As a graduate student, you are likely facing new academic challenges. The ideas about which you are reading, thinking, and writing are becoming increasingly complex, yet you need to find clear, concise, and engaging ways to express them. You are shifting from a focus on consuming information to a focus on producing and disseminating new knowledge and insights. You are expected to be fluent in the conventions of your discipline and to produce work that is free of grammatical and spelling errors.
Academic Skills works closely with graduate students to help them develop as scholars and writers as well as teaching assistants. We hope that you will take advantage of the many services that we can offer you.
Learn more:
- NEW Resource: Graduate Student Writers Sharepoint Site
- Services for Graduate Students
- Individual Appointments
- Workshops - Summer 2026
- Graduate Writing Group: Motivation Mondays - Summer 2026
- Graduate Writing Retreat
- Three Minute Thesis
- Services for Teaching Assistants
Welcome to the New SharePoint site for Graduate Students!
Starting the week of September 16, 2024, all Trent graduate students will have access to the Graduate Student Writers’ Group Sharepoint Site. This site contains information about Academic Skills support for graduate students, including programs and events geared to graduate students. Also, the SharePoint site contains a repository of presentation slides from these events. You will receive an email inviting you to join this site; be sure to follow this site to access these valuable supports.
Navigate to Graduate Student Writers Group Sharepoint Site (note you must be signed in to myTrent with your Trent graduate student account to access this site)
Services for Graduate Students
Individual Appointments
Graduate students are welcome to book a free, confidential one-on-one appointment with an Academic Skills instructor.
Synchronous video, in-person, and asynchronous appointments are available to book in the Student Experience Portal.
Writing Conferences
You can book a free and confidential appointment to discuss any aspect of your writing. Academic Skills instructors can help you organize your ideas, outline, or upgrade your grammar skills. They can also look at partial drafts and comment on grammar, organization, and clarity.
Time Management for Graduate Students
Graduate work often involves long-term research and writing projects that have few check points along the way. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of what you need to accomplish and, as a result, to procrastinate your work. You can book an appointment with an Academic Skills Instructor to discuss time management problems and to create a project plan that will work for you.
Grant Applications and Personal Statements
Academic Skills provides several resources to help you as you write graduate school or grant applications. Academic Skills is not an editing or proofreading service, but our instructors can comment on the strength and clarity of your writing and organization.
Workshops
Writing Research Proposals
Date: Wednesday May 20
Time: 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm
Online via Zoom: Register for Writing Research Proposals, May 20
Research proposals clarify researchers’ thoughts and aid in creating statements of research intent. This workshop will discuss a structured approach to collecting, analyzing, and interpreting information to create new knowledge. Several sections in your research proposal will be considered, including the introduction, literature review, rationale for the study, objectives and research questions, methods and significance of the research.
Writing Effective Literature Reviews
Date: Wednesday, June 3
Time: 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm
Online via Zoom: Register for Writing Effective Literature Reviews
Literature reviews are constructed to help clarify key points for your reader such as why your research project needs to be done, how it is original, and why your proposed method is appropriate. We will consider how to effectively integrate and synthesize sources. We will examine strategies to increase the effectiveness of literature reviews and the material covered will be relevant for course projects, research proposals, research papers, and theses.
Survival Strategies for your Thesis Defence
Date: Wednesday, June 10
Time: 2:00 to 3:30 pm
Online via Zoom: Register for Strategies for your Thesis Defence
This workshop will help graduate students understand the thesis defense process by demystifying the presentation, question period, and evaluation processes. We will discuss your thesis talk, including knowing your audience, explaining the rationale for your research, and telling your research story. We will provide strategies to manage the question period and general survival tips.
Graduate Student Writers’ Group – Motivation Mondays
The graduate student writing group helps to develop writers with tips to improve their writing as well as create a community of writers to encourage and celebrate achievements of writing.
Graduate students will be encouraged to set realistic writing goals on a weekly basis to monitor their progress and to maintain momentum with their writing. The progress reporting will be a personal assessment followed by a discussion of progress as a group.
Mondays at 11am on Zoom
Beginning Monday, May 25 and running to Monday, June 29
Register to attend Motivation Mondays remote sessions
Services for Teaching Assistants
Referring Students
As a teaching assistant, you can refer students to Academic Skills for help with their math, reading, listening, writing, and grammar skills. Referrals can be made either by emailing acdskills@trentu.ca (please cc the student on the email) or by providing students with information about our services. Students can book appointments directly at www.trentu.ca/sep