Few faculty members have the opportunity to reflect on the many roles that thesis and dissertation advisors play or to build skills around supporting students as disciplinary writers. This workshop gives suggestions for ways to make advising more pleasurable and productive. For information about bringing this and other workshops to your campus, go to http://www.scholar-studio.com/writing-consulting.html or email info@scholar-studio.com

1. Advising Writers for Thesis and
Dissertation Success
Photo: Flickr Creative Commons WOCintech Chat

2. To download the handouts and
follow along go to:
scholar-studio.com/
teaching-resources.html

3. Why think about
graduate students
as writers?
Photo: Flickr Creative Commons WOCintech Chat

4. Writing is a constellation of skills
that are necessary (though not
sufficient) for completing a
graduate degree.
Photo: Flickr Creative Commons user WOCintech Chat

5. You may find yourself thinking
graduate students should
already know how to write.

6. “Academic discourse
is a ‘second’ language
to everyone.”(Casanave, 2014 p. 23)

7. Supporting writing is the
pedagogical equivalent
of universal design.

8. •Promote equity
• Promote completion
• Reduce time-to-degree
Effective writing advising can:
(Simpson, Ruecker, Carrejo, Florez, & Gonzalez 2016; Sundstrom 2016)

9. Advising Roles
Photo: Flickr Creative Commons user WOCintech Chat

10. • Intellectual and
professional advisor
• Gatekeeper
• Feedback-giver
• Project coach
• Affective /
psychosocial support
(Deuchar 2008; Spillett & Moisiewicz 2004)

11. Which roles are you are most and
least comfortable playing?
Which roles do you feel your
advisees expect you to play?
Do you experience tension
between roles?
Investigate
See the Advising Reflection Worksheet

12. Principles for supporting
graduate student writers

13. Learning to write as a
part of a discipline is
an iterative, long-
term process.
(Sundstrom 2014; Simpson 2012; Swales, 1990)

14. Students need
multiple points of
contact with writing
instruction and
support.
(Sundstrom 2014; Simpson 2012; Rose &
McClafferty 2001; Mullen 2001)

15. When we share the work of
teaching and supporting writing
throughout graduate education,
we reduce pressure on thesis
advising.

16. Collaborate with resources
across campus
• Writing center
• Learning resources center
• Student health and counseling center
• Professional development office

17. Working with students
as writers

18. Provide annotated thesis
or dissertation samples.

19. Ask students to “code”
the rhetorical features of
writing in their field.
See the Coding Rhetorical Features in Academic Writing Worksheet

20. See the Research Instrument Matrix Handout

21. Encourage writing
as a tool to process
reading.
See Two Ways of Using Writing to Process Writing Handout

22. Writing can be a difficult
medium in which to give
feedback on writing…

24. For every draft, ask students
to submit a summary of
what they have done,
and ask, “What kind of
feedback would be helpful
at this point?”

25. Focus on big ideas and structure
in early drafts.
Spend less energy on sentence-
level issues unless they impede
comprehension.

26. Ask students to respond to
your feedback in writing
with every draft. Ask them
to include questions about
your feedback.

27. Create clear, helpful
boilerplate text to explain
issues you encounter over
and over in student work.

28. Create personal or
departmental rubrics to
help articulate what
“excellent, good, and
emerging” skills look like.

29. Use oral feedback as part
of the advising process
because…

30. …speech is fast
and data rich.

31. Use Jing or other screencapture software to give
oral feedback on texts.
Paste the Jing links into comments in Word.
The student gets a mini-video where you point
out and narrate textual issues.

32. Narrate your experience
as a reader.

33. “I follow you / I lose you”

34. Remember to explain what works
(students need to hear this too).

35. Productive Advising
Meetings

36. Encourage students to
record meetings.

37. Take session notes for yourself
as a memory aid and way to
think through advising issues.
See Advising Meeting Template

38. Use active listening / mirroring
as a tool for instigating
reflection and clarification.

39. “Write Here,
Write Now”

40. Use meetings to go over
written feedback.

41. Recap meeting highlights and
identify goals and deadlines.

42. Do not accept
speech for
writing.
(no matter how
eloquent) Teachable stock photo

43. Helping students
structure their workflow

44. Set regular goals.

45. Ask for weekly writing
(you don’t have to read
all of it).

46. Encourage the use
of timed writing
And free writing.

47. Help students find external
structure and accountability:
• Agree on deadlines
• Use productivity technology
• Encourage peer support
• Connect with campus resources

48. Communicate
your
feedback
timeframe

49. Recommended Reading

50. Photos by me and by permission of the Flickr Creative Commons Commercial Attribution License.
THANK YOU
For information about talks and workshops
for graduate students and faculty:
scholar-studio.com/writing-consulting.html