The Essential Skills Workshop Series (ESWS) introduces the incoming cohort of doctoral students to the essential skills they will need in order to succeed in the PhD program in English and beyond. ESWS meets eight times each fall, approximately once a week for one hour and twenty minutes from mid-September through mid-November. Most meetings will feature a guest or guests, who, along with the faculty coordinator, will lead an open discussion for students embarking on the doctoral degree at U of T, moving into new pedagogic responsibilities, and entering wider professional and scholarly networks. Occasionally, there will be short, pre-circulated readings. Some sessions may provide students with tangible feedback on work (such as SSHRC proposals) they are already doing as part of their professionalization during the first year of the program.