Negotiations is a semi-annual graduate student reading series coordinated by our MA Facilitator. It is a relatively low-stakes space where MAs and PhDs can present our work, from parts of seminar papers and drafts of conference papers to parts of articles and dissertation chapter drafts. Presenting our work and receiving feedback on it from other students and faculty has helped many to move forward in the writing and revision process whether the end result is for a class, for an exam, or for publication.

Negotiations is also important as a valuable professionalization tool. It helps us to model for each other the kinds of scholarship that Syracuse students produce but also the kinds of dialogue and rigorous critique that emerge from the presentations. Panelists have said that their Negotiations experience prepared them to answer questions from scholars in their field at academic conferences and improved the quality of their scholarship as well as their writing.

Approximately half of the papers presented at Negotiations throughout the past years have been accepted for presentation in their fields, at national conferences like MLA, PCA/ACA, and SCMS, as well as at regional and graduate conferences. Many students have also used Negotiations as a space in which to get feedback while thinking through a tricky dissertation chapter or preparing an article for submission to an academic journal.