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
- 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
Winter 2026 Graduate Workshops
Writing about Quantitative Data for Grad Students
Date: Thursday, January 29, Time: 3:00 to 4:30 pm
Place: Zoom
Register for the Zoom link to Writing about Quantitative Data for Grad Students
Are you planning to include quantitative data in your research project? Then this workshop was created for you! We will discuss how to organize your analysis for quantitative data, how to write about statistics, the best methods to visually present your data, and how to refer to a figure in your writing. We will conclude with a discussion of how to explain your findings in the results and discussion sections of your thesis.
Writing about Qualitative Data for Grad Students
Date: Thursday, February 26, Time: 3:00 to 4:30 pm
Place: Zoom
Register for the Zoom link to Writing about Qualitative Data for Grad Students
Are you planning to include qualitative data in your research project? Then this workshop was created for you! We will discuss how to organize your analysis for qualitative data, the process of analysis, a discussion of NVivo analytic software, how to create and write about themes, the best methods to visually present your data, and how to refer to figures in your writing. We will conclude with a discussion of how to explain your findings in your thesis.
Survival Strategies for your Thesis Defence
Date: Thursday, March 14, Time: 3:00 - 4:00 pm
Place: Zoom
Register for the Zoom link to Survival Strategies for your Thesis Defence
This workshop will help graduate students understand the thesis defence 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.
Navigating Academic Publishing: Practical Insights and Advice for Graduate Students
Date: Thursday, March 26, Time: 3:00 to 4:30 pm
Place: Zoom
Register for the Zoom link to Navigating Academic Publishing
Join instructors from Academic Skills and the Library for a session designed to provide you with an understanding of the academic publishing landscape. You'll learn about:
- Article publishing myths and what makes an article publishable.
- Writing strategies and structuring your manuscript effectively.
- The publishing cycle, including open access and the peer review process.
- Selecting appropriate journals while avoiding predatory ones.
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.
We will be meeting every Monday from January 19 to February 23 at 10:30 to 11:30 am.
Register to attend Motivation Mondays remote sessions
Winter 2026 Motivation Mondays Schedule
- Week 1: Jan 19
- Pre-writing strategies: Organizing your ideas
- Goal setting
- Week 2: Jan 26
- Narrowing your topic
- Overcoming perfectionism in writing
- Week 3: Feb 2
- Reducing wordiness
- Stopping critical self-talk
- Week 4: Feb 9
- Writing introductions
- conquering phone addiction
- Reading Week: Feb 16
- No Motivation Monday
- Week 5: Feb 23
- Celebrating your progress
- Making time for writing
Graduate Research Day: Crafting Words and Sharing Ideas
Join Academic Skills and Trent Library: MaDGIC for a day of presentations and activities to continue your graduate research projects. There will be many topics that relate to the writing and research for your course-based projects, Master's research project (MRP), thesis, or dissertation. All presentations will be in person. Come for the presentations and stay for the lunch!
Wednesday, February 18 | 10:00 am - 4:00 pm | Bagnani Hall, Traill College | Pizza Lunch provided by Traill College
Schedule of Topics
Writing Effective Literature Reviews | 10:00 am - 10:50 am
- Understand how literature reviews present a foundation of knowledge on the topic, identify important studies, and establish a rationale for a study.
Creating Coherence and Cohesion | 11:00 am - 11:50 am
- Coherence and cohesion are key components of effective writing. In this session, we will explore strategies to organize and maintain a logical flow of ideas across sections, paragraphs, and sentences.
Lunch | 12:00 pm - 12:50 pm
Data Management and Analysis Tools | 1:00 pm - 1:50 pm
- Introduction to MaDGIC resources from Trent library, including research computing capability, data analysis tools, and analytical software. Facilitated by the Trent MaDGIC librarian.
Writing Research Proposals | 2:00 pm - 2:50 pm
- Writing a research proposal clarifies the researcher's thoughts into a coherent statement of research intent. We will discuss a structured approach to collect, analyze, and interpret information to create new knowledge.
Oral Presentations | 3:00 pm - 3:50 pm
- Improve your presentation skills by learning practices for public speaking and creating visual aids. We will cover strategies for improving your speaking skills, creating balance and consistency in visual aids, and discussing disciplinary differences.
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