Gill Develops Social Research Workshops
by Tim Gill
Over the past three years, Assistant Professor Tim Gill developed and organized the UT Social Research Workshop. The purpose of the workshop is to cultivate a space where professors and graduate students can engage in open and constructive discussion about their works-in-progress. The result of such discussions is that scholars can enhance their work and move towards eventual publication.
Students and faculty in the department have attested to the effectiveness and helpfulness of the workshop. Graduate students report that the workshop has been instrumental in assisting them in making sense of the writing and analytical process. Indeed, the demystification of the writing process is one of the guiding principles of the workshop. No book manuscript or research article is ever complete after the first draft. Writing is a process, and we aim to show this through our workshop discussions.
Over the past three years, we have hosted a range of internal and external guests from such places as the University of Michigan, University of California-Los Angeles, the University of Pittsburgh, Yale University, and elsewhere. In addition, we have hosted our own graduate students who have received thorough feedback on their works in progress. For the ensuing two academic years, Gill received a Haines-Morris Grant to continue funding external guests to present and discuss their work, and we look forward to future conversations.