With the fall semester in full swing, the WRC has officially launched Thesis Crunch, their annual writing group for thesis students. 

“Traditionally, the WRC hosts it in the Spring semester when it’s ‘crunch time’ for thesising students (hence the name),” thesis student and Student Writing Assistant (SWA) Caroline Newberg said. “Over the last few years, we’ve started to host it in the fall as well, as we’ve recognized the importance of providing that kind of support to thesis students year-round.”

Thesis Crunch, along with all other WRC sponsored writing groups, is now conducted fully online, just as it was done after the abrupt departure from campus last spring. Run by three SWAs, thesis students Caroline Newberg and Phoebe Sernaker and third-year student Jack Bove, Thesis Crunch serves as a quiet, community-oriented virtual space designed to promote productivity. SWAs utilize the Pomodoro technique: this method uses timers, typically in sets of 25 minutes of work and five minutes of a break, to break work down into intervals and limit burnout.  

Student turnout for virtual Thesis Crunch is “a lot higher than other in-person and digital writing groups have seen,” according to Newberg. “A lot of thesis students crave community with other thesis students and since [this semester] is primarily online, it’s hard to get that outside of thesis tutorials and such. Online thesis crunch lets students touch base with other thesis students and also have structured writing and research time at least once a week.”

Virtual Thesis Crunch is hosted by the WRC every Thursday from 8–10 p.m: check the schedule here for details.