Our Mission
At the Center for Scholarly Communication, our mission is to serve as a catalyst for advancing publication and presentation at IUP for all members of our campus community. In alignment with IUP’s R2 research mission, we are dedicated to providing comprehensive support for all scholarly communication, including writing for publication, professional presentations, poster presentations, and thesis/dissertation writing. We strive to empower researchers and scholars across disciplines to effectively communicate their findings and enhance the dissemination of knowledge from IUP. Moreover, we recognize the unique needs of IUP's proposed college of osteopathic medicine and are dedicated to facilitating scholarly communication within this specialized domain.
Our Services
The CSC is prepared to support the scholarly needs of both students and faculty, including individual writing consultations, writing groups, academic and professional workshops, and a mini conference. Below is a summary of our services:
Scholarly Editing and Writing Service
An asynchronous manuscript editing service where faculty and students who are seeking publication, writing grants, and/or completing a thesis and dissertation are able to submit their work for copyediting, iThenticate, and publication support.
Writing Groups
- Graduate Writing Groups
Each semester and during summers we offer Graduate Writing Groups. Small groups of students meet every two weeks to set goals, share their work, and learn from an experienced consultant. The groups are designed to support advanced graduate students during independent writing of a thesis or dissertation. Our groups have demonstrated to increase students’ writing productivity, goal setting, writing self-efficacy, and more. - Faculty Writing Groups (forthcoming spring 2025)
Led by our director, these are yearly themed groups to support faculty writing in disciplinary clusters or on specific focus areas (such as scholarship of teaching and writing, STEM disciplines, and more).
Writing and Publication Workshops
Semesterly and yearly events to facilitate scholarly communication: choosing a publication venue, time management and goal setting, writing for publication, managing peer review and responding to reviewer feedback, and ethical uses of AI.
Dissertation and Thesis Writing Boot Camp
Once per semester, we offer a Dissertation and Thesis Writing Boot Camp. This day-long event on a Saturday is offered via Zoom. We feature five different writing workshops (with new workshops each semester), tutorials with CSC consultants and other support offices on campus (Applied Research Lab, Library, Thesis and Dissertation Office), and a silent writing room.