UNH Today

This fall, a group of UNH graduate students spent a handful of Saturdays getting down to business. The business at hand? Working on their thesis or dissertation.

The UNH Graduate School, in conjunction with the Connors Writing Center, has implemented the Fall 2018 Dissertation/Thesis Writing Retreat, the first of its kind at UNH but along the same lines as the Graduate School’s J-Term Writing Boot Camp and weekly writing group. The retreat gives graduate students dedicated time, space and resources to work in the Connors Writing Center. Coffee, tea, snacks and lunch are provided.

The idea for the retreat was created by Jovana Milosavljevic-Ardeljan, a Ph.D. student in the department of education and graduate assistant at the UNH Graduate School, and Meaghan Dittrich, the director of the writing center and Ph.D. student in the English department composition program.

“What makes the dissertation or thesis retreat different from our other writing programs is that it involves more instruction and guidance,” Milosavljevic-Ardeljan said. “Meaghan and I organized a lunch with participants the day before the first writing session and shared ideas for organization, goal setting and useful resources. This will be a part of each following session.”

Ten students participated this fall, and the Graduate School and Connors Writing Center will continue the program in the spring semester.

“The first writing Saturday was very successful and productive,” Milosavljevic-Ardeljan said. “We’ve already had students ask us if we plan to offer the retreat every year, which we do, and we are looking forward to expanding it. There is nothing like the power of a supportive, and productive, community when you need to produce a large piece of writing like a thesis or a dissertation. We are happy we can offer this support.”

The same group met once a month during the fall semester for an all-day writing session. The retreat will continue in the spring with registration beginning in January.