Graduate Students

The Writing Institute offers free writing days for graduate students throughout the academic year, on Saturdays during Fall and Spring Terms and on Fridays during Summer Term. These gatherings are designed to foster community and provide dedicated time for writers to make progress on their professional goals. Writing days are open to graduate students who have participated in a one-day Project Workshop or a Project Camp; eligible participants are notified through the Writing Institute listserv.

Our writing days include check ins, and you will be able to make an appointment to talk to someone about your process if you wish.

The writing days will run from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m in-person at the Writing Center. We understand that you may have other responsibilities right now, so you are welcome to jump in at any point during the day. The days will be structured like this:

• 9:00 Meet, share goals for day, make a goal for next 2 hours
• 9:30-11:30 Writing time
• 11:30-noon Follow up on how the session went...goals for next writing block (after lunch)
• 12:00-1:00 Lunch or walk
• 1:00-3:30  Writing time

Facilitator Ellen Smith is available for individual consultations with you on your writing. These consultations will take place during the writing blocks. To arrange for this, contact Ellen prior to the 9 a.m. start of the writing day to schedule a time.

What is a Writing Accountability Group (WAG)?

A writing accountability group is a small group of people who meet once a week to write and generate achievable writing goals for the time between meetings. Writing accountability groups are not social hours, sounding boards, peer review groups, workshops, or other kinds of writing exchange.

Graduate students who have completed Project Camp or a Project Workshop are eligible to sign up for a Writing Accountability Group. Graduate students can also assemble their own independent WAGs on this model, and if you do that we ask that you register your WAG with Moriah Kirdy at moriah.kirdy@pitt.edu.

How are WAG sessions structured?

The agenda for each weekly session is the same:

1. In the first 5-15 minutes, group members gather and record writing goals in a shared document (OneDrive or GoogleDoc) public between group members.
2. Writers spend time writing in silence (the time to write depends on group session length and how efficiently members established and recorded their goals).
3. The final 15 minutes are spent debriefing. Members share whether and why not their goals were met and discuss their objectives for the following week between WAG sessions.

This structure follows the model outlined by Kimberly A. Skarupski (see resources, below) and as followed by the WAG programming at Johns Hopkins with minor adjustments. Skarupski’s method involves discussing the last week’s goals and setting new goals out loud when the group gathers. Your group, however, might benefit from initial goal setting in silence (apart from a hello when members arrive). It can be tempting for group members to engage in social chatter or to pre-emptively debrief about how the week went, which eats into writing time. Goal setting in silence also allows members who arrive slightly late for some reason to catch up and they are only cutting into their own writing time.

What Goals are Set?

Each participant should articulate three goals each week:

1. A goal for the writing time
2. A schedule-based goal articulating how often and how much time the writer plans to dedicate to writing in a week. This can be 30+ minutes every day, or specific days with specific times, depending on the writer’s schedule. Writers should consider dedicated writing time as an inflexible appointment with themselves to work on writing. Encourage WAG members to set small time goals rather than binge-writing sessions, which invite distractions and may even delay progress.
3. A content-based goal for the specific project/portion of a project that the writer intends to work on during writing time that week, which may include a specific end-goal (e.g. “Send draft to dissertation committee chair”) or a more abstract sense of progress (e.g., “Figure out what I’m trying to do with the second chapter section”). 

Note: Individuals must decide what “counts” as “writing” based on their own process and what they most feel to be a productive writing session. For example, while reading and listing quotations is an important part of the writing process, some writers default to this practice to avoid trying to figure out what they want to contribute to the scholarly conversation. Such writers might decide that reading notes do not “count” toward their allotted writing time. Another writer may feel that brainstorming is generative and moves the project forward, so for this writer more freeform writing will always count toward their writing goal.

How Do Group Members Hold Each Other Accountable?

Accountability in WAGs takes several forms, though primarily members hold each other accountable by attending their scheduled WAG time reliably and by productive peer encouragement (call it peer pressure if you like). Group members can help each other acknowledge when goals are too big or help members troubleshoot roadblocks by sharing strategies for breaking through common challenges. This is where a facilitator who has already established a writing routine can be especially helpful, as they’ll have strategies to share and advice for breaking through common writing roadblocks and challenges.

Feedback from Participants in Our Pilot WAG Program

“[The WAG has] helped me realize I don't need to devote a full day to writing to make progress. I can actually make progress on really ‘sticky’ tasks in one hour during the WAG meetings, which has encouraged me to take this approach more regularly. Helps me stay motivated and get unstuck, at least 50% of the time. A small but significant improvement!”

“My WAG definitely helped me move past my idea that the first draft needs to be perfect. In talking with other grad students who were going through the same process, I learned how they utilized their committees and other support systems to take a decent first draft to a good final draft. Also, the actual meeting of the WAG helped: it was hard to report on progress if I didn't do anything during the meeting, and that helped me overcome the fear of imperfection. Small chunks of writing in the WAG confirms that I can do something every day.”

“[The WAG members’] support was instrumental in allowing me to complete my [dissertation]. I’m not sure that I could have done it without the support of our small group meetings, so thank you very much for the space, opportunity to write together, and the discussion of progress over last semester!”

Resources

• Skarupski’s independently published book on WAGs, WAG Your Work: Writing Accountability Groups: Bootcamp for Increasing Scholarly Productivity.
• Skarupski, Kimberly A. and Kharma C. Foucher, Writing Accountability Groups (WAGs): A Tool to Help Junior Faculty Members Build Sustainable Writing Habits,” The Journal of Faculty Development, vol. 32, No. 3, Sept 2018. 

The Writing Institute offers several one-credit graduate seminars under the ENGLIT subject code. These are open to any graduate students. The seminars explore issues around writing and writing instruction.

ENGLIT 2921 Writing Center Theory (offered Spring Term in alternate years)

Led by Angie Farkas

This one-credit course provides a space for graduate students and interested faculty to explore aspects of writing program administration, particularly focused on writing center work. We will read scholarship organized around a linked set of questions to figure out how Writing Program Administrators make decisions, support students and other users of writing centers, establish and advance programs, and identify, allocate, and secure resources. You can expect to read articles, maintain a reading journal that will allow you to discuss the course’s topics, attend meetings every other week, do some research, and write an informal reflection essay at the end of the term.

ENGLIT 2925 Creating a Culture of Access (offered Spring Term in alternate years)

Led by Jessie Male

This one-credit seminar is built around the Creating a Culture of Access speaker series, combining Zoom events with leading experts in Disability Studies with four small-group Zoom discussions among registered participants. Participants read work by and about speakers in advance and engage in reflective writing throughout the semester. The seminar is also open to advanced undergraduates, and faculty and staff are welcome to participate without formally registering.

ENGLIT 2926 Preparing for Publication (offered Spring Term)

Led by Moriah Kirdy

Want to publish or present your work but not sure how to get started? Looking for tips to get your work out there? Preparing for Publication is a 1-credit graduate seminar that can help. One part professional development workshop series and one part writing accountability group, this seminar will provide you with insight into publication and conference proposal logistics as well as process support and feedback as you establish a writing routine and set publication-specific writing goals. We’ll speak with experts, workshop abstracts, and get ready to hit “send” on a conference proposal and an article submission.

The University of Pittsburgh subscribes to The Versatile PhD, a site that helps graduate students who want to identify and prepare for possible non-academic careers. The key concept is versatility: the ability to apply skills and interests in a wide variety of fields. The site keeps students informed about academic employment realities, educated about non-academic career options, and supported towards a wide range of careers. Because Pitt is an institutional subscriber, you can register through a link to the site on My Pitt (just search for Versatile PhD); accessing the Versatile PhD site through the My Pitt link authenticates you as a member of the Pitt community and enables you to see premium content.

The University Counseling Center offers group support for graduate students as well as one-on-one support and more.

The ULS librarians have created a LibGuide for Dissertation Camp with useful links. 

ULS also offers workshops in EndNote, Zotero, and Mendeley, software that can handle your citations for you.