Summer Programs 2009

The Graduate Writing Center will hold several programs this summer to help people who are at the dissertation and dissertation proposal stages. The programs will meet once a week for approximately 2.5 hours during either the six weeks of Summer Session A or Summer Session C. Plan to participate and have a productive summer!
Please Note: Participation requires submitting an application by the deadline indicated for the program because space is limited and we need to make sure participants are eligible and ready.
Additional Note: For guidance concerning field-specific issues, it is best if participants are able to consult faculty advisors/mentors during the course of these programs.
Eligibility: Our summer programs do not require formal registration during the summer, but you must be a registered graduate student during spring 2009 and be at the appropriate stage for the program to which you apply.

DISSERTATION BOOT CAMPS (Summer Session A, June 22 – July 31)
1) Dissertation Chapter Boot Camp (Humanities & Arts Focus)
2) Dissertation Results Chapter Boot Camp (Social Sciences, Sciences, & Engineering Focus)

DISSERTATION PROPOSAL BOOT CAMPS (Summer Session C, August 3 – September 11)
1) Dissertation Prospectus Boot Camp (Humanities & Arts Focus)
2) Dissertation Proposal Boot Camp (Social Sciences Focus)
3) Scientific Writing Boot Camp (Sciences & Engineering Focus)

Dissertation Boot Camps
(Summer Session A, June 22 – July 31)

1) HUMANITIES & ARTS DISSERTATION CHAPTER BOOT CAMP (Humanities & Arts Focus)
Jeannine Murray-Román, PhD, Comparative Literature
This program targets humanities and arts graduate students who have advanced to candidacy and are at the dissertation-writing stage. The program will teach writing strategies and provide structure to help people produce a draft of a dissertation chapter. Graduate students from social science fields who use humanities approaches, such as textually-oriented historians or political science students who focus on political theory, may also apply to this program. This program will meet Wednesdays, 1:00-3:30pm, for the six weeks of Summer Session A (June 22nd – July 31st).

Preparation for the Humanities & Arts Dissertation Chapter Boot Camp (for those accepted)
First Session Homework: Participants must bring a 300-500 word dissertation abstract, a rough chapter outline, organized notes on the dissertation chapter’s primary sources, and a bibliography of all chapter-relevant secondary sources (append annotations when applicable/helpful).
Homework for Subsequent Sessions: Each session after the first will require five to ten pages of new writing. There may also be additional reading and homework assignments to reinforce writing skills and strategies.
Required Text: Joan Bolker. Writing A Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day. 1998. (Available at the UCLA bookstore.)

2) DISSERTATION RESULTS CHAPTER BOOT CAMP(Social Sciences, Sciences, & Engineering)
Ellen Stolzenberg, PhD, Education
Marilyn Gray, Graduate Writing Center Coordinator
This program targets graduate students who have defended their proposals, completed the majority of their research and data analysis, and are ready to write or already writing the results and discussion chapters. The program will address writing statistical results, best practices for visual presentation of data, writing issues related to qualitative research, and other writing and organizational strategies. The program will also provide a collaborative environment for people to make weekly progress on their dissertations. as well as provide a structured, collaborative environment for people to make weekly progress on their dissertation. This program will meet Thursdays, 9:30am-12pm, for the six weeks of Summer Session A (June 22nd – July 31st).

Preparation for the Dissertation Results Chapter Boot Camp (for those accepted)
First Session Homework: For the first session, participants must bring a 300-500 word abstract and a fairly detailed outline of the results chapter (though we recognize that the outline may change as people write--we are mainly concerned that people have sufficiently analyzed their data so that they are really ready to write). Before the first session, read a dissertation recently completed in your department, preferably one chaired by your dissertation committee chair, and skim it to get a sense of structure and organization.
Homework for Subsequent Sessions: For each session after the first meeting, participants must complete a required writing assignment of a minimum of four to five pages of new writing. There may also be other required reading and homework assignments to reinforce writing skills and strategies.  
Required Reading for First Session: Joan Bolker. Writing A Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day. 1998. (Available at the UCLA bookstore.) Skim the entire book, focusing on the parts that are useful to you. We recommend a more careful reading of chapters 3, 4 and 8.
Reading for Subsequent Sessions: There will be additional readings that we will make available electronically.

Dissertation Proposal/Prospectus Boot Camps
(Summer Session C, August 3 – September 11)

The Dissertation Prospectus/Proposal Boot Camps are designed to help graduate students finish a draft, or at least make substantial progress on a draft, of their dissertation proposals or prospectuses. Each session will cover strategies for the components of the dissertation proposal/prospectus as well as writing and organizational strategies for the process. For guidance concerning field-specific issues, participants should consult with faculty advisors/mentors during the course of these programs.

Schedule: The program will meet once per week (2.5 hours) for five weeks during Summer Session C. Please see specifics below.
Humanities & Arts Prospectus Boot Camp: Wednesdays, 1:00-3:30pm (August 5, 12, 19, 26, and September 2)
Social Sciences Proposal Boot Camp: Thursdays, 10:00am - 12:30pm (August 6, 13, 20, 27, and September 10 - please note the extra week before the last session to allow greater time to finish work)
Scientific Writing Group: Tuesdays, 5:00pm - 7:00pm (August 4, 11, 18, 25, and September 1)

How to Apply for the Dissertation Proposal/Prospectus Boot Camps
Interested graduate students must fill out the application linked here and return it electronically (to gwc@gsa.asucla.ucla.edu) by no later than Wednesday, July 1st. Please be sure to put “proposal boot camp” in the subject line of the email. Space is limited.

Homework for the Dissertation Proposal/Prospectus Boot Camps (for those who are accepted)
See below for assignments due at the first session. There may be other required reading and homework, and each session will have a required writing assignment.

1) Humanities and Arts Prospectus Boot Camp:
For the first session, participants must bring a bibliography and an abstract. For humanities, participants should be ready to articulate their working thesis argument and critical approaches.
Annotated bibliography - bring a bibliography of your secondary and theoretical sources. Select four or five of the most important theoretical and secondary sources and write a short paragraph about each. Also make sure that you have organized notes for each of your other sources.
Abstract: describe your dissertation in 300-500 words.
Reading Assignment: Joan Bolker. Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes A Day. 1998. Chapters 1, 3 and 4. (Available at the UCLA bookstore.)

2) Social Sciences Dissertation Proposal Boot Camp:
For the first session, participants must bring a carefully annotated bibliography and an abstract. Participants should be ready to articulate their research questions, methods, variables and hypotheses succinctly.
Annotated bibliography of your top 50 secondary and theoretical sources. For the top 4-5 most important theory and secondary sources, write a long paragraph per annotation. For all other sources that will be discussed in the literature review, write a short paragraph (at least 3 sentences) per annotation.
Abstract: describe your dissertation in 300-500 words.
Reading Assignment: Joan Bolker.Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes A Day. Chapters 1, 3 and 4. (Available at the UCLA bookstore.)
There will be additional required readings that we will make available electronically.

3) Scientific Writing Group: Info for Participants & Proposal Writers
For the first session, participants must bring an annotated bibliography and an abstract. Participants should be ready to articulate their research questions, methods, variables and hypotheses succinctly.
Bibliography for your literature review. Annotate the most relevant sources in preparation for your literature review/background section.
For Proposals, Bring Research Plan: Relatively well-articulated plan for your experimental work, and/or the 2-3 well-defined specific aims of your research.
Abstract: describe your project in 250-500 words.
For Research Proposals: use the web to investigate graduate research fellowship opportunities at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF), or at the funding agency most relevant in your field. Very often graduate students are encouraged to write proposals in a format that may be used for extramural funding applications.
Note: Space permitting, people working on other types of writing projects may join this program.

Previous Workshops and Programs

Click here to see an archive of past programs and workshops.