Student Scholarly Writing Workshops

WySCI partners with the Communication Across the Curriculum program to offer a 12-week program supporting graduate students in mindsets, behaviors, and resources that contribute to a healthy relationship to scholarly writing. 

Fall cohorts focus on foundational mindsets and practices that are essential to productive writing in any discipline and genre. Spring cohorts focus on fine-tuning valuable writing methods, including a weekly writing practice, writing group/accountability group strategies, and numerous other practical tools. Participation in the fall cohort is recommended prior to participation in a spring cohort.

Between Since 2020, these programs have supported several hundred students to improve their mindset and sense of self-efficacy with writing.

This program is run by WySCI director Bethann Garramon Merkle and Rick Fisher, director of the UW Communication Across the Curriculum program.

Who is this program for?

This program is open to all UW graduate students and postdoc-stage professionals affiliated with UW. We invite graduate students of all disciplines, at all stages of progress through their graduate programs. Students in off-campus programs are welcome to apply, and we especially encourage students in early stages of their graduate program to apply. Students do not need to be in the midst of a thesis or dissertation to benefit from this program. 

Logistics

  • This FREE program is facilitated entirely via Zoom.
  • The program entails a fall component and a spring component.
  • Participants are not required to do both, but fall participation is encouraged for spring participation.

What students say about the program

We've had a couple hundred students go through this program now, and they've said things like:
"This workshop has been helpful in many ways but most of all it helped me to turn this giant scary godzilla-like monster of writing into a wild bear that is heavy and hard to tackle but manageable."
"The workshop showed me that I am not the only one who is not fond of writing. That I am not the only one who is struggling with it."
"This series had a lot of good info that I wish I had known at the beginning of my science PhD.  I'm actually still pretty salty that no one thought to clue me in years ago, but now that I'm starting another PhD, I feel like I still have a chance to practice good writing strategies as a grad student."
​"Generally, I believe that this series has transformed my thoughts on writing. I now understand how to put up and support my point in a writing piece, as well as provide a constructive criticism of other works. This series is definitely a recommendation for anyone with doubts or issues on scholarly writing."

Certificate

Full participation in each component (fall or spring) will result in a certificate. To earn a certificate, students must attend all six sessions or complete equivalent work if a session is missed.

Annual Fall Component: Scholarly Writing Practices

Participants will come away with strategies for balancing their writing with other graduate obligations, for developing successful writing habits, for analyzing their existing scholarly voice, and for managing references and resources for effective writing. We hope this series also provides an opportunity for participants to find and create meaningful relationships with other graduate students across programs.

  • The fall program includes six, 90-minute sessions and will involve preparation activities (usually of less than an hour) in advance of most sessions. 
  • The fall program runs on Tuesday afternoons from 2:45 to 4:00 pm. Specific dates are provided when applications open for each new cohort.
  • Join the WySCI newsletter mailing list to be notified when applications open.

Annual Spring Component: Scholarly Writing Techniques (aka the "deep dive")

Participants will gain experience working in a writing support or accountability group with their peers, finding authorial voice, critical reading to support writing, rhetorical “moves” scholarly writers make, and the role of storytelling and structural arcs in scholarly writing. We hope this series also provides an opportunity for participants to find and create meaningful relationships with other graduate students across programs.

  • The spring program includes six, 90-minute sessions and will involve preparation activities (usually of less than an hour) in advance of most sessions. 
  • The spring program runs on Tuesday afternoons from 2:45 to 4:00 pm. Specific dates are provided when applications open for each new cohort.
  • Join the WySCI newsletter mailing list to be notified when applications open.

Questions?

Questions about this program can be directed to Rick Fisher (rick.fisher@uwyo.edu) or Bethann Merkle (bmerkle@uwyo.edu). The program is hosted by UW Communication across the Curriculum and the UW Science Communication Initiative.