Tips and Resources for a Successful Summer of Dissertation Writing

Summer can be a strange time for graduate students. Gone are the seminars and workshops, the student clubs, and the working group, all of which structure the semester and provide a sense of community. Instead, we’re faced with a three-month expanse of time that can feel equal parts liberating and intimidating. This double-edged freedom is only exacerbated for those of us in the writing stage of our dissertation, when isolation and a lack of discipline can have a particularly big impact. For those hoping not to enter another summer with lofty plans, only to blink and find ourselves in August disappointed with our progress, we’ve compiled some tips and resources that can help.

According to Graduate Writing Center Director Sabrina Z. Soracco, the most important thing you can do to set yourself up for writing success is to clarify your goals. She recommends starting this process by looking at departmental requirements for a completed dissertation. Consider when you would like to file and work backwards from that point, determining what you have to get done in order to hit that target. Next, check in with your dissertation committee members to set up an accountability structure. Would they prefer an end-of-summer update to the whole committee? A monthly check-in with your chair or one of your readers? Setting up explicit expectations that work for you and your committee can cut through the aimlessness that comes with a major writing project. It is important to remember that your dissertation does not have to be the end-all-and-be-all of your academic research. Ideas that do not fit into its scope can end up becoming conference papers or even book chapters later.

Once you have a clear goal that you have discussed with your committee, the hard part begins: you have to actually write. The Graduate Writing Center offers several resources to make that process easier: 

1. The Graduate Writing Community. The Graduate Writing Community is held year-round. In the summer it is a totally remote, two-month program based on a model of “gentle accountability.” When you sign up, you are added to a bCourses site moderated by Graduate Writing Consultants. At the beginning of the week, everyone sets their goals in a discussion post, and by the end of the week, everyone checks in with progress updates. During the week, the writing consultants offer approximately 12 hours of remote synchronous writing sessions. As a writing community member, you can attend whichever sessions work best for your schedule. All that’s required is that you show up, set a goal, and work towards that goal for the length of two 25-minute Pomodoro sessions. This year’s summer writing community will begin in June. Keep your eye on your email for the registration link!
2. Writing Consultations: As a graduate student, you can sign up for an individual meeting with a Graduate Writing Consultant. They can give you feedback on your work, help you figure out the structure of a chapter, or just talk through how to get started on a writing project. 
3. Independent Writing Groups: If you would prefer to write with specific friends or colleagues, you can contact Graduate Writing Center Director Sabrina Z. Soracco at [email protected] so that she can help you set up your own writing group. The structure and length of these groups can differ; often, members will send each other one to five pages of writing weekly and meet the next day for two hours to provide feedback and get advice. Sometimes, groups will meet up not only to share writing, but to work in a common space before coming together to debrief. Regardless of what the groups look like, the important thing is to create a guilt-free space. Some weeks, you might submit an outline; other weeks, it might be the roughest of rough drafts; sometimes, you might come to a session without having submitted anything. As long as you show up and continue to  make progress, no matter how small, you are doing what you need to do. 

If you’re looking to go deeper, the following resources offer additional guidance and support for dissertation writers:

• Dissertation Strategies, The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing by Paul J. Silvia.
• Dissertations and Theses from Start to Finish: Psychology and Related Fields by Debora J. Bell, Sharon L. Foster, and John D. Cone. This book is available online at the UC Berkeley Library.
• UC San Diego Graduate Writing Hub: Dissertation Support,A practical collection of tools, tips, and resources for graduate students at all stages of the dissertation process.
• Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day by Joan Bolker. A widely read guide offering strategies for managing the emotional and practical challenges of dissertation writing. Available at the UC Berkeley Library.

This article, written by former GradPro staff member Yana Zlochistaya, has been updated in May 2026 by Jonathan Landeros-Cisneros, Professional Development Liaison and a Ph.D. candidate in the Berkeley School of Education.