Centre for Writing and Scholarly Communication

The personal statement is written for admission to graduate and professional programs at academic institutions like UBC. But what does personal mean in an academic context? How do writers construct an appropriate professional identity? Research shows that personal statements must reflect the values of the profession, and that the personal self you construct in the […]

This in-person workshop is designed for undergraduate and master’s students applying for funding from the Canada Graduate Scholarship-Master’s (CGS-M) Program. Drawing on evidence-based research about successful grant proposals, facilitators discuss particular elements of this written academic genre: audience, purpose, knowledge gap, competence claim, structure, style, and more. Highlights of this in-person event include dedicated time […]

How does one give a successful oral presentation? “Make eye contact,” “be confident,” “dress professionally”… The advice that we often receive tends to focus on the performance aspect of presenting, rather than viewing it as an opportunity to communicate and further our research. In this in-person workshop, we invite you to re-think oral presentations as […]

Graduate school applications typically include a statement of intent or purpose, whereby prospective students describe their research background and expertise and begin to map out a research plan. But how do emerging scholars craft their identity in this high-stakes document? Research shows that the scholarly identity prospective students construct in these statements must demonstrate the […]

This evidence-based workshop introduces researchers to the typical structure of an annotated bibliography, while accounting for variations in purpose. Typically, the annotations aim to synthesize multiple studies, thereby enabling researchers to develop a discussion of the current field, and, if relevant, identify a potential knowledge contribution. Research shows that annotated bibliographies across disciplines typically consist […]

One of the major challenges that academic writers encounter is making connections within the text, for example, making comparisons and drawing conclusions. Rather than counting on readers to figure out the meaning of a difficult text, academic writing requires writers to make clear connections between ideas. In this workshop, we introduce a variety of academic […]

How does one give a successful academic talk? “Make eye contact,” “be confident,” “dress professionally”… The advice that we often receive tends to focus on the performance aspect of “presenting”, rather than viewing it as an opportunity to communicate and further our research. This workshop aims to help participants develop a better understanding of how […]

The Centre for Writing and Scholarly Communication (CWSC), Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (G+PS) and the Graduate Student Society invite research-based master’s students to an on-campus writing retreat. The in-person retreat includes an opening panel on strategies for fostering your scholarly identity, dedicated quiet time to write together and one-on-one writing consultations with the CWSC. We […]

Lay summaries offer researchers opportunities to increase the visibility and accessibility of their research and thus invite public dialogue. As a way to promote science communication, many open access journals, public policy institutes, and granting agencies require researchers to provide summaries of their studies for non-specialists. But how do scholars communicate specialized research to non-specialist […]

Literature reviews accomplish several purposes for scholars writing up their research study, or research story, in order to summarize the scholarly conversation. In the introduction to a research article, research paper, or thesis chapter, for example, writers review research in order to provide readers with relevant background context to situate the current study. But how […]

All too often, citation is approached by students as a frustrating obstacle on the path to completing a writing assignment, rather than as an intellectual pursuit in its own right. Academic writing involves a complicated process of text integration, rather than mechanically following the rules of a particular style guide. No matter the citation style […]

Abstracts play a vital role in the communication of research. Studies show that abstracts are the most frequently read part of a research article: abstracts help researchers determine whether or not to read the entire study. But how do writers communicate the relevance and legitimacy of their research to members of the discipline, and beyond? […]