Important Dates

BIGSAS cordially invites you to register for the upcoming workshop “Clear Thinking – Clear Writing” by Elnathan John. It offers an introduction in particular to early career scholars who would like to extent their experience in academic writing formats. It will take place on Friday, 5 December 2025, 9:00 am, room FZA 0.22.

Elnathan John, himself a renowned author, will connect creative and academic writing and show how clear thinking produces clear writing. Through a mix of short lectures, discussion, and hands-on rewriting of participants’ own texts, you’ ll focus on argumentation, rhythm, style, and accessibility.

The agenda of the session will be:

• The problem with academic writing (Hayot’s provocations; clarity over performance)
• Sentence craft & paragraph logic (rhythm, subjects/verbs, information flow)
• Metaphor—use & danger (precision vs. ornament)
• What makes a good text work (claims, stakes, evidence, structure)
• Creative tools for scholarly voice (narrative tension, rhythm, tone)
• Accessibility & public relevance (abstracts, summaries, public pieces)