Writing Groups in Computer
Science Research Labs
Adam Doupé and Janet L. Kayfetz
University of California, Santa Barbara
FIE 2013 – 10/26/13

Typical Grad Student Feedback
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What Other Ways?
• Workshops
– Infrequent
• Academic writing class
– Quarter long focus
– Hard to scale
• A writing group
– Weekly focus on writing
– Grad students teach themselves
Doupé - 10/26/13

Research Lab Writing Group
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Implementation
• Meet weekly ~30 minutes
– We’ve had ~35 meetings in the last year
• 10 minutes teaching/discussing a writing
concept
– Introductions, data commentary, word
choice, genre, academic tone, the writing
process
• 20 minutes group editing
– Try to tie the piece being edited to the
previously discussed writing concept
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Group Editing
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What Went Well
“You see how everybody (even the good
writers) are struggling to write even a single
paragraph: If you are a bad writer and your
writing skills-related self-confidence is near
zero (i.e., me), it’s a huge help to boost your
confidence! Writing is hard. Period. It’s good
to know.”
- First-year PhD Student
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Improvements
• Reliance on a leader
• Attendance
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Special thanks to Giovanni Vigna and
Chris Kruegel for their support
Adam Doupé
Email:
Twitter:
adoupe@cs.ucsb.edu
@adamdoupe
WRITING GROUPS IN
COMPUTER SCIENCE
RESEARCH LABS
Doupé - 10/26/13