Good practice – supporting students: writing retreat

John Chapman
Saturday 13 July 2019

School of Geography and Sustainable Development

At the beginning of their final semester students are given the opportunity to attend a residential writing retreat at The Burn.

Students can work with staff in mock grading exercises of previous dissertations and in focus groups to reflect on strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for their own work.  Further work with staff allows students to develop detailed timetables to complete their dissertation within break out seminars designed to reinforce key skills.  Post-dinner, group discussions encourage students to reflect broadly on their degree pathway and we collectively develop an agenda for support classes to be rolled out throughout the rest of the semester. This has led to support classes on writing conclusions, on the structure of a literature review and on the presentation of visual data, to name but a few. The writing retreat is open to undergraduate and taught postgraduate students.

For further information, contact:

Dr Richard Streeter – UG Dissertation Coordinator at [email protected]

Dr Althea Davies – PGT Director at [email protected]

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