The Writing Center manages a range of professional development courses designed to help students at the Graduate Center in their careers and professional activities. While topics vary, each class shares the common purpose of providing a low-stakes, low-workload space in which students can gain relevant practical experience alongside knowledgeable faculty and a community of peers.

 

These courses do not carry credit, are ungraded, and do not appear on the student’s transcript. Students register for these courses as they do their academic classes: log into CUNYFirst; go to Student Center and select “Search,” which takes you to the “Search for Classes” page. Select the institution (Graduate Center), the term, and enter the course number (listed below).

 

Note: Because these courses are zero-credit, Level 3 students are eligible to enroll.

 

Effective Academic Writing for Native English Speakers (PDEV 79403)

This course grounds students in the fundamental elements that inform all argument-based academic writing in order to help them better understand and navigate the sometimes bewildering array of genres in which they are expected to write, from seminar papers and conference presentations to grant applications and dissertation proposals to theses, dissertations, job letters, abstracts, and journal articles. At once a seminar and a workshop, this course combines opportunities for peer review with instruction in the genres of academic writing, revision techniques, advanced outlining, the art of the paragraph, methods for overcoming writer’s block, and other skills. The syllabus will be developed in coordination with students’ stated interests and needs.

Professor: Alexandra Milsom

Time: Mondays, 11:45 AM-1:45 PM (online)

 

Effective Academic Writing for Multilingual Students (PDEV 79403)

This course is a workshop that aims to help non-native English-speaking students take control of their writing process as they move forward in their graduate studies. This course will look at the conventions that shape academic writing, keeping in mind that these conventions vary from discipline to discipline and from genre to genre. The course will focus on the writing process by looking at various steps students can take in order to create “effective academic writing,” with emphasis on discussing writing in progress. Students work on improving writing projects connected to their coursework. The course will also deal with grammar and other writing convention issues as needed.

Professor: Maria Jerskey

Time: Thursdays, 2:00 PM-4:00 PM (In-person)

 

Public Writing for Academics (PDEV 79406)

More and more, scholars are writing for public audiences. Participating in public writing can be a way for academic writers to contribute to important conversations, to make their work meaningful in new ways, to expand and advance their careers, and to re-engage with their own research on a personal level. Over the course of the semester, this course will discuss genres including op-eds, reviews, essays, reported journalism, and public-facing books, and will meet several widely published writers who got their start in PhD programs. By the end of the semester, each student will have drafted and workshopped a piece of writing and will be ready to submit it for publication.

Professor: Briallen Hopper

Time: Tuesdays, 11:45 AM-1:45 PM (online)

 

Writing the Dissertation (PDEV 79407)

This course supports you through the writing process as you work toward completing the dissertation. Designed to help you with everything from writing schedules to chapter drafts, the course aims to demystify what makes a great dissertation happen. You will gain a new set of tools and strategies for navigating the revision process and maintaining a productive writing habit. Attending to academic writing in a transdisciplinary context, students in this course will come to understand the fundamentals of writing and knowledge-building that are held in common across the disciplines, thereby seeing their own work in a new light. Finally, students in this course will form a uniquely cross-disciplinary community of support and solidarity as they set weekly goals and cheer each other onward.

Section 1 Professor: Dave Hershinow

Time: Mondays, 11:45 AM-1:45 PM (online)

Section 2 Professor: Elizabeth Dill

Time: Wednesdays, 2:00-4:00 PM (in-person)

 

Teaching Strategies (PDEV 79401)

This course provides Graduate Center students from all disciplines with community and structure to help them prepare for and reflect upon their development as teachers. The work will proceed from an understanding of the social contexts of teaching, as well as the positionalities of graduate student instructors and adjuncts. Short theoretical readings will help guide participants’ exploration and development of their teaching philosophies and materials. The course curriculum and structure will be responsive to the group’s needs, and the moments when participants teach. In Fall 2024, the course will address the challenges of the ongoing public health and social crises, and of the ongoing transition back to face-to-face or hybrid teaching in the 2024-2025 academic year. Foundational topics explored in the course will include classroom community, student-centered and active learning approaches, accessibility, course design and policies, lesson planning, assignment design, assessment, educational technology, cultivating student writing, affective responses in classroom settings, and culturally responsive pedagogy. For questions about the course, please reach out to Dr. Waltzer (lwaltzer@gc.cuny.edu).

Professor: Luke Waltzer

Time: Fridays, 9:30 AM-11:30 AM (online)