undertake a series of “creative invitations” designed to expand your cognitive horizons via story, poetry, drama, movement, metaphor, and the visual arts.