Resources for Faculty Supporting Graduate Writing

General Resources

UCLA’s Resources. While most of the resources on this page will be oriented to supporting graduate students, a few useful general writing resources will be described first. UCLA Writing Programs provides a nice array of writing handouts and resources for undergraduate-level writing, and the UCLA Library also has online tutorials on research and writing.

Other Universities’ Resources. Other university websites that consistently offer great writing guides and handouts are: Purdue OWL’s web resources, UNC Chapel Hill Writing Center’s tips and tools, and Carnegie Mellon University Student Academic Success Center’s handouts. Purdue OWL also offers downloadable workshops for instructors that may be used when following these fair use guidelines.

Disciplinary Resources

WAC Clearinghouse. One of the best websites for writing in the disciplines is the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Clearinghouse. This website has a pretty overwhelming constellation of resources related to both general and disciplinary university writing, so for the sake of some selectivity, read the “getting started” section of Introduction to Writing Across the Curriculum, browse teaching resources and/or simply search the website for your specific discipline.

Faculty Resources

Effective guidance of graduate students through their dissertation, thesis, and capstone projects plays is an important component of successful faculty advising. Below are some resources to support this process.

National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD). UCLA provides institutional membership for faculty, post-docs, and graduate students to support professional development. Encourage graduate students to activate membership to take advantage of writing challenges and other resources.

Faculty Guides from Purdue University. On this web page, you may access faculty guides on supporting graduate student writers and multilingual student writers.

Miami University website on Mentoring Graduate Writers. This web page has a nice compilation of recommendations, resources, and references.

Carter, S. & Laurs, D. (Eds.) (2018). Developing Research Writing: A Handbook for Supervisors and Advisors.London and New York: Routledge.

Carter, S., Guerin, C., & Aitchinson, C. (2020). Doctoral writing: Practices, processes and pleasures. Springer Singapore.
This book is based on well-received blog (now repository) with a major section on dissertation writing. The book synthesizes years of blog posts offering practical advice to both doctoral students and their faculty advisors on how to approach doctoral research and writing. The book is available as an e-book through the UCLA library.

Kamler, B., & Thomson, P. (2014). Helping doctoral students write: Pedagogies for supervision. Routledge.

Paltridge, B., & Starfield, S. (2019). Thesis and dissertation writing in a second language: A handbook for students and their supervisors. Routledge.

EAP Instructional Resources

These instructional resources from the field of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) are some of the common textbooks in dedicated graduate writing courses. Many of the publications come from the University of Michigan Press’s publication series on English Language Teaching (writing category).

Caplan, N. A. (2019). Grammar choices for graduate and professional writers. University of Michigan Press ELT. 2nd edition.

Cheng, A. (2018). Genre and graduate-level research writing. University of Michigan Press.

Feak, C. B. & Swales, J. M. (2009). Telling a research story: Writing a literature review.University of Michigan Press.

Swales, J. M. (2011). Aspects of article introductions. University of Michigan Press.

Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. B. (2011). Navigating academia: Writing supporting genres. University of Michigan Press.

Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. B. (2012). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. 3rd edition.

Graduate Communication and Its Support

The research on graduate-level writing/communication and its support may not always directly translate to instructional contexts, but these resources and references may provide useful ideas and context.

Resources from theConsortium on Graduate Communication. There is a small but growing field on graduate writing and communication supported by the professional organization Consortium on Graduate Communication. This professional organization provides resources on pedagogy and research related to graduate communication and graduate communication support.

Badenhorst, C., & Guerin, C. (Eds.). (2015). Research literacies and writing pedagogies for masters and doctoral writers. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Publishers.

Brooks-Gillies, Marilee, Elena G. Garcia, Soo Hyon Kim, Katie Manthey, & Trixie G. Smith (Eds.). (2020). Graduate Writing Across the Disciplines: Identifying, Teaching, and Supporting. The WAC Clearinghouse; University Press of Colorado.

Carter, S. & Laurs, D. (Eds.) (2014). Developing Generic Support for Doctoral Students: Practice and Pedagogy. London and New York: Routledge.

Casanave, C. P. & Li, X. (2008). Learning the literacy practices of graduate school: Insiders reflections on academic enculturation. University of Michigan Press.

Cayley, R., Coll, F., & Newman, D. A. (2025). Writing together: Building social writing opportunities for graduate students.University of Michigan Press.

Lawrence, S., & Zawacki, T. M. (2019). Re/writing the center: Approaches to supporting graduate students in the writing center. University Press of Colorado.

Madden, S., Eodice, M., Edwards, K. T., & Lockett, A. (Eds.). (2020). Learning from the lived experiences of graduate student writers. University Press of Colorado.

Phillips, T., & Ryerson, R. (2022). Supporting the Growth of Graduate Writers: A Film. University of Michigan Press.

Sharma, S. (2018). Writing support for international graduate students: Enhancing transition and success. Routledge.

Simpson, S., Caplan, N. A., Cox, M., & Phillips, T. (Eds.). (2016). Supporting graduate student writers: Research, curriculum, & program design. University of Michigan Press.