Writing
The Graduate Writing Center assists graduate students in the development of academic skills necessary to successfully complete their graduate programs and prepare for future faculty and professional positions. This unit offers workshops on topics such as academic writing, grant writing, dissertation writing, editing, and preparing articles for publication, in addition to writing groups and individual consultations on these topics for graduate students.
The following quick guides are also available to assist graduate students in developing their writing skills:
Quick Guide to Writing Resources
Quick Guide to Scientific and Technical Writing
Quick Guide to Dissertation Writing
Quick Guide to Scholarly Publishing
Quick Guide to Style Manuals
To learn more, contact Sabrina Soracco, Director, Graduate Writing Center, at (510) 643-9392 or via email.
All workshops are open to UC Berkeley graduate students and postdocs in all disciplines. Preregistration is required. Wheelchair accessible. For disability-related accommodations, please call (510) 643-9392, ten days in advance of the scheduled workshop.
Graduate Writing Center Positions
The Graduate Division’s Graduate Writing Center is pleased to announce that it is hiring three Graduate Writing Consultants open to graduate students in all disciplines. Applications are due by Friday, November 22, 2019.
Read more about the position and how to apply.
Graduate Writing Center Workshops Fall 2019
Getting the Mentoring You Need in Graduate School
Wednesday, September 25, 2019, 2-3:30 p.m., 309 Sproul Hall | Register Online
The purpose of this workshop is to assist graduate students in establishing and working within the context of mentoring relationships with faculty. It will also provide graduate students with strategies and skills that they will need in mentoring undergraduates here at Berkeley and preparing for the mentoring they will do in future careers. With Linda von Hoene (Assistant Dean for Professional Development and Director, GSI Teaching & Resource Center) and Sabrina Soracco (Director, Graduate Writing Center).
How to Write an Academic Grant Proposal
Friday, October 4, 2019, 1-3 p.m., 309 Sproul Hall | Register Online
This introductory workshop covers the basic principles of writing an academic grant proposal.
Editing and Revising Writing Workshop
Friday, October 18, 2019, 2-4 p.m., 309 Sproul Hall | Register Online
In this workshop the following topics will be covered: how a professional editor works with a manuscript; how you can use the techniques of an editor to revise your own writing; and how you can diagnose and avoid common writing errors and weaknesses. The goal of this workshop is to enable workshop participants to be able to step back and use the skills of a professional editor to revise and improve their own writing.
Writing the Dissertation: Strategies and Pitfalls
Friday, November 8, 2019, 3-4:30 p.m., 309 Sproul Hall | Register Online
This workshop will focus on the basic strategies of successfully writing a doctoral dissertation. It will cover both strategies for organizing a large research project and for writing up the results of that project.
Scientific and Technical Writing Workshop
Thursday, November 21, 2019, 2-4 p.m., 309 Sproul Hall | Register Online
This workshop will provide an introduction to effective scientific and technical writing.
Credit Courses Offered by the Graduate Writing Center
The Graduate Division offers several credit-bearing courses for graduate students to develop professional-level skills in teaching, mentoring, and writing, as part of its Graduate Student Professional Development Program (GSPDP). The Graduate Writing Center offers the following course:
GSPDP 320: Academic Writing for Graduate Students
Units and Grade Options: 2-unit course, graded S/U
Course Title: Graduate Student Professional Development Program (GSPDP) 320: Academic Writing for Graduate Students
Course Format: Seminar
Instructor: Sabrina Soracco, Director, Graduate Division Graduate Writing Center
Course Description
The purpose of this course is to provide graduate students with formal instruction in the genres and mechanics of academic writing at the graduate and professorial level. Through presentations, readings, discussion, and weekly peer editing, graduate students will develop writing and editing skills necessary for their success as graduate students and future faculty.
Course Goals
- to familiarize graduate students with the different genres of academic writing (e.g., seminar papers, journal articles, books, grant proposals, dissertation prospecti, etc.) and how these genres vary from discipline to discipline;
- to help graduate students become better writers by analyzing writing on both the micro (sentence) and macro (organizational) levels;
- to teach graduate students basic skills of professional editing so that they can become better editors of their own work and that of peers;
- to enable graduate students to apply these skills to a piece of their own writing and to the writing of peers.
For more information about this course, please contact the Graduate Division Graduate Writing Center, 307A Sproul Hall, (510) 643-9392.