Writing

About the Graduate Writing Center

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.

Set up a one-on-one consultation, or contact Sabrina Soracco, Director, Graduate Writing Center, at szs@berkeley.edu

Become a Graduate Writing Consultant. The Graduate Writing Center is hiring.

Attend Our Virtual Workshops and Courses!

We’re offering remote workshops and courses this semester, including our Graduate Writing Community. Read below for more details.

 

THE GRADUATE WRITING COMMUNITY: a virtual community for UC Berkeley graduate students to come together and make progress in their writing.

Academic writing is a core competency all graduate students need to develop over the course of their degree programs. Even for those who are accomplished writers, writing can be difficult. Whether you are just beginning your program—working on your course notes and seminar papers—or you are far along in the dissertation writing process, having a supportive community to discuss challenges and accomplishments can be vital to your success.

As a member of the Graduate Writing Community, each week you will:

1) Contribute to a bCourses discussion thread with the other graduate students in your small Discussion Group, including a brief check-in (What are your writing goals for this week?) and check-out (How did your writing go this week?). Each Discussion Group is facilitated by one of the Graduate Writing Consultants.

2) Attend at least one Zoom Writing Session, where you will work on your own writing projects. There are a number of drop-in sessions throughout the week, and you can attend any session that works with your schedule.

The Graduate Writing Community for Spring 2023 will begin on Monday, January 30, 2023, and run through Friday, April 28, 2023; it is open to all UC Berkeley graduate students. The Graduate Writing Community is not a course and there are no grades; rather, it is a mutually supportive peer network.

To learn more about the Graduate Writing Community, including how to register, please attend one of two Information Sessions offered remotely via Zoom on Friday, January 20, 2023, from 10-11 a.m. or from 2-3 p.m. Preregistration for the Information Sessions is required (see links). If you are unable to attend an Information Session, or if you have any questions or comments, including about disability-related accommodations, please contact the Graduate Writing Center (gradwriting@berkeley.edu).

Information on Spring 2023 workshops and boot camps coming soon.

All workshops are conducted remotely via Zoom and are open to UC Berkeley graduate students and postdocs in all disciplines. Preregistration is required. If you have any questions or comments, including about disability-related accommodations, please contact the Graduate Writing Center (gradwriting@berkeley.edu).

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 every spring semester:

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 Writing Center (gradwriting@berkeley.edu).

The following quick guides are also available to assist graduate students in developing their writing skills:

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Schedule an Appointment with a Graduate Writing Consultant

One-on-one individual consultations are now available for UC Berkeley graduate students.

Schedule a writing consultation