Foundations Main Text

Foundations of Academic Writing

The spring session was held 10 APR 2026. Find videos and slides below.

What Is Foundations?

In this series of presentations—required for all new students whose programs assign academic writing—you will learn the basics of what is expected of your written work at NPS, gain survival skills, and get an overview of the writing process.

The presentations consist of the topics below, delivered by seasoned scholars and writers. Slides and videos from a recent presentation are available under each description.

Can't Attend Live?

Students who cannot attend the live event due to class schedules or excepted commitments may watch the video below and report completion by filling out this form.

The four lectures and closing remarks are also available individually in the drop-downs below.

This presentation covers the philosophies, standards, and techniques of academic writing. If you're looking for an introduction to the GWC and its services, see our New Student Orientation video.

Foundations segments

This talk introduces you to some of the central expectations of graduate school. To help your NPS journey be more focused, efficient, and meaningful, you will discover how graduate-level research can help you in the future; hear about survival skills at the start of your program, not the end; and become familiar with key aspects of the research process: defining your research question, gathering credible data, testing and analyzing, and presenting what you discover in your own voice within academic norms. (slides)

Plagiarism seems like a straightforward issue: just don't do it. Right? But at the graduate level, most plagiarism is unintentional, caused by missteps that you don't know you're making. Do you need to cite common knowledge? When do you need quotation marks? What is "patchwriting," and is it plagiarism? This presentation will teach you what plagiarism does (and doesn't) mean at NPS, the conventions for properly attributing source material, and how to masterfully use sources to improve your writing and critical thinking. (slides)

Optional: View the online, self-paced workshop for an interactive experience.

In your professional life, producing a more polished product with less effort is success. In your academic life, producing a more polished product but learning less is failure. Effects on your learning and mastery should be top priority when considering when and how to use AI in your graduate-level research and writing.

This presentation offers a step-by-step guide to getting started on writing a paper, overcoming writer's block, and drafting and revising your writing. Good writing at every level involves discovery, planning, developing ideas, creativity, and revision. Students will learn a variety of techniques as well as receive sound advice on what to expect, how to cope, and how to excel while writing papers and building toward a successful thesis. (slides)

Students conducting research using the following types of methods may be conducting human subjects research: surveys, interviews, equipment testing on people, audio/video recording, archived data mining containing PII, and task or work analysis. These types of research are more common in the social science and business fields but also take place in some STEM disciplines. (slides)

For more information, please consult your advisor or professor and see the website for the Human Research Protection Program or email Bryan Hudgens.