Graduate-Level Workshops & Courses

• Rethinking Your Relationship with Writing to Get Words on the Page

  This workshop combines reflection activities with practical strategies to increase your confidence as a writer and improve your writing productivity. The session will challenge common writing myths and address typical pitfalls that often hold writers back such as waiting for inspiration, “binge writing,” all-or-nothing thinking, and more. Participants will identify their own attitudes and beliefs about writing; learn techniques to shift their writing mindset; and walk away with strategies to build writing stamina and promote a positive writing experience. Participants will also have the opportunity to build a writing community by signing up to join a writing group.
  
  Watch our talk from Summer 2024, which was featured as part of the Graduate College's Shop Talks series. 
   

• Breaking it Down: Introduction to Research Writing

  This introductory workshop demystifies the IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) structure essential for academic research writing. Designed specifically for graduate students tackling research proposals, theses, or dissertations, participants will gain insight into the genre's core components and underlying logic. Through analysis of a sample text, attendees will learn how to break down a scholarly article and identify the disciplinary expectations of research writing in their field. Please note that while literature reviews, methods, and results will be discussed, this workshop will provide a broader overview of research writing. 

  Watch our talk from Spring 2024, which was featured as part of the Graduate College's Shop Talks series.

• Joining the Conversation: Writing Literature Reviews

  This workshop introduces participants to the literature review, an essential part of research writing in any discipline. Participants will learn the various purposes of a literature review; techniques for efficient and effective reading; strategies for synthesizing sources to avoid encyclopedic writing; and options for organization and structure. Attendees will leave prepared to write a literature review that justifies their research question and creates space for their contribution to the scholarly conversation. Please note: This workshop will focus primarily on understanding the literature review as a genre and using writing as a tool for thinking throughout the research process, rather than on critical library research skills (e.g., locating databases, using Boolean operators). 
  
  Watch our talk from Fall 2024, which was featured as part of the Graduate College's Shop Talks series.

• Polishing Your Writing: Editing and Revising Skills

  This workshop introduces participants to essential strategies for revising and editing their drafts. Participants will practice concrete skills to transform their writing, such as using a reverse outline to check for global coherence and applying the “old-new” principle to improve logical flow from sentence to sentence. The workshop will also distinguish between revision, editing, and proofreading, and help participants use that knowledge to prioritize their writing tasks. 
  
  Watch our talk from Fall 2024, which was featured as part of the Graduate College's Shop Talks series. 

Revising for Scholarly Publication