Qualitative researchers have a broad palette of writing styles we can use on an as-needed basis for the investigative or compositional task at hand. Eclecticism is an essential skill for documenting social inquiry. The more diverse our expressive repertoire, the more each mode informs the others and the more credible, vivid, and persuasive our accounts.

In this one-day workshop, participants will gain in-class experience with nine different writing styles for qualitative research reportage, ranging from the descriptive to the analytic, from the confessional to the reflexive, and from the poetic to the autoethnographic.

Workshop participants should have something to write about—a research study in progress, a first draft report, or a completed study such as a thesis, dissertation, or published journal article. Participants should also have a personal device (e.g., laptop, tablet) or hardcopy materials (e.g., notepad, pens) for in-class writing exercises. (Miscellaneous qualitative data samples will be provided for those not involved with current projects.)

Workshop content is derived from Writing Qualitatively: The Selected Works of Johnny Saldaña (2018, Routledge) and the co-authored Qualitative Research: Analyzing Life (2018, Sage).