The Writing Place

Monday, December 9-Friday, December 20

The Graduate School and the Writing Place developed the Dissertation Boot Camp to help you make fast and significant process with your dissertation writing. More importantly, boot camp is a chance for you to learn more about yourself as a writer. Therefore, at boot camp, you will spend most of your time writing; however, you will also be given the opportunity to participate optional workshops and receive feedback on your writing and writing process from fellow participants and the Assistant Director of the Writing Place, who facilitates the boot camp and runs the workshops.

The Dissertation Boot Camp will help motivate your writing and provide you with an atmosphere where distractions are minimal and support is plentiful. Over the course of Northwestern’s previous boot camps, over 300 students from more than 50 different departments and programs at Northwestern have participated. In evaluations, all of these students agreed that they were more productive during boot camp than they would be writing on their own.

If you are accepted into the boot camp, you will commit to attend daily writing sessions (M-F, 9am-1pm). Lunch workshops afternoon writing/workshop/tutoring sessions are entirely optional.

You will be provided space to set up your laptops and relevant books/papers. However, you should expect to be working alongside other writers (akin to a library/café atmosphere).

Snacks and beverages, as well as some lunches, will be provided free of charge.

The boot camp is free. But you must pay a $50 deposit that will be fully refunded provided you arrive on time and attend all mandatory writing sessions during the two-week period.

If you have advanced to PhD candidacy (passed your dissertation proposal), completed most of the research/data collection for your dissertation, and finished at least one chapter draft (or you and your advisor agree that you have done enough research/writing to profit from the dedicated writing time), you are eligible to apply. 

Additionally, you must obtain permission from your advisor to participate.

Interested applicants should send an email containing the following information to nubootcamp@northwestern.edu.

• Name
• Department/program
• Contact information (address and telephone number)
• Advisor’s name
• Date candidacy achieved
• Year in program PhD program
• Estimated date of graduation
• Dissertation Title
• 250-300 word dissertation description
• Estimate of how much has already been written (percentage)
• Reasons for attending camp
• 2 specific goals for attending camp

Finally, please arrange to have your advisor send a brief email to nubootcamp@northwestern.edu endorsing your participation in the boot camp (this need not be a letter of recommendation).

If you have any additional questions, please contact Elizabeth Lenaghan at e-lenaghan@northwestern.edu.