Welcome back, Highlanders! The Graduate Writing Center would like to welcome all our incoming graduate students! At the writing center, we provide graduate students with assistance, feedback, and practical help in improving their writing on multiple levels. Please schedule an appointment and come by if you need any help with the writing process. 

On another note, sometimes we work on a paper, and our brain feels fried. 

[Image Description: Dexter running around Dee Dee with his head on fire]

Well, there's nothing to panic about. Sometimes, our “writing” and “thinking” gears are just a bit rusty, and we may need some help to get them moving. And once we get over the hurdle of starting, we make some progress. 

[Image Description: Multiple gears moving simultaneously]

But still, much more remains for us to bring our writing to a higher level.  

As this new school year begins, GWC would like to put a few of our upcoming writing workshops on your radar this Fall quarter. For some of us, maybe we have already been working on a few ongoing writing projects, and for others, perhaps we are just getting back into the writing process. Regardless of where you may be in the process, GWC will give a few practical workshops to help us all improve our writing in various ways. Such topics include writing effectively in graduate school, English grammar refreshers, tips for first-years on the writing, researching, and publishing process, manuscript introductions and discussions, editing strategies, and more!

Week 2 - Writing Effectively in Graduate School
(Oct 9th, 10am-11am)

Graduate-level writing – and academic writing in general – can be its own world and have its own set of unique rules. With this in view, this workshop will present how to write effectively during graduate school and suggest how students should refocus their academic writing to gain the maximum value and benefit in their work. Sign up for this workshop if you want to rethink the writing process and learn with us how to begin speaking to scholars in your field.

Week 3 - English Grammar Refresher
(Oct 17th, 11am-12pm)

Since we all need more help with the specific details related to English grammar, this workshop will refresh us on a few key points. Whether you've recently learned English as a language or haven't studied English grammar in a long time, this workshop will review articles, prepositions, and how to craft an explicit and implicit argument. Sign up for this workshop to revisit some of the core aspects of English grammar that will help you begin your writing projects for the quarter.

Week 4 - Completing your First Year Preparation for Writing, Researching and Publishing
(Oct 24th, 11am-12pm)

Completing your first year in graduate school encompasses a lot. It requires time spent reading and studying, researching for big exams, projects, and papers, reviewing materials and attending lectures to successfully lead a discussion section, attending to your family, friends, and community, and keeping up with self-care! This workshop offers a space to address the expectations of humanities and social sciences programs and how we can prepare for the increased reading loads and writing for current and future projects. Sign up for this workshop for new techniques and a community forum to discuss how you have come up with solutions for better reading and writing skills.

Week 5 - Manuscript Introductions and Discussions
(Oct 29th, 2-3pm)

Are you deep into a project with many outstanding questions on manuscript introductions and discussions, let alone how to write them? Are you having trouble contextualizing your project in the broader context of your field or topic? Attend this workshop to break down the structure of manuscript introductions and discussions. Additionally, this workshop will discuss best practices for writing these sections of your manuscript.

Week 7 - Research Statements
(Nov 14th, 1-2pm)

As you advance in your graduate studies, you may be interested in applying for some extra funds to support some of your growing projects. There are many funding opportunities; we just need to find them and learn how to present our projects properly. This online workshop provides an overview of the basics of research statement writing for funding and the job market. 

Week 8 - Editing Strategies
(Nov 20th, 10-11am)

We will end our series of workshops with one that presents a few editing strategies to help polish and finalize our essays. This workshop will cover editing and proofreading strategies to review, improve, and enhance your essay's style, clarity, basic structure, overall presentation, and more. Sign up for this workshop if you need extra tools to tighten loose ends on your paper. 

Those are all the workshops we have for this quarter. We look forward to seeing you! Happy writing!