Graduate Writing Support
To support graduate student writers across the graduate schools and programs at Brandeis, the University Writing Center offers graduate-specific programming in addition to our consultations.
This programming aims to help meet the unique writing needs of graduate students and to support the development of strong writing habits and professional skills. This programming additionally aims to build community between students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Heller School for Social Policy and Management and the International Business School through shared writing experiences, including:
- Graduate Writers' Workspaces held regularly throughout the school-year and during the summer.
- Graduate Workshops and Events
- The annual Dissertation Writers' Retreat held each May.
Information on how to participate is listed below. If you have any questions about our graduate writing support programs, please reach out to us at writingcenter@brandeis.edu.
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The Graduate Writers' Workspace offers graduate students a structured time and space to work on their long-term writing projects (for instance, dissertations, theses, applications, articles or other writing projects) and develop good writing habits like time-blocking and goal-setting while also connecting with other Brandeis graduate students.
Each three-hour Graduate Writers Workspace facilitated by a Writing Center staff member is made up of two writing sessions, each 1-1/2 hours long. During the first and last 10 minutes of each session, writers share their goals, progress and challenges with other writers. You can attend both sessions or just one, and there are optional midway breaks built into the structure of each session.
For more information about the workspaces, check out these Frequently Asked Questions. To sign up for a workshop, visit our Upcoming Events page.
This two- or three-day event, held each May, designed for PhD students working on their dissertations, will feature both in-person and online write-ins, planning sessions, mini-workshops, and guest panels designed to set you on a productive path for your summer dissertation writing. Registration for the retreat will be available in the Spring semester.
Selected survey feedback from PhD students:
"This retreat was as wonderful as last year's and more! [...] Last summer, I achieved almost a complete first draft of Part 3 (of 3) for my dissertation — a huge chunk of that happened during the retreat. This year, I finished my revisions for the full dissertation (again, an enormous chunk of that happened during the retreat). Both summers, the retreat marked a kickoff point for a very large project. Both points of kickoff were brilliantly hospitable and supportive!"
"This was probably the most useful setting I was in all year. [T]his allowed me to dedicate a whole two days to writing — no distractions — no sabotage (external or internal). It was amazing. I was able to be so productive in the space provided."
The Writing Center hosts a series of workshops and events for graduate students. Workshops in this series are tailored to the specific needs of graduate students in their various roles as students, writers, instructors, graders and peers.
Past workshops and events have included:
- Getting Started with your Dissertation or Thesis (Collaboration with the Brandeis Library)
- Graduate Instructors Workshop: Writing Effective Feedback and Engaging Course Materials
- Graduate Term Papers: An Introduction to Writing at the Graduate Level
- Putting the Purpose into your Statement of Purpose
- Presentations and Job Talks
- Time Management
- Captivating your Audience: Writing for Academic Presentations and Posters
- How They Did It: a Q&A panel with recent MA/PhD graduates.
To sign up for a workshop/event, visit our
Upcoming Events page.
The Writing Center is also happy to help graduate students set up peer exchange groups.
If you would like help finding peers, please reach out to us. We will send a message to our Graduate Writers list to put you in touch with students who are looking to start peer exchange groups.
Your peer exchange group is also welcome to request a peer feedback training session with the Writing Center before you get started sharing your work with each other. To make a request to be put in touch with other graduate students seeking peer groups or to request a peer feedback training session with the Writing Center, email us at writingcenter@brandeis.edu.
Additionally, one-on-one consultations with our graduate tutors are a great way to get peer feedback on your writing.
Check out our shared Zotero library which contains citations for several guides on writing, research and time management for graduate writers and links to several helpful apps.
If you have any suggestions for our resource library, please email us at writingcenter@brandeis.edu.
Part resource, part learning hub and part community, the Writing Center's Graduate Writing Support programming aims to meet the following objectives:
- Instruct graduate students in the genres and conventions of writing projects common to graduate coursework and requirements
- Instruct graduate students in the genres, conventions, and timelines of writing projects common to professional life in higher education and academia
- Provide individualized feedback for graduate students working on their graduate and professional writing projects
- Foster effective peer-to-peer writing exchange, accountability, and writing groups
- Cultivate a space of retreat from other graduate responsibilities and power networks where graduate students can put their writing and research first
- Cultivate graduate community through shared writing experiences