The postdoc years are among the most demanding writing periods of an academic career. The expectation to produce is high, the structure is thin, and the peer support that carried you through graduate school is harder to find. The Writing Institute offers free programming designed specifically for postdoctoral scholars at Pitt — to help you build sustainable writing habits, stay connected to your work, and find community with others at the same career stage.
All programs are free and open to postdoctoral scholars across the University. Sign up for our postdoc mailing list to be the first to hear about upcoming workshops and new WAG cycles.
What Participants Say
"I love the flexibility and the online format. Even if I didn't get to attend the group because of other meetings, seeing the time blocked off in my calendar motivated me to take time to write on Friday. It even encouraged me to write more other days of the week."
"I really think this was excellent. I loved the strategies we learned in the workshop and the supportive environment of the WAG. I never felt pressured or like a failure for not showing up. I just knew I was always welcome, and the calendar invite alone helped motivate me to have dedicated writing time, even if it wasn't with the group."
Our Programs
Grant Writing Workshop
Writing grants can feel opaque, especially when expectations vary across agencies, reviewers, and disciplines. This workshop is designed to help postdocs understand how grant proposals work: what makes them persuasive, how they're structured, and how to adapt your approach across funding contexts.
Together, we'll talk through how to identify funding opportunities, explain your research to different audiences, and craft effective openings. We will also spend time on reviewer expectations, common pitfalls, and how to revise in response to feedback.
This workshop is open to postdocs from all disciplines. Participants do not need to bring a draft, though they are welcome to bring research ideas or funding opportunities they're considering.
Date: Thursday, June 25 Time: 9:30 am – 12:30 pm Location: on Zoom Cost: Free and open to Pitt postdocs
Questions? Reach out to Dana Nowlin-Russell at dnruss@pitt.edu
Overcoming Resistance: Getting Your Writing Done
Writing anxiety, perfectionism, and career uncertainty are real, and they show up at the desk. This workshop addresses the specific texture of postdoc writing resistance: what's driving it, how to name it accurately, and what actually helps. We cover strategies for protecting writing time in a porous schedule, managing readers and co-authors at different draft stages, building self-efficacy when progress feels invisible, and staying in the work during a session. Strategies for neurodivergent writers are woven throughout, and the workshop includes dedicated writing time — because the best way to test a strategy is to use it. This workshop is offered once per term.
Sign up for the mailing list to be notified when the next session is scheduled.
Techniques and Tools in Academic Writing
This two-hour workshop is designed for international postdoctoral scholars and introduces practical digital tools for executing academic writing techniques — including the Corpus of Contemporary American English for finding the right phrasing and templates for building effective transitions, among others. Facilitated by Jialei Jiang, the session is most useful when participants come with a draft in progress so they can apply techniques directly to their own writing. This workshop is offered once per term.
Sign up for the mailing list to be notified when the next session is scheduled.
Writing Accountability Groups
Writing consistently is hard. Writing alone is harder. Writing Accountability Groups (WAGs) offer postdoctoral scholars a simple but powerful structure: a regular, shared commitment to showing up for your writing, alongside others who understand the demands of this career stage.
Each weekly Zoom session follows a light structure. A brief check-in at the start lets participants name what they're working on and set a goal for the session. Then comes the work — quiet, focused writing time together. A short wrap-up at the end gives everyone a chance to note what they accomplished and what comes next. A facilitator holds the structure so participants can focus on the writing.
New WAG cycles begin in September, January, and May. Attendance at the Overcoming Resistance workshop is encouraged before joining, though not required. Sign up for the mailing list to be notified when the next cycle opens.
Questions?
Reach out to Jean Grace at jgrace@pitt.edu.