Tableau is a data visualization tool that is being used to help analyze data and illustrate the patterns and insights behind them. This online, interactive workshop will introduce researchers and students to Tableau Public, a free access version of Tableau.

 About the workshop

You will leave this workshop with an understanding of how to:

• connect datasets to your Tableau workbook;
• create a variety of basic chart types (including bar charts, line graphs, and maps);
• publish and share interactive charts and graphs.

 Requirements

Before the workshop, please:

• download and install the latest version of Tableau Public to your laptop
• download the workshop materials.

About the workshop

Have you heard fellow researchers discussing “DH” or the “Digital Humanities” but you’re never exactly sure what they’re talking about? 

Digital humanities seeks to bring new technological tools and methods to the teaching, research, and creative work of traditional humanities disciplines. Digital humanists also seek to utilize traditional humanistic tools to analyze new digital media.

This introductory session will cover some of the basic theory and practice behind digital research in the humanities. 

About the series

This four-part virtual webinar series is designed to bring calm to the brain’s threat response associated with the uncertainty of academic writing by bringing certainty into the process. Writing strategies for improving the clarity, logic, and flow of your writing will be clearly explained from the onset in a step-by-step fashion to allow you to feel in control of your writing. Participants encouraged to bring some of their own writing to the webinar to apply the techniques to their own writing.

Register once and attend as many or as few as you like.

Dates and description

June 1, 2022: Grammar as Choice

In this webinar, you will learn an approach to grammar concerned with what grammar does in your writing (its functions) as opposed to the “rules” of grammar, and learn to make choices between different clause structures and word forms to shape your message clearly.

June 8, 2022: Old-to New Information Flow

In this webinar, you will learn a strategy called Thematic Progression—a powerful resource for organizing a text—to help guide the reader through logical connections in your writing.

June 15, 2022: Paragraph Patterns: Linking

Research has shown that scientific research writers regularly use topic development patterns based on the given/new contract in their published work. Most sentences, therefore, should begin with old, familiar, or "given" information—something the reader can "recover" from context—and move toward information that is unfamiliar, unexpected, or "news" (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004, p. 91).  This is because sentences that start with new ideas are difficult to understand because readers only realize how those ideas fit the text at the end of the sentence.  In this webinar, you will learn how to gradually develop a topic in a paragraph so that it conforms to the expectations of readers.

June 22, 2022: Controlling the Theme

Writers often have quite a lot of control over which part of the clause is the topic, or theme. Learn to use various grammatical resources to control the theme and move information into the old or new position to make strong connections in your writing.

About the series

A series of casual themed conversations where graduate students can connect, ask questions, and share their experiences, feedback, and ideas. No presentations and no Power Points. 

About the series

A series of casual themed conversations where graduate students can connect, ask questions, and share their experiences, feedback, and ideas. No presentations and no Power Points. 

About the workshop

Git is a version control system that enables reproducible research and collaboration in teams. In this beginner's introduction to Git you will learn the basics of working with Git on the command line. Topics include: creating a repository, cloning, tracking changes, exploring history, using GitHub, and handling conflicts.

• You need to have Git bash installed on your computer.
• You will need to bring your laptop with wireless access and with a remote secure shell (SSH) client installed:
  • If you are on a Mac or Linux laptop, you already have it installed.
  • If you are on Windows and don't have SSH installed (or don't know what it is), we recommend you install Ubuntu on your windows OS before the workshop. We will guide you through installing SSH before the class. 
• We assume no previous knowledge of the Linux command line or version control.

About the workshop

Many funding agencies, journal publishers, and universities require research data to be ethically and appropriately published and shared online. Data sharing also encourages collaborative research enquiry, supports new discovery and innovation, and foregrounds research accountability. Not sure how to get started with planning to publish your research data? This session will get you thinking about how, when, and where to publish and share your research data for future use, and will also discuss strategies for data storage and organization.

About the workshop

Do you work with research data in spreadsheets? If so, this workshop is designed for you! Good data organization is the foundation of your research project, and so we will be covering the best practices for Data Organization in Spreadsheets, according to Data Carpentry. Then we’ll look at formatting values, fixing dates, dealing with missing data, merging/splitting columns, variable names, and more. By the end, you’ll be prepared to take your spreadsheets to the next level. Note that this workshop will not teach you how to use macros or code inside spreadsheets; this is mainly because such approaches are not efficient for data analysis, and are not easily reproducible.

  About the workshop

This two-day workshop introduces the programming language R.  R is an open-source, widely used, and increasingly popular tool for statistical and data analyses, text mining, geospatial analysis, modelling, and a growing number of other applications. No prior knowledge is required. Students will learn the skills needed to start analyzing their own data.

The topics covered include:

• the R environment (directories, workspace, scripts, and packages),
• simple commands to get you started,
• data structures (vector, matrix, data frames, lists),
• basic data analysis tools (built-in statistical packages, plotting, etc.)

 As time permits, an introduction to functions may also be covered.

About the workshop

Python is a popular language for scientific computing, and great for general-purpose programming as well. This hands-on workshop will cover basic concepts and tools, including data structures, and popular data science libraries such as pandas and numpy. This workshop uses curricula from Software Carpentry, whose mission is to help researchers get more work done in less time and with less pain by teaching them basic lab skills for scientific computing.

Requirements

Setup & Software Installation

• Participants need to bring a laptop with Python installed on their device prior to attending the workshop
• We will be using Python 3.7 and Jupyter notebooks throughout the workshop. The easiest way to install is via Anaconda https://docs.anaconda.com/anaconda/install/. We will also explore incorporating an IDE such as PyCharm https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/, please ensure you install this. 
• In addition to this, please make sure you install the following Python dependencies:
  • Matplotlib (Instructions https://matplotlib.org/3.1.1/users/installing.html  )
  • Numpy (Instructions https://scipy.org/install.html  )
  • Pandas (Instructions https://pandas.pydata.org/pandas-docs/stable/install.html)
  • Plotly  (Instructions https://pypi.org/project/plotly/)

Prerequisite:

This workshop is designed for people with no background in Python.

 About this workshop

This workshop is designed for non-science students interested in the statistical computing program R. No prior knowledge of R is required. Often data outside of the sciences includes textual data, such as a corpus or series of surveys. In this workshop we’ll learn how to process textual data in R, as well as the basic skills to start analyzing it. Specific topics covered include the R environment (directories, workspace, scripts, and packages), data structures (vector, matrix, data frames, lists), and the beginnings of simple data analysis (built-in statistical packages, elementary statistics, etc.).

 Requirements

Workshop participants will need to bring their own laptops, with R and RStudio installed prior to attending the workshop.

 About the workshop

This series of lessons will introduce you to the programming language R.  R is an open-source, widely used, and increasingly popular tool for statistical and data analyses, text mining, geospatial analysis, modelling, and a growing number of other applications.

The topics covered include:

• the R environment (directories, workspace, scripts, and packages),
• simple commands to get you started,
• data structures (vector, matrix, data frames, lists),
• basic data analysis tools (built-in statistical packages, plotting, etc.)

 As time permits, an introduction to functions may also be covered.

 Requirements:

• No prior knowledge is required. Students will learn the skills needed to start analyzing their own data.
• Prior to attending the workshop, warticipants need to install the latest versions of both:
  • R 
  • and RStudio

About the workshop

Want to make your research and writing more efficient? Hate the last minute rush of trying to create a correctly formatted bibliography? This workshop is for you! We will introduce Zotero, a citation management tool that can help you import, organize, share, and manage your citations and documents, as well as create correctly formatted in-text citations and bibliographies in almost any style -- in seconds.

Requirements

In advance of the workshop, participants should: register for a Zotero account and download and install Zotero 5.0.

Resources

Workshop materials

About the workshop

Spatial thinking allows us to ask questions about the spatial patterns and organization of people, places, and environments on Earth:

• What is the travel route of the Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna)? Does it pass close to areas where predators are present, specifically those which prey on eggs?
• Are neighbourhoods with low socioeconomic status spatially correlated to high morbidity rates?
• Or, a more pressing question, what neighbourhoods are COVID-19 hot spots?

Many of these questions ask about the spatial relationship between two or more phenomena. This workshop is an introduction to spatial thinking and the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This workshop assumes attendees have no previous experience with GIS. ArcGIS Pro is Esri's newest desktop software, which will eventually replace ArcGIS Desktop (aka ArcMap).

Target Audience

This workshop is designed for those with little or no prior experience with GIS but are interested in getting started with it or learning ArcGIS Pro.  It may also be of interest to those who are already familiar with ArcMap, but are interested in migrating from ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro. 

Learning outcomes

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• think spatially about their research;
• understand the basic elements of GIS, geospatial data, and spatial analysis;
• use a GIS environment (ArcGIS Pro);
• create simple maps using geospatial data;
• look for and find geospatial data and resources

Core competencies
finding and using spatial data, projections, spatial thinking, map essentials

Requirements

Software

• ArcGIS Pro. Current SFU students, staff, and faculty members are eligible to download and install ArcGIS Pro to their personal computers. Please make sure you download ArcGIS Pro (not ArcGIS Desktop, which is the first one on the list) from the download page.

Resources

• Workshop materials

About the workshop

GIS software doesn’t have to be expensive! QGIS is a free, open-source GIS platform with powerful tools and wide variety of plugins.

The goal of this workshop is to introduce you to a few fundamental concepts of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and a hands-on introduction to QGIS.  You will learn how to add/analyze/visualize spatial data. Furthermore, you will learn how to identify the maps that lie, which is an important skill to have when we see misleading maps on the web all the time! 

Learning outcomes

By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:

• understand the basic elements of GIS and geospatial data
• use a GIS environment
• understand the basics of thematic maps 
• import data to QGIS and edit data within QGIS
• create simple maps using geospatial data
• think critically about how to make a map that correctly represents the data
• export simple maps using the layout manager

Target audience

• This workshop has been designed for those with little or no prior experience with GIS but are interested in entering the world of digital cartography.
• It may also be of interest to those already familiar with GIS, but would like to have some hands-on experience using QGIS.

Requirements

Software

• You need to install QGIS on your device prior to attending the workshop. QGIS runs on Linux, Windows and Mac operating systems.
• To download QGIS, please visit https://qgis.org/en/site/forusers/download.html.
  

About the workshop

You’ve likely used Google Maps, Yelp, or Craigslist, which all have integrated web map elements, but have you ever thought of creating a web map for your research project? An interactive web map is a great tool for both data exploration and communicating your research with a wide audience, academic and public alike.

Leaflet is one of the most popular open-source JavaScript libraries for interactive maps. Here’s an example Interactive Map Tracking Charges & Enforcement Related to Covid-19 created with Leaflet by two researchers in Canada. This workshop will introduce you to Leaflet for R, an R package, which makes it easy to integrate and control Leaflet maps in R without knowledge of JavaScript. You can create interactive web maps right in R Studio! The topics covered include:

• Web mapping basics (map titles, web services, etc)
• Using the Leaflet package for R to add titles, markers, popups, create a theme map, change basemap, etc.
• Host and publish your web map through Github

Target audience

This workshop is designed for those familiar with R and interested in making interactive maps with R.  If you hope leverage your R skills to explore spatial data and/or communicate your projects in a web-based format, this workshop is right for you. 

Requirements

Software

Participants need to install the latest versions of R and RStudio prior to attending the workshop.

Prerequisites

Familiarity with R and the RStudio environment. 

Resources

Workshop materials

About the workshop

About the workshop

Spatial thinking allows us to ask questions about the spatial patterns and organization of people, places, and environments on Earth:

• What is the travel route of the Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna)? Does it pass close to areas where predators are present, specifically those which prey on eggs?
• Are neighbourhoods with low socioeconomic status spatially correlated to high morbidity rates?
• Or, a more pressing question, what neighbourhoods are COVID-19 hot spots?

Many of these questions ask about the spatial relationship between two or more phenomena. This workshop is an introduction to spatial thinking and the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This workshop assumes attendees have no previous experience with GIS. ArcGIS Pro is Esri's newest desktop software, which will eventually replace ArcGIS Desktop (aka ArcMap).

Target Audience

This workshop is designed for those with little or no prior experience with GIS but are interested in getting started with it or learning ArcGIS Pro.  It may also be of interest to those who are already familiar with ArcMap, but are interested in migrating from ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro. 

Learning outcomes

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• think spatially about their research;
• understand the basic elements of GIS, geospatial data, and spatial analysis;
• use a GIS environment (ArcGIS Pro);
• create simple maps using geospatial data;
• look for and find geospatial data and resources

Core competencies
finding and using spatial data, projections, spatial thinking, map essentials

Resources

• Workshop materials

About the workshop

Python is a popular language for scientific computing, and great for general-purpose programming as well. This hands-on workshop will cover basic concepts and tools, including data structures, and popular data science libraries such as pandas and numpy. This workshop uses curricula from Software Carpentry, whose mission is to help researchers get more work done in less time and with less pain by teaching them basic lab skills for scientific computing.

Requirements

Setup & Software Installation

• Participants need to bring a laptop with Python installed on their device prior to attending the workshop
• We will be using Python 3.7 and Jupyter notebooks throughout the workshop. The easiest way to install is via Anaconda https://docs.anaconda.com/anaconda/install/. We will also explore incorporating an IDE such as PyCharm https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/, please ensure you install this. 
• In addition to this, please make sure you install the following Python dependencies:
  • Matplotlib (Instructions https://matplotlib.org/3.1.1/users/installing.html  )
  • Numpy (Instructions https://scipy.org/install.html  )
  • Pandas (Instructions https://pandas.pydata.org/pandas-docs/stable/install.html)
  • Plotly  (Instructions https://pypi.org/project/plotly/)

Prerequisite:

This workshop is designed for people with no background in Python.

About help sessions

Questions about working with NVivo? Get answers.

Join us for online office hours hosted by Graduate NVivo Peers on Zoom. Drop in with your questions. No experience with NVivo is necessary.

  About the workshop

This two-day workshop introduces the programming language R.  R is an open-source, widely used, and increasingly popular tool for statistical and data analyses, text mining, geospatial analysis, modelling, and a growing number of other applications. No prior knowledge is required. Students will learn the skills needed to start analyzing their own data.

The topics covered include:

• the R environment (directories, workspace, scripts, and packages),
• simple commands to get you started,
• data structures (vector, matrix, data frames, lists),
• basic data analysis tools (built-in statistical packages, plotting, etc.)

 As time permits, an introduction to functions may also be covered.

 About this workshop

This workshop is designed for non-science students interested in the statistical computing program R. No prior knowledge of R is required. Often data outside of the sciences includes textual data, such as a corpus or series of surveys. In this workshop we’ll learn how to process textual data in R, as well as the basic skills to start analyzing it. Specific topics covered include the R environment (directories, workspace, scripts, and packages), data structures (vector, matrix, data frames, lists), and the beginnings of simple data analysis (built-in statistical packages, elementary statistics, etc.).

 Requirements

Workshop participants will need to bring their own laptops, with R and RStudio installed prior to attending the workshop.

 About the workshop

This series of lessons will introduce you to the programming language R.  R is an open-source, widely used, and increasingly popular tool for statistical and data analyses, text mining, geospatial analysis, modelling, and a growing number of other applications.

The topics covered include:

• the R environment (directories, workspace, scripts, and packages),
• simple commands to get you started,
• data structures (vector, matrix, data frames, lists),
• basic data analysis tools (built-in statistical packages, plotting, etc.)

 As time permits, an introduction to functions may also be covered.

 Requirements:

• No prior knowledge is required. Students will learn the skills needed to start analyzing their own data.
• Prior to attending the workshop, warticipants need to install the latest versions of both:
  • R 
  • and RStudio

Tableau is a data visualization tool that is being used to help analyze data and illustrate the patterns and insights behind them. This online, interactive workshop will introduce researchers and students to Tableau Public, a free access version of Tableau.

 About the workshop

You will leave this workshop with an understanding of how to:

• connect datasets to your Tableau workbook;
• create a variety of basic chart types (including bar charts, line graphs, and maps);
• publish and share interactive charts and graphs.

 Requirements

Before the workshop, please:

• download and install the latest version of Tableau Public to your laptop
• download the workshop materials.

 About the Thesis Writing Group

Join the Thesis Writing Group to make some serious progress on your thesis! The Thesis Writing Group is modeled after other successful online writing groups that use scheduled time to work on their writing with the (quiet) presence and support of other writers. The Research Commons remains devoted to supporting SFU graduate student researchers, even though we are now working from a distance!

What you can expect

The Thesis Writing Group will be held via Zoom. It will be hosted and moderated by members of the Graduate Writing Facilitator team, who will be available for writing support, along with a Librarian for research support. An Assistant for Theses will also be available for some of the sessions for any questions about using the thesis template, formatting, or the thesis submission process. Optional mini workshops on topics such as library research techniques, copyright, and scholarly communication will be offered some weeks. The sessions will be held on Fridays, 9:00 am – 12 noon for 10 weeks, starting Friday, May 20, 2022 and concluding July 29, 2022.

 The online writing group format

Some of you may already be familiar with or have participated in online writing groups. For both those with and without experience, we encourage you to join us for this unique experience! Like Thesis Boot Camp that some of you may be familiar with, the group will begin each session by briefly checking in and setting goals in small groups before turning to dedicated writing time. Participants can request support from our team through the chat feature, and consultations/discussions will take place in a breakout room. The 3-hour sessions will conclude with the group coming together and discussing any reflections or areas of interest/concern.

Writers will be asked to keep their microphones muted while writing, and the use of webcams is welcome but entirely optional for each participant. 

 Registration is for ten weeks

Registration is available for all 10 weeks of sessions combined. We ask that registered participants commit to attending each session to the extent that their schedules allow, and that those who would like to join but know in advance that they will not be available to attend one or several sessions to please let us know in advance. Similar to Thesis Boot Camp registration, this is to ensure that we offer ample resources to best support students dedicated to making serious progress on their theses during this time period.

Please register by Wednesday, May 18 at 4:00pm, after which registrants will be contacted with a confirmation and further instructions.

If you have any questions about the Thesis Writing Group, please contact Robyn Long, Writing Services Coordinator for graduate students, at robyn_long@sfu.ca.

About the workshop

The SFU Library thesis template is a Microsoft Word file designed to assist students in preparing theses, projects, and extended essay(s) in accordance with formatting standards and requirements for submission to the Library.

There are 3 parts to this workshop:

1. SFU Library's research data specialists will give instruction on how to store, preserve (archive) and, if appropriate, share research data for future uses. (15 to 20 minutes)

2. SFU Copyright Office will briefly explain copyright law as it relates to reproducing copyright protected material in your thesis and other published works, and explain how to request permission from copyright holders when required. (20 to 30 minutes)

3. For the remainder of the time, the Theses Office will walk through the overall structure of your thesis and demonstrate the functionality of the thesis template. You will learn how to:

• download the thesis template (a Microsoft Word file) and set up some defaults
• format your text using styles (ie. block quotes, lists, references, etc.)
• update the Table of Contents, List of Tables and List of Figures
• bring in text from other documents

If we have time, we will show you how to:

• insert figures/images and tables and generate auto-numbered captions
• update the List of Figures and Tables
• other tips and tricks

About the workshop

After you have defended, the final step for graduation eligibility is submitting your thesis, project, or extended essay(s) to the Library. This workshop will walk you through the thesis submission process.

You will learn:

1. How to log into the Thesis Registration System (TRS)
2. What required documents you need to upload to the TRS
3. What “if applicable” documents you need to upload to the TRS
4. What happens after you have submitted

Note: A good time to take this workshop is sometime during the semester that you’ll be defending or sometime after you know when your defence date is.

About the workshop

Undertaking a literature review can feel overwhelming and leave students feeling unmoored. These sessions are intended to offer some structure and guidance along with creating a sense of community among students who may otherwise be doing this work alone. 

Each session will offer a short think piece (e.g., examples, frameworks, project planners) but spend the majority of the time hearing from and giving feedback to participants who are actively working on developing a literature review. Students will be invited to briefly talk through their working research question and current reading strategies and findings, and the facilitators and peers will provide feedback and suggestions. 

This series is aimed especially at MURB students who are preparing for the required research prospectus seminar. However, it is open to any graduate student who would like to be in conversation with others as they develop their literature review.

Registration is required for the series, but we welcome new participants throughout the term as well as those who may not be able to attend all sessions. If you would like to join a session after registration has closed, please email robyn_long@sfu.ca to register.

Facilitators:

• Dr. Tiffany Muller Myrdahl
• Kate Elliott
• Dr. Robyn Long
• Nina Smart

 About the Thesis Writing Group

Join the Thesis Writing Group to make some serious progress on your thesis! The Thesis Writing Group is modeled after other successful online writing groups that use scheduled time to work on their writing with the (quiet) presence and support of other writers. The Research Commons remains devoted to supporting SFU graduate student researchers, even though we are now working from a distance!

What you can expect

The Thesis Writing Group will be held via Zoom. It will be hosted and moderated by members of the Graduate Writing Facilitator team, who will be available for writing support, along with a Librarian for research support. An Assistant for Theses will also be available for some of the sessions for any questions about using the thesis template, formatting, or the thesis submission process. Optional mini workshops on topics such as library research techniques, copyright, and scholarly communication will be offered some weeks. The sessions will be held on Fridays, 9:00 am – 12 noon for 10 weeks, starting Friday, May 20, 2022 and concluding July 29, 2022.

 The online writing group format

Some of you may already be familiar with or have participated in online writing groups. For both those with and without experience, we encourage you to join us for this unique experience! Like Thesis Boot Camp that some of you may be familiar with, the group will begin each session by briefly checking in and setting goals in small groups before turning to dedicated writing time. Participants can request support from our team through the chat feature, and consultations/discussions will take place in a breakout room. The 3-hour sessions will conclude with the group coming together and discussing any reflections or areas of interest/concern.

Writers will be asked to keep their microphones muted while writing, and the use of webcams is welcome but entirely optional for each participant. 

 Registration is for ten weeks

Registration is available for all 10 weeks of sessions combined. We ask that registered participants commit to attending each session to the extent that their schedules allow, and that those who would like to join but know in advance that they will not be available to attend one or several sessions to please let us know in advance. Similar to Thesis Boot Camp registration, this is to ensure that we offer ample resources to best support students dedicated to making serious progress on their theses during this time period.

Please register by Wednesday, May 18 at 4:00pm, after which registrants will be contacted with a confirmation and further instructions.

If you have any questions about the Thesis Writing Group, please contact Robyn Long, Writing Services Coordinator for graduate students, at robyn_long@sfu.ca.

About the series

This four-part virtual webinar series is designed to bring calm to the brain’s threat response associated with the uncertainty of academic writing by bringing certainty into the process. Writing strategies for improving the clarity, logic, and flow of your writing will be clearly explained from the onset in a step-by-step fashion to allow you to feel in control of your writing. Participants encouraged to bring some of their own writing to the webinar to apply the techniques to their own writing.

Register once and attend as many or as few as you like.

Dates and description

June 1, 2022: Grammar as Choice

In this webinar, you will learn an approach to grammar concerned with what grammar does in your writing (its functions) as opposed to the “rules” of grammar, and learn to make choices between different clause structures and word forms to shape your message clearly.

June 8, 2022: Old-to New Information Flow

In this webinar, you will learn a strategy called Thematic Progression—a powerful resource for organizing a text—to help guide the reader through logical connections in your writing.

June 15, 2022: Paragraph Patterns: Linking

Research has shown that scientific research writers regularly use topic development patterns based on the given/new contract in their published work. Most sentences, therefore, should begin with old, familiar, or "given" information—something the reader can "recover" from context—and move toward information that is unfamiliar, unexpected, or "news" (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004, p. 91).  This is because sentences that start with new ideas are difficult to understand because readers only realize how those ideas fit the text at the end of the sentence.  In this webinar, you will learn how to gradually develop a topic in a paragraph so that it conforms to the expectations of readers.

June 22, 2022: Controlling the Theme

Writers often have quite a lot of control over which part of the clause is the topic, or theme. Learn to use various grammatical resources to control the theme and move information into the old or new position to make strong connections in your writing.

About the workshop

This interactive workshop focuses on the literature review and literature search. At this session you will learn:

• conventions of literature reviews,
• search strategies,
• advanced features of research databases,
• and tips to further develop effective and efficient research skills.