Writing a Life in the Humanities: Skills for Graduate Students 

Description: This course aims to train graduate students in the humanities how to integrate professional, scholarly writing into our working lives and how to practice the professional writing skills that twenty-first-century humanities scholars need. Such skills include the conventions of writing in different genres for different scholarly audiences; developing specialized research and making an argument about it using primary and secondary sources; generating original arguments from independent research and new interpretations of primary sources; and engaging with the scholarly conversation in your field. The course will culminate with an authentic graduate writing assignment, namely a thesis chapter or scholarly article for submission to a journal or collection. 

Outcomes: 

In this course you will practice, through a series of sequenced assignments: 

• Developing a research specialization in a humanities topic (Article Analysis, Annotated Bibliography, Project Outline, Final Project) 

• Revising academic writing for specific audiences (Conference Paper Abstract, Journal Presentation, Final Project) 

• Presenting your work in public fora such as conferences or in grant applications (Class Conference Presentation, Final Project) 

Weighting:  

Article analysis, 5% 

Each student will write a brief evaluative summary of a chosen article in their field. 

Annotated Bibliography, 5% 

Each student will develop an annotated bibliography of at least 5-6 refereed secondary sources that they consulted for their project. 

Project abstract + outline, 5% 

Each student will write a one-page abstract of their writing project along with an outline that describes the project’s different subsections and a timeline that details when the student will complete each of these subsections. 

Conference Paper Abstract, 5% 

Each student will write an abstract of their proposed final writing project. The abstract should run to no more than 300-500 words and should be directed towards a conference where you would like to present an excerpt from your thesis or article.

Journal review + 7-10 min presentation, 5% 

Each student will review articles from a year's worth of issues from a top-ranked peer-reviewed journal in their field and present the journal's purview, reach, and style to their classmates. Ask your director if you are unsure of the highly-ranked scholarly periodicals in your field; they will be able to guide you to appropriate sources.

Class conference: 10-minutes – pass/fail 

Final project: 75% 

 

Books:  

Gregory Semenza, Graduate Study for the 21st century, esp. Chapter 3 and Chapter 9. 

Rowena Murray, How to Write a Thesis, 1-129. 

 

Both books are available online, with unlimited access through the UGA Libraries’ database “Ebook Central.” 

 

How to get to these books online through the UGA Libraries: 

 

1. Log in to libs.uga.edu and search the book’s author and title. You’ll see this screen: 

   

2. Click on the link that says “Ebook Central…” and you’ll see this screen: 

 

3. Choose whether you want to read the book online or whether you want to download and print or save Chapters 3 and 9. If you read online, you’ll still see a pdf, but you’ll also be able to search and navigate within the volume and within chapters via a sidebar, which you can minimize for more immersive reading. 

 

Schedule 

TBA

 

 

Further Reading (AKA books I’ve taught in the past; *=personal favorite) 

Time Management  

David Allen, Getting Things Done (GTD)  

Francesco Cirillo, The Pomodoro Technique  

*Neal H. Fiore, The Now Habit  

Brian Tracy, Eat That Frog  

Gina Trapani, LifeHacker (see also the “GradHacker” blog on Inside Higher Education) 

 

Writing  

Joan Bolker, Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day  

Eric Hayot, The Elements of Academic Style: Writing for the Humanities  

Michael Holroyd, Dickens: A Writing Life  

*Stephen King, On Writing  

Robert L. Peters, Getting What You Came For  

*Paul J. Silvia, How to Write a Lot 

Helen Sword, Stylish Academic Writing or Air & Light & Time & Space: How Successful Academics Write  

 

Revision (I love all of these) 

*William Germano, From Dissertation to Book  

*Richard Lanham, Revising Prose  

*Joseph Williams, Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace 

 

Life, Academic and Beyond  

*Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way  

Carol Dweck, Mindset  

Karen Kelsky, The Professor is In  

Kerry Ann Roquemore, The Black Academic’s Guide To Earning Tenure Without Losing Your Soul  

Gregory Semenza, Making a Life in the Humanities  

 

Digital Career Management Tools  

*Imagine PhD: https://www.imaginephd.com/  

Connected Academics (MLA): https://connect.mla.hcommons.org  

Chronicle Community (formerly Chronicle Vitae): https://community.chronicle.com  

Academic Keys: https://www.academickeys.com  

ProFellow: https://www.profellow.com  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com