Grants and Writing Resources for Sonoma State University

In September 2026 an English major at Sonoma State received the CSU Trustees' Award for Outstanding Achievement, the highest student distinction in the California State University system. She was one of 22 recipients that year and was named the CSU Trustee Emeritus Laurence K. Gould Jr. Scholar. Five months earlier, a cultural resources management student won first place at SSU's Grad Slam 2026, explaining graduate research in three minutes or less, and earned a spot representing SSU at the CSU-wide Grad Slam.

Where Students Present

Undergraduates, graduate students and faculty share research, scholarly work and creative projects at the annual Research, Scholarship & Creativity Symposium. The 2026 symposium ran from 4 to 7 p.m. on April 28 in the Student Center Main Ballroom.

SSU also sends students to the CSU Student Research Competition. Sonoma State first runs an internal round to choose 10 projects for the system-wide event, and current undergraduate and graduate students may apply, with a research team counting as one entry. At the 40th annual competition, held at San Jose State University in April 2026, students gave oral presentations to juries of professional experts. SSU reimburses its student researchers for travel.

Undergraduate Research Funding

Each Koret Scholars Award funds one faculty mentor and a team of undergraduates for an academic year of research or creative work, in any discipline. The money goes to student scholarships, faculty stipends and research resources. The Koret Scholars Program started with a five-year, $1 million grant from the Koret Foundation, and it supported 17 research teams in 2025-26.

The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs lists other research opportunities at SSU. The Social Sciences Undergraduate Research Initiative gives financial support to sophomores and juniors working with faculty on a shared project. The McNair Scholars Program prepares undergraduates for doctoral study through research.

Fellowships and Graduate Funding

Graduate Studies keeps a list of funding opportunities. The Graduate Equity Fellowship is meant to increase diversity among graduate students headed for doctoral programs and faculty careers. Applicants must be enrolled full time and show financial need. The fellowship aims to replace loans with grants, and fellows also receive faculty mentoring and research opportunities. The guidelines are updated each year.

Juniors, seniors and graduate students aiming for a doctorate can apply to the California Pre-Doctoral Program. Selected scholars receive $3,000 for costs such as application fees, test fees and travel to doctoral institutions or conferences, with up to $500 more for a faculty mentor's joint travel. Students already in doctoral programs who want to teach in the CSU can borrow up to $10,000 a year, to a total of $30,000, through the Chancellor's Doctoral Incentive Program; 20 percent of the loan is forgiven for each year of full-time CSU teaching after the doctorate.

Student Journals

The English Department sponsors two publications. ZAUM is produced and edited entirely by students and prints poetry, fiction, nonfiction and visual art from about 20 to 30 students an issue. Students at SSU or any other university may contribute. The magazine won national student awards from the Associated Writing Programs for editorial vision in 1996 and graphic design in 1998. Burning Daylight, published through the department's graduate program, is an annual journal of original critical and theoretical essays on literary criticism, composition and rhetoric.

Writing Help and Thesis Review

The Writing Center is part of the Learning and Academic Resource Center on the first floor of the University Library. Its services are free to SSU undergraduate and graduate students, in person or by Zoom. Tutors help with brainstorming, outlining, thesis statements and polishing final drafts for any class. Editing and proofreading fall outside their services, though they teach students techniques for proofreading.

Master's students submit a finished thesis or creative project to the Office of Graduate Studies for thesis review. Staff check it against the Master's Thesis and Project Formatting Guidelines, updated in February 2023, and can take up to five business days before sending a list of required revisions. The office holds formatting workshops each semester as well as drop-in formatting office hours. The SSU Library then makes theses public through ScholarWorks.

For a final edit of grammar, consistency and format before a thesis reaches Graduate Studies or a paper goes out for publication, write to our editors. See our Sonoma State University dissertation and thesis editing and Sonoma State University essay editing pages, or contact editors@editorsforstudents.com.

From Our Writing Guides

• How to Write a Critical Essay: Mastering Academic Critique
• Treating the Personal Statement as a Scholarly Defense
• Writing the Abstract and Title: First Impressions Matter