The Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education (VPGE), in collaboration with individual colleges/schools and the Writing Center, sponsors several initiatives that support student writing. These include the Graduate Writing Assistant (GWA) Program, Writing Oasis Sessions, Thesis and Dissertation Bootcamp, and access to Grammarly Premium.  

Graduate Writing Assistants (GWAs) are available to help graduate students during the completion of their substantial graduate program writing requirements, such as research papers, articles for publication, theses, and dissertations. They can also help graduate students with utilizing the library’s resources for research, style guide formatting, and issues related to English as a second language. The GWAs are available for either a 30-minute or 50-minute sessions on a walk-in basis on both the Orange and Rinker campuses and digital tutoring is also available. This service is free to all Chapman graduate and professional students. Learn more about the GWA services on their website.

Writing Oasis is a haven where graduate and professional students can receive help from a Graduate Writing Assistant, enjoy free coffee and snacks, and write in a quiet place for a 3-hour block of time. Writing Oasis assists with keeping students ‘on track’ with their writing and provides peer-to-peer support across all graduate programs. For those who need assistance in keeping to a regular writing schedule, Oasis sessions help to provide that structure. Sessions are held on Saturdays from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm, twice per month, September through April. You can sign up for one or multiple sessions. Check out the dates/times and sign up here.

Thesis & Dissertation Boot Camp is a two and a half day writing-intensive workshop is open to all graduate students looking to enhance their writing skills and make progress on their theses/dissertations. Graduate students receive peer support, coaching, refreshments, and learn life-long management skills for writing productively. Bootcamp is held once per semester. Students must apply to participate.

Grammarly Premium, Enterprise Edition, is available for FREE to students, faculty, and staff. Not only will Grammarly assist with correcting writing errors, it will also provide writing productivity trackers, which are helpful to those who are writing theses, dissertations, and other pieces of academic and research writing. Grammarly Premium is compatible with Google docs, Microsoft Word, various email programs and both desktop and mobile applications. Those using a free version of Grammarly, can upgrade to Premium at no cost using Chapman’s service. Learn more about Grammarly Premium and how to install it on your computer here.  

Questions about the writing supports for graduate students that are not answered at the links above can be directed to GradEd@chapman.edu.