Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

From Wordy to Concise Sentences

Do your sentences run wild? Learn helpful techniques to eliminate needless words and expressions. During the workshop we will discuss how to avoid redundancies and unnecessary phrases and how to trim long sentences.

Clarity and Simplicity in Your Ideas

We can easily find unclear sentences in our colleagues’ writing, but we have hard time recognizing our own unclear ideas. This workshop will focus on techniques to improve our sentence clarity by avoiding ambiguities, clichés and noun strings and using active voice, parallel structures and other strategies.

How to Control Sprawl in Academic Writing

Writing in clear and concise sentences is a big achievement. But ability to write a sentence that is both long and clear is even a greater skill. During the workshop, we will discuss different types of sentence structure problems such as choppy, run-on and comma splice sentences. We will also practice diagnosing sentence sprawl and communicating complex ideas in long and clear sentences.

Cohesion and Coherence in Academic Writing

Academic writing is a process where we make decisions on word choices, structural options and organization of ideas. However, regardless of how careful we are in selecting words and arranging sentences, the writing may feel choppy and disorganized. During the workshop, you will learn what principles contribute to cohesive and coherent writing and what makes us feel that our ideas flow smoothly.

Writing Clearly for Non-native English Speakers

The Workshop will offer strategies for reducing ESL writers’ grammar errors and prepare non-native English writers to become self-editors of their own writing. The workshop consists of three sessions discussing the topics of Verb Tenses and Forms, Sentence Structure Problems and Articles and Nouns. If you are not a native speaker of English, and you want to enhance your grammar skills, this is a workshop for you!

Tips for Writing Excellence

Get helpful tips for graduate and professional students on planning, researching, citing and writing excellent academic papers. We will discuss characteristics of academic writing style, explore different stages in the academic writing process and cover plagiarism issues. The workshop is intended for first and seconds year graduate students, but other graduate students are welcome to participate as well.

NSF Grantwriting Seminar

This seminar is designed for prospective or current 1st and 2nd year graduate students who wish to apply for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program.  Assistant Dean Robert Harper-Mangels will address the goals of the NSF, the terms of the award, and the application process.  Tips for writing a successful research proposal will be discussed.

Writing a Research Statement

During the workshop you will learn how to approach the writing of personal statements for grant, fellowship and admission applications in the humanities and social sciences. The invited speaker, Assistant Dean Edward Barnaby, will provide useful tips on how to make the process more meaningful and less daunting.

Dissertation Support Groups

The objective of the workshop is to assist advanced doctoral students in the dissertation writing process. We discuss challenges related to dissertation writing. The topics will include dissertation planning and time management, different ways of avoiding distractions and overcoming writer’s clock, effective work with advisors and balancing dissertation and personal life. The group provides an opportunity for graduate students to talk about their experiences conducting research and writing dissertations.

Peer-review Writing Groups

Peer-review writing groups are designed to give you a chance to get feedback on your papers, chapters, and potential research articles. Students who apply to this program are paired with two or three other students from the same or a similar discipline to work out a self-determined schedule of informal, weekly meetings; the idea here is not only to read and evaluate each other's work, but also to use the group itself as a disciplinary aid towards finishing assignments well in advance of official deadlines. In other words, it will act as a buffer between you and your supervisors. Finish your work early! Let other students catch your mistakes for you, rather than your professors!

Dissertation Boot Camp

Back by popular demand! Ready to sit down in a distraction-free setting with an endless supply of drinks and snacks, with lunch and dinner delivered? Our Dissertation Boot Camp creates the right environment to help you write your dissertation. You bring your laptop and we provide wireless internet (plus two Ethernet ports). Writing Tutors will be on hand to offer individual writing help. Students who are currently in the process of writing their dissertation, especially those who are within a few months of completion, are encouraged to attend. Registrants are expected to attend both days.

Choosing a Dissertation Topic in the Humanities

Not sure what to write about? Wondering how to spin your big idea? Curious about the latest trends in your field? Come to a special, one-time-only fall semester panel of three all-star professors, here to answer your questions and share their own thoughts on the perils, pitfalls, and potential pleasures of... choosing a dissertation topic in the humanities. Find the perfect topic to jump-start your career!

Strategies for Writing a Dissertation Prospectus

The purpose of the workshop is to help Ph.D. students in the sciences, social sciences and humanities write a successful dissertation prospectus in a timely manner. This workshop gives an overview of the main components of a dissertation proposal and covers strategies for writing the introduction, background, methods and significance sections. We also talk about time management issues and dissertation planning.

Writing a Successful Research Paper

During the workshop the graduate students in the sciences will learn how to prepare a research manuscript. The topics will cover how to write introduction, methods, results and discussion sections, how to design effective tables and graphs and how to prepare a title and an abstract. By the end of the workshop, the participants are expected to have a draft of their research paper.

First Book: How to Edit, Pitch, and Publish Your Yale Dissertation

How should I edit my dissertation to make it appealing as a book manuscript? What should I include in my cover letter? How do I approach editors? Publishing a scholarly dissertation as a book is a complicated process. The Graduate Writing Center at Yale will be hosting Jennifer Crewe, editorial director of Columbia University Press and acquisitions editor for the humanities, for a presentation on the ins and outs of academic publishing followed by a Q & A session.

Successful Collaborative Writing In the Sciences and Engineering

Graduate students in sciences and engineering are invited to a panel discussion on strategies, psychology, and technology that can improve the way scientists work together and co-author publications. The panel will address both practical and ethical issues that inevitably arise when multiple authors are involved in scientific research. Discussion topics will include organizational and writing mechanics to improve multidisciplinary collaborations, as well as the issues of credit and accountability in the writing of scientific publications (e.g. rules of authorship).