Information for Graduate Students
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:
Services for Graduate Students
Individual Appointments
Graduate students are welcome to book a free, confidential one-on-one appointment with an Academic Skills instructor. Appointments are available weekdays on Symons Campus and at Traill College.
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.
We also work with the Career Centre to offer "Apply Yourself: Writing the Graduate School Personal Statement," a workshop that provides advice on what to include in personal statements as well as how to write them.
Grad Student Summer Writing Kick-Off
Thursday, May 14, 2020, 10am to 12pm
Presented by Academic Skills and Traill College
This virtual workshop will cover goal setting, motivation, and writing plans. Share your ideas and make your plan for summer writing. Bring your own breakfast!
Email Kayla Wilkins to register and get link to video meeting
Critical Reading at the Graduate Level
Thursday October 3, 2019
Traill College, Bagnani Hall
12-1:30pm (tea and cookies to follow presentation)
Are you buried under a mountain of reading for your graduate courses or comprehensive exams? This workshop will explore how to read efficiently and effectively at the graduate level as well as present different methods of notetaking when reading for different purposes.
Writing at the Graduate Level
Thursday October 17, 2019
Traill College, Bagnani Hall
12-1:30pm (tea and cookies to follow presentation)
This workshop will discuss approaches to common writing assignments at the graduate level, from abstracts to literature reviews to papers. It will explore how to create, structure, and support arguments in graduate-level writing as well as review concepts of grammar and style.
Writing about Data at the Graduate Level
Thursday November 14, 2019
Traill College, Bagnani Hall
12-1:30pm (tea and cookies to follow presentation)
Writing about quantitative data for your thesis or MRP? In this workshop, learn to select and create appropriate graphs and write about data in a meaningful way. Express your research with clarity and precision!
Grammar for Grad Students
Thursday November 28, 2019
Traill College, Bagnani Hall
12-1:30pm (tea and cookies to follow presentation)
This workshop provides a refresher on central principles of grammar and style, from sentence structure and verb forms, to controlling voice and tone. It will examine how to identify and fix common errors as well as strategies for editing and proofreading.
Graduate Student Read-In/Write-In - Every Tuesday afternoon at Traill (suspended Summer 2020)
Need a change in scenery or a bit of motivation to get through your graduate reading/writing workload? Academic Skills is offering weekly graduate studies work sessions, hosted by Traill College. Use the time for distraction-free, focused study. An Academic Skills Instructor will be on-hand to provide study tips or offer feedback on your writing. FREE tea, coffee, and cookies will be provided!
Tuesdays 12:30 – 4:00 at Traill College, Scott House 102.1
Three Minute Thesis
The Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT®) presents Masters and Ph.D. students with the ultimate challenge: to explain their complex and highly specialized research and ideas to a general audience in just three minutes, using only one Power Point slide.
Three Minute Thesis 2020 postponed - check back for details.
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