Build your learning confidence

The Writing Centre is closed for the summer but will re-open in September

Book your Writing Centre appointment here

Appointments become available to book 2 weeks in advance. Summer appointments will be held online via Zoom. 

You can meet with one of our Academic Writing Coaches to receive expert advice at any stage of the writing process: planning an assignment, writing a first draft, or revising and editing a document.

Appointments are free of charge. Our Academic Writing Coaches are studying at PhD level and are trained and supervised by the Learning Skills Advisers.

How a Writing Centre appointment works:

• Appointments are 30 minutes long.
• In-person appointments are held in the O'Reilly and Cregan libraries.
• Online appointments are held via Zoom. You will receive the meeting link in your booking confirmation email.
• Before your appointment, please email your assignment brief or question and any work you've done so far to writingcentre@dcu.ie. If you are not working on an assignment but would like to discuss a particular aspect of academic writing, please let your tutor know by email.
• The Centre is not a proofreading or editing service, but rather works with students to strengthen their abilities as writers, and encourages them to become editors of their own work.
• We advise students to make no more than one appointment per week and a maximum of five per semester. This is to keep the limited number of appointments open to as many students as possible.
• Please note: support with citing and referencing is provided by the DCU Library.

Our workshops, open to all DCU students, can be booked centrally via My Events Hub. Just log in with your DCU credentials below to view all upcoming workshops and to register with one click. 

Log in to My Events Hub

During the academic year we provide the following highly demanded sessions:

• Essentials of Academic Writing
• Establishing your Academic Writing Process (Seven Steps to Success!)
• How to Build an Argument
• Writing Critically at University
• Reflective Writing
• Writing Literature Reviews
• Preparing for Essay Exams
• Virtual Writing and Study Room

We offer bespoke interactive courses, guides and video tutorials on all aspects of academic writing. 

You can browse the full Writing Centre Toolkit on DEVELOP or select a topic below:

Essentials of Assignment Writing | Academic Language and Phrasing | Assignment types | Critical Thinking and Writing | Citing and referencing

DCU Postgraduate Research Writing Group

Programme dates: 15^th May to 20^th June 2025

Venue: Online via Zoom. Live sessions on Thursdays at 11:00 am. 

The DCU Student Advice and Learning Skills Centre, in collaboration with the Graduate Studies Office, offers a six-week programme for research students to become more efficient, effective and confident in their writing. This six-week course is designed for PG research students who are seeking to improve their writing skills. Through a combination of seminars, peer-review, and individual feedback sessions, students will be encouraged to identify aspects of their writing which require improvement, as well as ways in which they may negotiate effectively the challenges of writing a thesis. As such, this is a practical-based course with the aim of assisting students to become more efficient, effective and confident in their writing. 

The PG Research Writing Group will be run online through Zoom. Students will attend Zoom webinars and also have the opportunity to avail of individual writing support sessions by video link. Further resources will be made available on Google drive. 

The registration details for this course will be shared with postgraduate research students via email.

Tutor Bio: Dr David McKinney

David has extensive experience supporting research students through the writing process at postgraduate level. He is currently working as a lecturer for the Schools of English and Irish in UCD, and is a tutor in the UCD Writing Centre. He holds a first-class honours BA in English and Italian, a first-class honours MA in Anglo-Irish Literature and a PhD in English from University College Dublin. 

Contents by Week

Week One: “Writing Habits: What Is Best for You?” (15 May, 11:00-12:30)

• This introductory seminar deals with the ways in which personal and environmental factors influence an individual’s productivity. Writing a thesis so often appears to be such an abstract concept that the pragmatic elements of the work can become ignored. This seminar seeks to interrogate the ways in which each individual researcher approaches the practical aspects of writing; how do time, space and organisation affect your work? 

Week Two: “A Focused Approach: Planning and Structure” (22 May, 11:00-12:30)

• This seminar deals with the architecture of a longer piece of research writing. At the core of this seminar is the importance of an effective (yet flexible) approach to structuring shorter as well as larger sections of writing, from paragraphs, to individual chapters, and chapter ordering. As such, this seminar deals with organisation of writing and research from a micro level to a macro level in order to ensure that writing is well-structured and persuasive throughout the thesis. 

Week Three: “Reading and Writing Critically” (29 May, 11:00-12:30)

• While previous seminars have discussed structural and practical aspects of writing, this seminar deals with approaching both reading and writing for the purposes of PG research. How should one read critically? How does one ensure that one is employing a consistently analytical approach in writing? Of particular importance to this seminar is avoiding the pitfalls of “stacking”, or losing authorial/critical voice within a longer piece of research, as well as effective strategies for note-taking.  

Week 4: “Peer Review” (Friday, 6 June, 11:00-13:00)

• This is a practical live session in which students will be expected to prepare a 500-word sample of academic writing beforehand, then work in small groups to offer feedback to one another, under the guidance and supervision of the writing instructor. (Please note that this session will be slightly longer than previous ones to allow time for small-group and whole-class discussions.)

Week Five: “Academic Phrasing” (12 June, 11:00-12:30)

• One of the most challenging aspects of postgraduate research is the arranging of ideas in clear, concise and critical writing; often, students feel that their ideas are fully formed, but that they lack the appropriate vocabulary and phraseology for academic writing. Consequently, this seminar focuses on providing students with practical vocabulary and phraseology to express some of the more complex aspects of critical academic writing.

Week Six: “Individual writing support” (16 - 20 June, Individual 30-minute appointments)

• Students will meet individually with the writing tutor to discuss their writing progress and receive personalised support. Each student will be able to book their appointment at a time that suits during the week. 

Virtual Writing and Study Room

Our Virtual Writing and Study Room on Zoom offers a quiet space and focused writing time to work on any assignment you need to make progress on, or to revise for an upcoming exam. We’ll meet virtually and spend some time writing or revising in a quiet space with a community of peers to help us stay focused and motivated. 

Sessions are facilitated by Learning Skills Advisors and Writing Centre coaches, who will be on hand to provide expert advice where necessary. 

Check out upcoming dates on My Events Hub.

Head Start Programme for Incoming Mature, Online, and Further Education Students

Learning Skills Advisors and the Mature Student Officer work collaboratively to provide an annual Head Start programme for incoming first-year mature students. This week-long online and in-person course is an opportunity for mature students to refresh their academic writing skills, meet other mature students, and get a head start on their university life before classes begin.