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Tuesday - 10:20 a.m. 
MU 302

Dissertation Writing Workshop 
Abigail Zitin

This workshop is designed to provide structure and support for writers making their way through the long and sometimes lonely process of crafting the dissertation. All dissertation-stage students in the English PhD program are invited to enroll. Over the course of the semester, you will set goals, produce and circulate new work, and receive feedback on your drafts. Much of your time and energy will be devoted to reading and responding to the work of your peers, an activity that is not only vital to the success and productivity of the workshop but also pays dividends by exposing you to new ideas and methods and by honing your editorial and pedagogical skills. The chapter will be our primary unit of analysis, with attention to scope, argument, style, structure, revision, and integration into the larger project. While workshopping participants’ writing will be our central pursuit, short supplementary readings will help us reflect on and strategize around such issues as the dissertation and the changing profession, academic genres and audiences, ideas for getting unstuck, and scaling up and scaling down (from coursework papers to chapters, from chapters to abstracts, conference papers, and fellowship applications).