Writing Center Toolbox
Update: Starting January 1, 2021, all manuscripts must be in APA 7. Be sure to have your students use the APA 7 template for your program and follow the Form and Style APA 7 Checklist in all their doctoral capstone documents.
Original post: When Walden adopted APA 7 in the summer 2020 terms, many students were actively engaged in their doctoral capstone processes. See this update on our APA 7 Transition page for information about the grace period during which capstone writers may continue to use APA 6.
With this grace period policy in place for doctoral capstone writers, doctoral committees may be in the position of reviewing work in both APA 6 and APA 7 throughout 2020. To ensure clear communication across stakeholders, the APA edition in use for a capstone document should be indicated within Taskstream, using the following process: For the remainder of 2020, when uploading capstone manuscripts at any stage in Taskstream, Committee Chairs, Second Members, and URRs should indicate which style guide a student used in the General Comments section by writing “APA 6” or “APA 7.”
The video above is a brief overview of Writing Center resources for doctoral students, from coursework through dissertation/doctoral capstone.
Right away
During proposal writing
Nearing submission to URR
*Note that templates will be updated as requirements or links change. To avoid circulating outdated materials, please share the link to the page where the document is housed rather than sharing the document itself.
Form and Style Q&A: This document contains faculty questions about capstones that emerged during some 2013 committee training sessions, answered by our dissertation editing team.
Strategies for Developmental Writing Instruction at the Capstone Level (Writing Center): Junto presentation by Dr. Sarah Prince on creating effective feedback using tools from online tutoring expert Beth Hewett.
Visits to Faculty Meetings: Do your colleagues meet regularly via Skype or other conferencing technology? Members of the Writing Center are available to join you for a Q&A or to discuss writing topics relevant to your group. Contact Amber Cook to arrange a visit.
See our faculty webinar archive for related topics, such as APA and writing feedback practices, and our capstone series listed below. Faculty might also want to view the series of student-facing webinars available for capstone writers.