http://www.montana.edu/gradwriting The Division of Graduate Education offers free tutoring services for graduate students at Montana State University. Visit the services page for more information. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:58:20 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en October is the month of many things. It's fall (or winter, in Montana); it's far enough in your semester that the work has hit a busy stride. As the graduate writing tutor, it is my busiest month. Not only do student appointments increase, but I am also ... http://www.montana.edu/gradwriting/?p=89 Welcome to a new semester.  During your graduate studies at MSU, I hope that you take advantage of all the services the university offers.  Writing assistance is one of the services offered through the Division of Graduate Education.  It is important to be a clear, efficient, effective writer, both during ... http://www.montana.edu/gradwriting/?p=78 During the summer months, it’s hard to get motivated to write or work on projects. Often we, as writers, students, and professionals, want to take the summer off. We think that there is so much time between now and the new semester or deadline. What we all ... http://www.montana.edu/gradwriting/?p=38 I've been sending out grad writing email tips and thought I'd post them to the site for those of you not on the grad student listserv. Review of Literature A review of literature for a thesis or dissertation is a common writing assignment and not always the simplest for students.  While writing ... http://www.montana.edu/gradwriting/?p=37 Commas have been coming up a lot in my tutoring sessions lately, so I thought I'd provide a link to a helpful website. The comma is one of the more confusing pieces of punctuation, but there are really a few main uses of it. One use is list-making, which a ... http://www.montana.edu/gradwriting/?p=36 This article may not be perfect advice, depending on your discipline, but for my English Masters thesis, these strategies certainly worked. Some of the advice is also about surviving the writing process. I suggest reading it through and then taking what you like and changing any methods to suit your ... http://www.montana.edu/gradwriting/?p=35 Latin abbreviations are great. Not only are they almost universally recognized, but they also lend an air of "official-ness" to your writing. They make it look and sound more scientific or authoritative. So, if you like these abbreviations, you may not like my next advice: Drop them whenever possible. Why? Two ... http://www.montana.edu/gradwriting/?p=29 The PowerPoint presentation from the tutor's graduate student seminar on March 18 is available below. Approaches to Writing Or, you can watch it here. http://www.montana.edu/gradwriting/?p=28 The Writing Process Writing is both a product  (the thesis, dissertation, or paper you intend to turn in)  and the process you use to create that product. Student writers, however, often focus so hard on the finished product that they forget the process, which is unfortunate. The tyranny of the finished ... http://www.montana.edu/gradwriting/?p=25 Paragraphs can be difficult for some student writers to wrap their heads around, likely because some "professional" writers don't give them the kind of attention and care they deserve. What are they? Paragraphs are, of course, blocks of text, often with their first lines indented or set off from other blocks of ... http://www.montana.edu/gradwriting/?p=24