On 19 April 2022, the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) was honored to have Prof. Carlotta Viti as the guest speaker for the Academic Writing Workshop. The theme of this workshop was “From the Idea to the Printed Page: Observation on the Creative and Editorial Process Underlying Research Outputs”. Prof. Viti shared her observations on how one’s passion for research can be transformed into concrete results, such as an academic paper, a dissertation, a conference presentation or a research project to obtain a grant. Around 50 colleagues and students joined us in this workshop.

Prof. Viti is a senior linguist who has joined UIC since 2019 and is now the Coordinator of the Centre of Foreign Languages and Cultures. Her years of experiences in teaching and researching Comparative Linguistics has made her a real expert of academic writing. She can work with more than 30 languages, including some endangered and dead languages. In addition to her own research, she has abundant experiences in editorial activities, including serving as Co-Editor of a book series (“Sprachvergleich. Studien zur synchronen und diachronen Sprachwissenschaft”) by Narr, and as Associate Editor of a book series (“Ancient languages and civilizations”) and of a journal (“Old World: Journal of Ancient Africa and Eurasia”) by Brill, together with Dr. Shawn Wang, and under the direction of Prof. Zhi Chen, Editor-in-Chief. At the same time, she is also a reviewer of the German Research Foundation (“German Forschungsgemeinschaft”).

The workshop attracted both teaching staff and students

During the workshop, Prof. Viti shared with the audience, from her many years of experiences, the steps involved in conducting research writing, which includes how to identify a topic that is worthy of investigation, to give structure to the argument, to present data, to select the relevant scientific literature, to find a good proofreader, to choose the right platform for publication, to submit a book proposal, to revise a first draft in reply to an editor’s comments, to apply for a research fund or for a research position, etc. The audience showed great interest in these topics.

Prof. Viti emphasizing the importance of being curious and open-minded

In the end, Prof. Viti elaborated on her motto of doing research, similar to the motto of UIC “In knowledge and in deeds, unto the whole person”, which says “research is a holistic process, a substantial part of one’s identity, and must affect your own life (never stop researching).” Based on this motto, she believes that the academic-friendly environment in UIC has provided great chances for teachers to have good scientific dialogues, which is extremely important for doing research. She also stressed the importance to acquire knowledge of different languages and cultures in order to be more open-minded, and commended the important resources of the UIC Centre of Foreign Languages and Cultures.

Vice-President (Academic) Prof. Huaxiong Huang giving a thank to Prof. Viti

After the workshop, Prof. Viti interacted with the audience during the Q&A, and audience showed positive feedback on Prof. Viti’s passionate speech.

 AcademicWriting_Carlotta_CFLC_new.pdf

Edited and Reported by CTL