Writing and Communication

Enhance your ability to write and speak with expertise, integrity, and purpose, in ways typical of your discipline, field, or program.

 Events

 Services

Title Description Provider
14-Day Writing Challenge

The 14-Day Challenge is an opportunity for you to experiment with daily writing, online community, and supportive accountability. Register for the site through UBC's subscription.  Upcoming sessions include:

July 15 - 28, 2024.  Register by July 5.

It's very simple...

National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity
The Monday Motivator

This weekly email provides positive energy and a productivity tip, with concrete and actionable steps to help with your week or semester.  Sign up when registering!

Register through UBC's subscription.

National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity
Writing Consultations

The Centre for Writing and Scholarly Communication supports a diverse community of writers at UBC, at various levels of proficiency, across many types of graduate student writing situations: academic, creative, professional, and technical. Consider booking a one-on-one appointment (in-person or written feedback) with a peer writing consultant to support your writing projects.  

Visit their website to learn more about hours, how to prepare for, and to book, a writing consultation.

Centre for Writing and Scholarly Communication

 Resources

Title Description Provider
Academic Integrity Resources for an Educative Approach

Check out this page https://academicintegrity.ubc.ca/resources/ for numerous resources and supports for both students and instructors. In particular, there are several relevant Canvas modules including:

Centre for Writing and Scholarly Communication
Annotated Abstracts, Grant Applications, Research Articles

The Centre for Writing and Scholarly Communication developed these materials as a guide to writing various forms of academic writing from across the disciplines . The annotations point out standard features of the writing, while accounting for disciplinary difference. The pedagogical approach embedded in these resources positions writing as a recursive process, and the materials provide opportunities for students to critically reflect on their own writing practices and knowledge-making endeavours in their respective disciplines.

Centre for Writing and Scholarly Communication
Book List: Succeeding in Grad School and your Career

Below is a list of recommended reading to help you navigate grad school and strategize for your career.  These are some examples and there are many more!  Many have very similar topics.  Pick one or two depending on where you are in your program.  You do not need to read them all! They range from helping you choose your research project, to navigating each stage of your program, to helping you select opportunities for career planning. (Note: many of these are available through the UBC library)

Graduate Pathways to Success
Dissertation Success Curriculum

The 12-week Dissertation Success online, on-demand Program is designed for doctoral candidates who are focused on finishing their dissertation. Each module includes a recorded training video and resources.

Register with the University of British Columbia's subscription to the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity.

National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity
Guides to Writing and Research

The Centre for Writing and Scholarly Communication developed these resources to assist students across the disciplines and professions. These evidence-based resources describe some of the typical practices that occur in high-stakes writing situations, with a focus on academic genres: abstracts, lay summaries, literature reviews, research article introductions, and so on.

Centre for Writing and Scholarly Communication
Hidden Handbook

A mini-series of short videos (5 - 10 mins each), to provide quick tips for success in a variety of areas across the academic sphere. Join for free with UBC's subscription, then watch. https://www.ncfdd.org/hiddenhandbook

Chapter 1: Accountability Matters: When it comes to research and writing, accountability matters. This video highlights three ways to increase academics’ accountability and boost their research productivity.

National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity
LinkedIn Learning

All degree-seeking UBC Vancouver students have full access to LinkedIn Learning, a platform for online learning focused on technical skills and professional development, until July 2023. Develop employable skills and test out career options by accessing 16,000 short videos, audio segments and courses.

Course topics include: 

UBC Career Centre
Media training for UBC researchers

UBC Media Relations makes basic media training available to UBC Vancouver and UBC Okanagan researchers online.

The course is designed specifically to help scholars develop the confidence to engage with media about newsworthy research.

Trainees will learn:

UBC Media Relations
Open Education Resources, Workshop Materials

Check out this page for handouts and materials from sessions on citation management, Data Analysis and Management, Literature Reviews, NVivo, R, GitHub, GIS, Dissertation/Thesis Formatting, Copyright, and more.

Library Research Commons
Science Writing Resources

Study guides, videos, and quizzes to help with Communicating Science, Finding, Integrating, and Citing Sources, Grammar and Style, Developing an Effective Writing Process, and more.  There are also resources, including podcasts, that provide strategies for teaching writing, grading assignments, using peer review, giving feedback, and more.

Science Writing Resources for Learning (ScWRL)
Video Guides to Writing and Research

A series of videos to introduce students to the fundamentals of academic writing and research: “Writing in Situations”, An interview with Dr. Anthony Paré plus
5 videos (“The Writing Process”, “The Prewriting Stage”, “The Writing Stage”, “The Revision Stage”, and “Managing Time to Write”) featuring conversations with 4 graduate students from Chemistry, Civil Engineering, English Literature, and Linguistics.  (Playlist)

Centre for Writing and Scholarly Communication, Graduate Pathways to Success
WriteNow, online supportive writing community

This program ($245US), exclusively for graduate students and postdocs, offers 12 weeks (May 20 - Aug 11, 2024) of access to the WriteNow platform and timer for increased writing productivity, goal setting, and community support.

Register through UBC's subscription.  Registration closes May 10 (save $50 before May 6)

What to expect:

Every Day (Monday - Friday):

  • Log into WriteNow and write!
  • Support your group and interact with the community.

Every Week:

National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity
Writing with Integrity

A short video in which Drs Susan Porter and Beth Haverkamp discuss the importance of writing with integrity (the importance of writing and contributing new knowledge and scholarship with integrity; avoiding plagiarism)

Centre for Writing and Scholarly Communication, Graduate Pathways to Success