AWC Welcome Day 2021

Typically, the first draft of any paper is bad. Sometimes, it's terrible. However, even a terrible draft can be made into a good publication accepted at a top journal. What structural, logical, and substantive changes are required for this metamorphosis? The seminar will help answer this question by focusing on one particular paper accepted for publication at a top political science journal and its very first draft. Step by step, we are going to analyze the key changes to the draft that helped to develop it into a high-ranking publication.

Speaker: Denis Stukal is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences at HSE. Before joining HSE in 2020, he was a Lecturer in Data Analytics in Social Sciences at the University of Sydney. In 2018-2019, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at New York University. He holds a Ph.D. in Politics from NYU (2018). His research focuses on political behavior and computational communication, and addresses issues related to the use of algorithms for online mobilization and demobilization. His major research projects study how new technologies, and in particular social media bots, are used for political purposes and how they affect political behavior and online political communication. His research has been published in journals such as Big Data, The Journal of Politics, and Comparative Politics.

Research writing has never been an easy task, and it is much more challenging when you write in a foreign language such as English. As non-native speakers of English, we experience some common problems during different stages of writing an article. At the workshop, we will discuss some of the problems and practical solutions to tackle them. We will go through some stages: preparing the first draft, the main writing stage, and polishing the text. I will share my experience and provide tips on making the text better.  I’m inviting you to exchange ideas, thus contributing to the workshop.

Speaker: Bernardo Pincheira is a Research Fellow at the Center for Institutional Studies, HSE University. He holds a doctoral degree in Economics from the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom.

English, as a means of communication, is one of the essential tools to get involved in international professional communication. The aim of the seminar is twofold. First, I will share  a success story of how to master your English while working at the university. You will find about the opportunities that HSE offers to practice and improve your English. Second, we will discuss and practice some communicative strategies which might be useful when you are planning to cooperate with foreign researchers on a joint project.

Speaker: Konstantin Khomutskii, Ph.D. in linguistics, is an associate professor of the HSE School of Foreign Languages (Moscow) with 15 years of English teaching experience. He has been teaching various English courses to students and adults – Business English, Academic English, ESP courses, and specific on-the-job training courses for HSE staff. Moreover, Konstantin has a broad research background in linguistics and place marketing, working within international research teams. He has authored a number of articles in peer-reviewed journals and students’ books for ESP courses.