Amsterdam, Netherlands

Academic Writing Skills - From PhD Paper to Publication for Business School Students

The goal of this course is to help Business School students improve their academic writing skills. This course will provide you with the information and tools you need to brush up on your academic writing skills. This should help you improve one of your PhD papers which you can then publish in a top journal. This course will take place over 5 days, during which time you will be working on one of your PhD papers. We will have 2-hour long interactive classes in the morning via Zoom and 3-hour practical writing sessions in the afternoon. In the classes, you will work on your own paper, give feedback to your peers, and have the opportunity to receive feedback from the teachers.

During the practical writing sessions in the afternoon, you will be working on the respective sections of your own paper that we cover in the morning. You will also give feedback to your peers and receive feedback in turn, which will help you get more from the process. There will be several opportunities to receive direct feedback from the teachers, too. By the end of the week, you will have revised your paper’s introduction, theory, and methods sections.

Course leader

Janina Klein is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Change at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Janina obtained her PhD in Management at the University of Edinburgh Business School and holds a MLitt (Master) in International Business.

Target group

Open to PhD Candidates in Business Schools working in the area of organisation and management studies. If you have doubts about your eligibility for the course, please contact us: graduatewinterschool@vu.nl.

Course aim

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

- Signal to readers which academic conversations they are joining and contributing to.
- Write effective introductions based on a step-by-step model.
- Understand how to select and critically review the literature and write effective theory sections.
- Write effective methods sections in terms of appropriateness, consistency, and reliability of the methods chosen.
- Draw on various tips and lessons learned in the review process.

Credits info

3 EC
Contact hours: 17.5

Fee info

EUR 930: Tuition fee

For 2 ECTS courses:
Students, PhD students and employees of VU Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC or an Aurora Network Partner: €580*
Students and PhD students: €680*
Professionals: €880*
Applications received before 15 October -€50 (Early Bird Discount)

For 3 ECTS courses:
Students, PhD students and employees of VU Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC or an Aurora Network Partner: €630*
Students and PhD students: €730*
Professionals: €930*
Applications received before 15 October -€50 (Early Bird Discount)

* Auditor participants receive €100 discount. Not available for all courses. Early Bird Discount is not valid on the auditor fee. Find out more under the section: Type of participation

The tuition fee includes: 
* Application and registration
* Exclusive course content for a limited number of participants
* Individual/group guidance from the course organiser
* Access to all online VU facilities such as the library and online learning environments
* A certificate of attendance after completing the course 
* A transcript of records, including the grade and the obtained ECTS
* The full support of the winter school team
* Optional social activities

Scholarships

VU Graduate Winter School offers several scholarships. More information can be found on the website.