Welcome to Writing the Dissertation!

GC Writing Center Workshop, Spring 2024
Elizabeth Dill, CUNY@KingsboroughCC

A large work is difficult because it is large, even though all its parts might singly be performed with facility; where there are many things to be done, each must be allowed its share of time and labour, in the proportion only which it bears to the whole; nor can it be expected, that the stones which form the dome of a temple, should be squared and polished like the diamond of a ring.

Samuel Johnson, Preface to the Dictionary (1755)

Writing the Dissertation is a workshop course that demystifies what it takes to make a great dissertation happen. Designed to help you with everything from writing schedules to chapter drafts, it also offers you membership in a small community of like-minded writers. You will be writing and sharing your work in the form of outlines, chapter abstracts, and of course completed chapter drafts; you will also prepare timetables for a sane schedule of work and write an “elevator speech” summary of your project for interviews and your CV. You will get a chance to critique completed dissertations in your disciplines and will also have time to review the common practices of academic discourse and rhetoric. We will also discuss how all students, especially historically underrepresented graduate students, can use mentoring, writing groups, and other strategies to achieve their academic writing goals.