University at Buffalo (UB)
Communication Resources for PhD Students
Effective communication is crucial for completing your doctoral program. This section offers various resources to support your communication needs as you advance through your PhD program and into your career. From the initial stages of developing your research proposal to the final presentation of your dissertation, we aim to provide resources to assist you at every step of your journey.
Within this section, you will find a wealth of tools and services curated for PhD students. We understand your unique challenges in producing scholarly research and communicating complex ideas effectively to broad audiences. We want to empower you to excel in all aspects of writing and communication. With everything from support for English language learners to presentation coaching for advanced doctoral candidates, we are confident that UB has a resource to meet your needs.
Center for Excellence in Writing
The Center for Excellence in Writing (CEW) is the place on campus where graduate students can find support for their writing. Writing consultants can help you with various writing projects, including papers, dissertations, theses, proposals, fellowships, job application materials and conference presentations.
International students can take advantage of individual consultations and resources offered by the CEW. Individual consultations can support graduate students working in a language outside their native language.
The CEW holds dissertation retreats, dissertation cafés, writing groups and more throughout the year. Be sure to subscribe to the Graduate Writing Support listserv to receive emails about graduate writing and dissertation support programs.
Graduate Student Association (GSA) Editorial Services
The Graduate Student Association offers free copyediting services to graduate students. GSA editorial services can help you with quick copy edits, grammar questions, and submissions of up to 50 pages. Be sure to build in plenty of time to get your edits returned.
National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD)
The University at Buffalo is a National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD) member. Through the NCFDD, graduate students can find support for writing through writing challenges and a dissertation success curriculum. This is a free resource for faculty, postdoctoral scholars and graduate students.
Featured Partner: Center for Excellence in Writing
The Center for Excellence in Writing has proven to be a powerful resource for graduate students and can help with a wide variety of writing projects including: course papers, dissertations, theses, proposals, job application materials, conference presentation, group projects, journal articles and more.
The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition was developed by the University of Queensland, and the competition celebrates the exciting research conducted by PhD students by cultivating students' academic, presentation and research communication skills. Participants are judged on effectively conveying the essence and importance of their research engagingly to a non-specialist audience in just three minutes with one PowerPoint slide.
3MT Micro-Credential
The 3MT Micro-Credential: Communicating Research to Broad Audiences is an optional resource intended to help graduate students learn how to communicate their research. Participants will learn to articulate strategies and techniques to communicate graduate-level research to a non-specialist audience. Upon completing the micro-credential, participants will have prepared a three-minute pitch about their research and developed an effective, supporting PowerPoint slide, all while giving and receiving peer feedback.
Venture Coaching
UB' Startup and Innovation Collaboratory (CoLab) offers free, confidential, one-on-one mentoring and support from their network of venture coaches. Get help moving your idea forward with assistance that is perfect for individuals or startups at any stage in any industry. Whether you're creating a business model canvas, starting the customer discovery process, prepping a pitch deck for a competition, or just need some feedback, their venture coaches have got you covered.
The Art of Research celebrates the extraordinary research of University at Buffalo graduate students and postdoctoral scholars by showcasing original images highlighting the inherent beauty in research, scholarship and creative activity.
In this communication competition, entrants submit an original image that represents their research and a brief description of how it relates to their overall research.
- The Center for Excellence in Writing can assist in preparing papers and manuscripts for publication.
- University Libraries offer support and consultation to assist with digital scholarship and scholarly publishing. In addition, University Libraries host micro-credentials to support digital literacy. Three related courses are designed to develop digital literacy skills.
- Publish Not Perish is a newsletter for academics who want to write more while being balanced.
- Purdue OWL is a free writing resource that provides writing guides and online resources.
The Graduate Brief
Every Wednesday during the semester, the Graduate School emails the "Graduate Brief" to all graduate and professional students, which is a weekly selection of news and happenings within the Graduate School and its partnering offices. If you would like to be added to the mailing list, please contact grad@buffalo.edu.