Grad Skills Resource Lists

Resources to help improve your reading, writing, thinking, learning, and research skills.

General Writing Resources

NPS Graduate Writing Center & Writing Criteria

NPS Graduate Writing Center
Princeton University, Word.net

Writing Tips and Tricks

U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, Writer’s Handbook
Grammar Girl, “Quick and Dirty Tips“
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
The Elements of Style
Motivation while Researching and Writing
Seven Deadly Sins of Writing
Federal Government, Plain Language Guidelines
United States Air Force, The Tongue and the Quill
George Lober, The Writing Process

Books

Fish, Stanley. How to Write a Sentence and How to Read One. New York: HarperCollins, 2012.
Pinker, Steven. The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century. New York: Viking, 2014.

Adult Learning Resources

Here are some articles that previous participants in the program — especially those who have been out of the academic world for awhile — found helpful. If you find other useful resources, please forward them to the instructor so they can be added to this site.

John Dunlosk et al., “What Works, What Doesn’t,” Scientific American Mind (September/October 2013): 47-53, Box.
Peter A. Facione, “Critical Thinking: What It Is and Why It Counts” (Insight Assessment, 2011), Box.
Deborah Knott, “Critical Reading towards Critical Writing” (Toronto: New College Writing Centre, 2001), Box.
Richard Paul and Linda Elder, The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools (Tomales, CA: Foundation for Critical Thinking, 2006), Box.
David T. Moore, Critical Thinking and Intelligence Analysis, Occasional Paper 14 (Washington, DC: National Defense Intelligence College, March 2007), Box.
Fiona Patterson, “Provoking Students into Thinking,” no. 1 (February 2007): 79-82, Box.
Learning Strategies Development, “Critical Reading for Graduate Students” (Kingston, Ontario: Queen’s University, n.d.), Box.
Center for Writing, “Student Writing Support Quicktips” (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota , 2004), Box.
Miriam E. Sweeney, “How to Read for Grad School,” Miriam E. Sweeney (blog), June 20, 2012, https://miriamsweeney.net/2012/06/20/readforgradschool/.
Jeffrey M. Zacks and Rebecca Treiman, “Sorry, You Can’t Speed Read,” New York Times, April 15, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/opinion/sunday/sorry-you-cant-speed-read.html?smid=tw-share&referer=https://t.co/IObQMOXU0E.

Attribution, Citations, and Sources

Style Guides

Citation Management

Dudley Knox Library, “Citation Tool Comparison”

Evaluating Sources

Avoiding Plagiarism

Microsoft Word Refresher

Microsoft Word Help

Organization

How to Organize a Research Paper Series

How to Organize a Research Paper: Part I (Video Lecture)
How to Write an Introductory Paragraph: Part II (Video Lecture)
How to Write Body Paragraphs and the Conclusion: Part III (Video Lecture)

Procrastination and Writer’s Block

Megan McArdle, “Why Writers Are the Worst Procrastinators”
Tim Urban, “Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator”
Tim Herrera, “Micro Progress and the Magic of Just Getting Started”
Rebecca Knight, “Staying Focused in a Noisy Open Office”
Francesca Cirillo, “Pomodoro Technique”
Dragos Bernat, “11 Free Apps That Will Guarantee to Increase Your Productivity”
Dustin Wax, “The Ultimate Writing Productivity Resource”
Ghost, “10 Minute Writing Workouts”
Farnam Street, “Habits vs. Goals: A Look at the Benefits of a Systematic Approach to Life“

Applications

Thinking Resources

Innovation and Problem Solving

Strategic Thinking

General

Ted Talks
Wheelan, Charles. Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data. New York: Norton, 2013.

Wordsmithing

War On Buzz Words
Future Buzz, “How to Say Nothing in 500 Words“
Shane Snow, “3 Secrets to Make Your Writing More Shareable”
Steven Pinker, “Why Academics Stink at Writing”
Shane Snow, “This Surprising Reading Level Analysis Will Change the Way You Write”
Dennis Dutton (blog), “Bad Writing Contest”

Writing Guidance by Assignment Type

Academic Writing

Writing a Research Paper

Kennedy School of Government, “Tips for Writing Analytic Research Papers”

Writing an Opinion Essay

Writing a Policy Memorandum

Thesis Writing

CHDS Thesis Proposal Template
CHDS Thesis Template
Template Setup Doc (for Either Template)
Template Setup Wiki
University of Southern California, “The Literature Review“
Purdue Owl, “Reverse Outlining“
University of Wisconsin-Madison, “Reverse Outlines: A Writer’s Technique for Examining Organization“
Purdue Owl, “Annotated Bibliographies”
Buttram, MacMillan, and Koch, “Comparing the Annotated Bibliography to the Literature Review”
Offenhauer and Buchalter, “Teen Dating Violence: A Literature Review and Annotated Bibliography” [Sample Literature Review]
DARPA, “Heilmeyer Catechism”

Peer Reviews

Maggie Koerth-Baker, “Meet Science: What Is ‘Peer Review’?”

Writing Process