Preparing for Graduate Writing

The Graduate-Level Writing Refresher is a great way to prepare yourself for the writing you’ll be expected to do as a graduate student. Go through each step below to improve your graduate writing skills.

We strongly encourage you to review the Academic Writing Refresher and the Advanced Writing Skills Refresher. Even in graduate/doctoral writing, the basics are critical for effective academic writing. Or see our full list of Writing Skills Refreshers.

Step 1: Graduate Writing Expectations

These infographics share graduate writing expectations:

• Undergraduate vs. Graduate Writing
• Scholarly Writing Guidelines

Step 2: Reading a Scholarly Journal Article

Learn best practices for getting what you need from academic journal articles:

• How to Read a Scholarly Article

Step 3: Integrating Research

Learn how to step into the space of writing as an expert in your field by adding your own academic voice, ideas, analysis, and interpretations to your paper.

        Integrating Research

Step 4: Synthesizing Research

This resource shows the what, why, and how of synthesizing your research for your reader:

• Synthesis

Step 5: Avoiding Over Quoting

Review the importance of avoiding the use of too many direct quotes in your graduate writing:

• Avoiding Overquoting

Step 6: Incorporating Images, Figures, or Appendices

Learn when and how to use images, figures, graphs, and appendices in a paper:

• Tables, Images, & Appendices