Research Commons: Workshops for graduate students & postdoctoral fellows

The Research Commons is pleased to offer you a range of workshops, developed in the context of SFU Library's Instruction Strategy. You can register for upcoming workshops and search by workshop date in our workshops calendar.  

If you do not see the topic(s) you are interested in and/or would like a specialized workshop for yourself and a group of colleagues, please send a request to research-commons@sfu.ca.

SFU values diversity and is committed to inclusion. If you require any disability-related accommodations in order to fully access and participate in our workshops and/or events, please contact us directly at library-workshops@sfu.ca. All communication will be kept confidential. Please contact us as early as possible as some accommodations will require lead time to arrange (i.e. CART, ASL)

Unaffiliated with SFU but interested in attending a workshop? See Who can register for SFU Library Research Commons workshops.

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Digital Humanities workshops

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Unlocking XML Data with XPath

About the workshop

XML (eXtensible Markup language) is a ubiquitous data format across the social sciences and humanities, structuring every web page you see on the internet and powering an array of digital resources like library catalogs, vast scientific datasets, API responses, and digital textual editions. This workshop introduces XPath (XML Path Language): the query language designed specifically for traversing, analyzing, and parsing XML datasets. With its simple syntax, XPath offers a straightforward mechanism for interrogating XML data, allowing researchers to identify patterns, spot inconsistencies, and ask questions of their XML without any previous knowledge of programming languages or query syntaxes.

This workshop is aimed toward anyone who works with XML data and will provide participants with hands-on experience with using XPath. Using the Folger Shakespeare corpus as a sample dataset, this workshop will outline how to construct and execute XPath queries using oXygen XML editor and will demonstrate how participants can answer various research questions ranging in complexity about their data (for example, "What is the average length of Hamlet's soliloquies? To whom does he speak most often? Who speaks the highest number of verse lines across all of Shakespeare's plays?")

Researchers are encouraged to bring their own XML datasets and questions to the workshop to serve as real-life examples that, if time permits, can be addressed collaboratively.

Note: This is an in-person workshop, taking place in a computer lab. You do not need to bring your own device.

 Requirements

  • No prior programming knowledge or experience with query languages is required
  • Some familiarity with XML data is preferred, but not necessary

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Wednesday, March 29, 2023 - 10:00am to 12:00pm
Burnaby, Bennett Library, Lab 2105

English as an Additional Language (EAL) workshops

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Next semester's workshops will be posted soon.

Knowledge Mobilization workshops

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Unlock Your Research Impact: Tools for doing integrated knowledge translation [Online]

About the workshop

Have you heard that working collaboratively with community, that is taking an integrated knowledge translation (IKT) approach to research, will increase the quality and impact of your research? Are you wondering how to take this approach? In this webinar Mei Lan Fang, University of Dundee professor and Lupin Battersby, SFU knowledge mobilization manager, introduce you to IKT and a toolkit of resources to guide you on using this approach throughout the research cycle.

Presenter

Mei Lan Fang & Lupin Battersby

---

This workshop is part of the Knowledge Mobilization Lunch and Learn series.

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Wednesday, April 12, 2023 - 12:00pm to 1:00pm
via Zoom

Learning workshops

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Next semester's workshops will be posted soon.

Research Data Management workshops

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  For assistance with research data management, please contact data-services@sfu.ca.

Check out our recorded workshops on topics in research data management.

Next semester's workshops will be posted soon.

Research Programming workshops

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Finding pre-trained models for transfer learning

About the workshop

Training models from scratch requires way too much data, time, and computing power (or money) to be a practical option. This is why transfer learning has become such a common practice: by starting with models trained on related problems, you are saving time and achieving good results with little data. Now, where do you find such models?

In this workshop, we will have a look at some of the most popular pre-trained models repositories and libraries (Model Zoo, PyTorch Hub, and Hugging Face); see how you can also search models in the literature and on GitHub; and finally learn how to import models into PyTorch.

This is an in-person workshop.

Requirements

  • Bring your own laptop.
  • If you want to follow the hands-on part of this workshop, please make sure to have an up-to-date version of PyTorch (https://pytorch.org/get-started/locally) on your laptop

Facilitator

Marie-Hélène Burle

 

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
* cancelled *
Thursday, March 23, 2023 - 2:30pm to 4:00pm

Burnaby, Bennett Library, Rm 7010, Research Commons

RMarkdown: Learn to Create Webpages, PDF Documents, and Formal Reports in RStudio

About the workshop

This workshop, intended for those who have at least an introductory competence in R, will teach participants how to use RMarkdown. RMarkdown is a flexible filetype available in RStudio that integrates the ability of running R code with the features of word processing software.

Participants will learn how to create interactive webpages, beautifully and professionally formatted PDF documents, and potentially other types of professional documents that truly set them apart from typical Microsoft Word documents. A basic understanding of R coding is required to participate in this course.

The topics covered include:

  • RMarkdown documents
  • Markdown document formatting
  • LaTeX document formatting
  • Integrating customized tables and figures into documents
  • Creating various document types, such as html and PDF documents

Requirements

  • Bring your own laptop, with the latest version of R and RStudio installed
  • Participants should have at least an introductory competence in R and a basic understanding of R coding is required

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Sunday, March 26, 2023 - 1:00pm to 5:00pm
Burnaby, Bennett Library, Rm 7010, Research Commons

Managing large hierarchical datasets with PyTables

About the workshop

PyTables is a free and open-source Python library for managing large hierarchical datasets. It is built on top of numpy and the HDF5 scientific dataset library, and it focuses both on performance and interactive analysis of very large datasets. For large data streams (think multi-dimensional arrays or billions of records) it outperforms databases in terms of speed, memory usage and I/O bandwidth, although it is not a replacement to traditional relational databases as PyTables does not support broad relationships between dataset variables. PyTables can be even used to organize a workflow with many (thousands to millions) of small files, as you can create a PyTables database of nodes that can be used like regular opened files in Python. This lets you store a large number of arbitrary files in a PyTables database with on-the-fly compression, making it very efficient for handling huge amounts of data.

This workshop will guide you through the basics with no previous PyTables or HDF5 knowledge.

This is an in-person workshop.

Requirements

  • Bring your own laptop.
  • Some basic Python knowledge would be useful, although many attendees will probably pick it up on the fly, as we'll try to go slowly.

Facilitator

Alex Razoumov

 

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Thursday, April 27, 2023 - 2:30pm to 4:00pm
Burnaby, Bennett Library, Rm 7010, Research Commons

Research Software workshops

  Citation Management

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Citations Made Easy: Introduction to Zotero [Online]

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 introductory 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, please: register for a Zotero account and download and install Zotero 6 and the Zotero Connector. If you have any difficulties doing this, please send an email to citation-managers@sfu.ca. 

Resources

Workshop materials are available here

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Thursday, March 23, 2023 - 3:00pm to 4:00pm
via Zoom (link will be sent to participants 24 hours before the workshop/event begins)

  GIS

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Intro to ArcGIS Online: an easy-to-use cloud-based mapping platform [Online]

About the workshop

Does part of your research include site specific locations? Would an interactive web map that includes pop-up photos of these locations help contextualize your research?  

Or do you have some quantitative data that you want to display on an interactive web map?  

Come to this workshop to learn how to use ArcGIS Online, a user-friendly cloud-based GIS platform, to make a web map easily. You will also be introduced to an array of apps and data sources in the ArcGIS Online ecosystem.

Learning objectives

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

  • Use ArcGIS Online to import data, change basemaps, change symbology, and make a web map.  
  • Understand some features in the ArcGIS Online ecosystem: Living Atlas, apps, and new functions.

Target audience

No previous knowledge of GIS is required.  

Requirements

Software

An ArcGIS Online account. SFU students, staff and faculty are eligible for ArcGIS Online accounts for free of charge. If you don’t already have an existing ArcGIS Online account, you can log into ArcGIS Online with your SFU computing ID. For instructions on how to get access to it, refer to this page: https://www.lib.sfu.ca/find/other-materials/data-gis/gis/software-arc-gis 

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Thursday, March 23, 2023 - 10:00am to 11:30am
via Zoom (link will be sent to participants 24 hours before the workshop/event begins)

Python for ArcGIS: Working with ArcGIS Notebooks

About the workshop

Join us to learn how to use Python code in a Jupyter Notebook, an open-source web application that enables you to create and share documents that contain rich text, equations and multimedia, alongside executable code and visualization of analysis outputs. 

The Python programming language was first introduced to the ArcGIS community in 2004, with the release of ArcGIS version 9.0, as one of the scripting languages that provides access to the ArcGIS geoprocessing framework. Since then, Python has become the language of choice for scripting and automation among ArcGIS users, and indeed many other applications. At the same time, the ecosystem of Python libraries has continued to grow (e.g., NumPy or SciPy for advanced mathematical and scientific processing, or more specialized modules for integrating deep learning and machine learning tools such as Tensorflow). With the introduction of the notebook interface, initially using IPython, and more recently with the Jupyter Notebook server, the Python language and specifically Python Notebooks have become highly valuable tools for data science. 

The workshop will cover: 

  • The basics of setting up and being productive with Python notebooks  
  • Using pandas and Dask libraries for basic data wrangling tasks 
  • Introduction to ArcGIS Notebooks, which are Python Notebooks that are well-integrated within the ArcGIS platform.  
  • Walking through a series of notebooks that demonstrate how different stages of an end-to-end data science workflow can be created using ArcGIS Notebooks.  

The benefits of using Python Notebooks (hence why you should come to this workshop):  

  •  Learn how to set up and interact with ArcGIS Notebooks, and how to load, analyze, and visualize GIS datasets in a Python Notebook to create a compelling document that communicates your GIS data processes or data science workflows for other developers. 
  • You will be able to iteratively experiment with your code and immediately see the change in output, as well as the change visually in spatial output.  
  • Using Python notebooks can promote reproducible research practices
  • It is convenient to access, analyze, and store data in both local file geodatabases and feature layers in ArcGIS Online, simply through code in the cells. 

Requirements

Software and account

  • An ArcGIS Online account. SFU students, staff and faculty are eligible for ArcGIS Online accounts for free of charge. You can log into ArcGIS Online with your SFU computing ID. For instructions on how to get access to it, refer to this page.
  • A personal laptop. Download and install ArcGIS Pro (2.5+ minimum) if you do not already have it. We strongly recommend ArcGIS Pro 2.9 (which you can download from ArcGIS downloads page). (Note: if you use Pro 3.0, you will have to install the additional drivers.) 
  • If you are not affiliated with SFU, you wouldn’t be able to get access to ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Pro from the links above.  However, you are welcome to attend the workshop if you get an access to ArcGIS Online (note: you will need an account with GIS Professional Advanced user type with permission to use hosted Advanced Notebooks and GeoEnrichment) and ArcGIS Pro from your own institution. 

Prerequisite

  • Prior knowledge of Python is recommended, but not necessary 

 Facilitator

  • Kendra Munn, Urban Solutions Specialist from Esri. 

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Friday, March 31, 2023 - 1:00pm to 4:00pm
Burnaby, Bennett Library, Rm 7010, Research Commons

Intro to ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online: working with imagery in the cloud [Online]

About the workshop

ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online is a new software as a solution (SaaS) that provides users with a powerful way to host, analyze, and stream imagery and raster collections using the ArcGIS Online cloud. 

As opposed to the conventional way of storing and analyzing imagery locally, this tool allows you to host and stream your imagery and raster collections as titled or dynamic imagery layers ready for immediate visualization and analysis. Come to this workshop to learn how to take advantage of this new SaaS software and discover what ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online can do for your imagery workflow!   

Learning objectives

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

  1. Understand how to host imagery on ArcGIS Online as tiled and dynamic layers 
  2. Perform a few analyses on hosted imagery on ArcGIS Online to generate insights from the results.  
  3. Understand how to integrate imagery into your storytelling (for example, as an interactive web app).  

Target audience

This workshop has been designed for those with little or no prior experience with remote sensing or raster analysis. It may also be of interest to those already familiar with imagery workflow but interested in exploring this cloud-based imagery tool. 

Requirements

Software

An ArcGIS Online account. SFU students, staff and faculty are eligible for ArcGIS Online accounts for free of charge. If you don’t already have an existing ArcGIS Online account, you can log into ArcGIS Online with your SFU computing ID. For instructions on how to get access to it, refer to this page: https://www.lib.sfu.ca/find/other-materials/data-gis/gis/software-arc-gis 

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Tuesday, April 4, 2023 - 10:00am to 12:00pm
via Zoom (link will be sent to participants 24 hours before the workshop/event begins)

  Web GIS Workshop Series

In the past decade, revolutionary internet technologies have driven Geographic Information System (GIS) to expand far beyond the professional GIS community. Many individuals who lack traditional GIS trainings- engineers, entrepreneurs, journalists, researchers- have been involved in web cartography work. The empowerment is fueled by geospatially enabled technologies such as Global Positional Systems (GPS), the Internet, and user-friendly cartography tools. This workshop series will give you a taste of this new ecosystem, introducing you to a range of concepts, tools, and skills which include how web map is structured, how to create one, how to collaboratively collect field data and populate to a shared web map, and how to combine maps and digital storytelling to communicate your research.

All workshops in this series are designed for beginners- no previous GIS knowledge is required. Attend as many or as few sessions as you like.

Intro to ArcGIS Online: an easy-to-use cloud-based mapping platform [Online]

About the workshop

Does part of your research include site specific locations? Would an interactive web map that includes pop-up photos of these locations help contextualize your research?  

Or do you have some quantitative data that you want to display on an interactive web map?  

Come to this workshop to learn how to use ArcGIS Online, a user-friendly cloud-based GIS platform, to make a web map easily. You will also be introduced to an array of apps and data sources in the ArcGIS Online ecosystem.

Learning objectives

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

  • Use ArcGIS Online to import data, change basemaps, change symbology, and make a web map.  
  • Understand some features in the ArcGIS Online ecosystem: Living Atlas, apps, and new functions.

Target audience

No previous knowledge of GIS is required.  

Requirements

Software

An ArcGIS Online account. SFU students, staff and faculty are eligible for ArcGIS Online accounts for free of charge. If you don’t already have an existing ArcGIS Online account, you can log into ArcGIS Online with your SFU computing ID. For instructions on how to get access to it, refer to this page: https://www.lib.sfu.ca/find/other-materials/data-gis/gis/software-arc-gis 

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Thursday, March 23, 2023 - 10:00am to 11:30am
via Zoom (link will be sent to participants 24 hours before the workshop/event begins)

Intro to ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online: working with imagery in the cloud [Online]

About the workshop

ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online is a new software as a solution (SaaS) that provides users with a powerful way to host, analyze, and stream imagery and raster collections using the ArcGIS Online cloud. 

As opposed to the conventional way of storing and analyzing imagery locally, this tool allows you to host and stream your imagery and raster collections as titled or dynamic imagery layers ready for immediate visualization and analysis. Come to this workshop to learn how to take advantage of this new SaaS software and discover what ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online can do for your imagery workflow!   

Learning objectives

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

  1. Understand how to host imagery on ArcGIS Online as tiled and dynamic layers 
  2. Perform a few analyses on hosted imagery on ArcGIS Online to generate insights from the results.  
  3. Understand how to integrate imagery into your storytelling (for example, as an interactive web app).  

Target audience

This workshop has been designed for those with little or no prior experience with remote sensing or raster analysis. It may also be of interest to those already familiar with imagery workflow but interested in exploring this cloud-based imagery tool. 

Requirements

Software

An ArcGIS Online account. SFU students, staff and faculty are eligible for ArcGIS Online accounts for free of charge. If you don’t already have an existing ArcGIS Online account, you can log into ArcGIS Online with your SFU computing ID. For instructions on how to get access to it, refer to this page: https://www.lib.sfu.ca/find/other-materials/data-gis/gis/software-arc-gis 

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Tuesday, April 4, 2023 - 10:00am to 12:00pm
via Zoom (link will be sent to participants 24 hours before the workshop/event begins)

  Python

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Python for ArcGIS: Working with ArcGIS Notebooks

About the workshop

Join us to learn how to use Python code in a Jupyter Notebook, an open-source web application that enables you to create and share documents that contain rich text, equations and multimedia, alongside executable code and visualization of analysis outputs. 

The Python programming language was first introduced to the ArcGIS community in 2004, with the release of ArcGIS version 9.0, as one of the scripting languages that provides access to the ArcGIS geoprocessing framework. Since then, Python has become the language of choice for scripting and automation among ArcGIS users, and indeed many other applications. At the same time, the ecosystem of Python libraries has continued to grow (e.g., NumPy or SciPy for advanced mathematical and scientific processing, or more specialized modules for integrating deep learning and machine learning tools such as Tensorflow). With the introduction of the notebook interface, initially using IPython, and more recently with the Jupyter Notebook server, the Python language and specifically Python Notebooks have become highly valuable tools for data science. 

The workshop will cover: 

  • The basics of setting up and being productive with Python notebooks  
  • Using pandas and Dask libraries for basic data wrangling tasks 
  • Introduction to ArcGIS Notebooks, which are Python Notebooks that are well-integrated within the ArcGIS platform.  
  • Walking through a series of notebooks that demonstrate how different stages of an end-to-end data science workflow can be created using ArcGIS Notebooks.  

The benefits of using Python Notebooks (hence why you should come to this workshop):  

  •  Learn how to set up and interact with ArcGIS Notebooks, and how to load, analyze, and visualize GIS datasets in a Python Notebook to create a compelling document that communicates your GIS data processes or data science workflows for other developers. 
  • You will be able to iteratively experiment with your code and immediately see the change in output, as well as the change visually in spatial output.  
  • Using Python notebooks can promote reproducible research practices
  • It is convenient to access, analyze, and store data in both local file geodatabases and feature layers in ArcGIS Online, simply through code in the cells. 

Requirements

Software and account

  • An ArcGIS Online account. SFU students, staff and faculty are eligible for ArcGIS Online accounts for free of charge. You can log into ArcGIS Online with your SFU computing ID. For instructions on how to get access to it, refer to this page.
  • A personal laptop. Download and install ArcGIS Pro (2.5+ minimum) if you do not already have it. We strongly recommend ArcGIS Pro 2.9 (which you can download from ArcGIS downloads page). (Note: if you use Pro 3.0, you will have to install the additional drivers.) 
  • If you are not affiliated with SFU, you wouldn’t be able to get access to ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Pro from the links above.  However, you are welcome to attend the workshop if you get an access to ArcGIS Online (note: you will need an account with GIS Professional Advanced user type with permission to use hosted Advanced Notebooks and GeoEnrichment) and ArcGIS Pro from your own institution. 

Prerequisite

  • Prior knowledge of Python is recommended, but not necessary 

 Facilitator

  • Kendra Munn, Urban Solutions Specialist from Esri. 

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Friday, March 31, 2023 - 1:00pm to 4:00pm
Burnaby, Bennett Library, Rm 7010, Research Commons

Managing large hierarchical datasets with PyTables

About the workshop

PyTables is a free and open-source Python library for managing large hierarchical datasets. It is built on top of numpy and the HDF5 scientific dataset library, and it focuses both on performance and interactive analysis of very large datasets. For large data streams (think multi-dimensional arrays or billions of records) it outperforms databases in terms of speed, memory usage and I/O bandwidth, although it is not a replacement to traditional relational databases as PyTables does not support broad relationships between dataset variables. PyTables can be even used to organize a workflow with many (thousands to millions) of small files, as you can create a PyTables database of nodes that can be used like regular opened files in Python. This lets you store a large number of arbitrary files in a PyTables database with on-the-fly compression, making it very efficient for handling huge amounts of data.

This workshop will guide you through the basics with no previous PyTables or HDF5 knowledge.

This is an in-person workshop.

Requirements

  • Bring your own laptop.
  • Some basic Python knowledge would be useful, although many attendees will probably pick it up on the fly, as we'll try to go slowly.

Facilitator

Alex Razoumov

 

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Thursday, April 27, 2023 - 2:30pm to 4:00pm
Burnaby, Bennett Library, Rm 7010, Research Commons

  Qualitative Data Analysis

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  Please email nvivo-rc@sfu.ca for NVivo support or visit the NVivo: Software for Research Analysis webpage.

 

NVivo Office Hours [Online]

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.

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Tuesday, January 17, 2023 - 10:00am to 12:00pm
Tuesday, January 24, 2023 - 10:00am to 12:00pm
Tuesday, January 31, 2023 - 10:00am to 12:00pm
Tuesday, February 7, 2023 - 10:00am to 12:00pm
Tuesday, February 14, 2023 - 10:00am to 12:00pm
Tuesday, February 21, 2023 - 10:00am to 12:00pm
Tuesday, February 28, 2023 - 10:00am to 12:00pm
Tuesday, March 7, 2023 - 10:00am to 12:00pm
Tuesday, March 14, 2023 - 10:00am to 12:00pm
Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 10:00am to 12:00pm
Tuesday, March 28, 2023 - 10:00am to 12:00pm
Tuesday, April 4, 2023 - 10:00am to 12:00pm
Tuesday, April 11, 2023 - 10:00am to 12:00pm
Tuesday, April 18, 2023 - 10:00am to 12:00pm
via Zoom

Introduction to NVivo for Windows [Online]

About the workshop

NVivo is a qualitative data analysis software program, but what does that mean—and what does it mean for your research? Find out what NVivo is, when to use it, and how to get started.

In this hands-on introductory workshop, you'll take a tour of the NVivo software environment, using sample data. You’ll be introduced to NVivo’s functions and you’ll leave equipped with the basic info you need to begin working with NVivo. Topics introduced may include importing files and beginning coding.

This workshop is suitable for those with little or no experience using NVivo or other qualitative data analysis software.

Requirements

Before the workshop, please download and install NVivo 12. You can download NVivo 12 and the license key with your SFU computing ID by using the self-serve download link here. If youhave any trouble, please email us at nvivo-rc@sfu.ca.

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Monday, March 27, 2023 - 3:00pm to 5:00pm
via Zoom (link will be sent to participants 24 hours before the workshop/event begins)

  R (Software)

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  Consultation appointments in R are available, please email us at data-services@sfu.ca with some details on your specific question about using R. Data anonymization: note that any data needs to be suitably anonymized if working with sensitive subjects before meeting with the Research Programming Peer. 

RMarkdown: Learn to Create Webpages, PDF Documents, and Formal Reports in RStudio

About the workshop

This workshop, intended for those who have at least an introductory competence in R, will teach participants how to use RMarkdown. RMarkdown is a flexible filetype available in RStudio that integrates the ability of running R code with the features of word processing software.

Participants will learn how to create interactive webpages, beautifully and professionally formatted PDF documents, and potentially other types of professional documents that truly set them apart from typical Microsoft Word documents. A basic understanding of R coding is required to participate in this course.

The topics covered include:

  • RMarkdown documents
  • Markdown document formatting
  • LaTeX document formatting
  • Integrating customized tables and figures into documents
  • Creating various document types, such as html and PDF documents

Requirements

  • Bring your own laptop, with the latest version of R and RStudio installed
  • Participants should have at least an introductory competence in R and a basic understanding of R coding is required

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Sunday, March 26, 2023 - 1:00pm to 5:00pm
Burnaby, Bennett Library, Rm 7010, Research Commons

  Visual Analytics

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Next semester's workshops will be posted soon.

Scholarly Communication workshops

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Preparing to Publish [Online]

About the workshop

Graduate students are always encouraged to publish but often without really knowing what that means or how to start. This workshop will focus on navigating the peer review process and will also touch on the topics of open access, choosing a journal, working with an editor, and co-authorship.  It will include a discussion of copyright transfer agreements and licenses and provide insight into publishing venues for assuring your research has the best possible visibility, accessibility, and impact.

A few questions this session will help to answer:

  • How does the publishing cycle work?
  • How can you assess potential publishing venues?
  • What is peer review and how can you respond to reviewer comments?
  • What rights can you retain to your published research?
  • What are predatory publishers and how can you avoid them?

Resources

Coming soon.

 

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Wednesday, April 5, 2023 - 1:00pm to 3:00pm
via Zoom (link will be sent to participants 24 hours before the workshop/event begins)

Thesis workshops 

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  If you are unable to attend one of our thesis template workshops, check out our online tutorials on using the Thesis Word Template.
   For more information, please email the Thesis Office or book an appointment using the online booking system for a one-on-one consultation.

 

Thesis Word Template Drop-in Help [Online]

About the workshop

  • Is your List of Tables or List of Figures not populating or not updating properly?
  • Are you having troubles formatting large tables?
  • Do you have blank pages you can't get rid of?
  • Do have have inconsistent spacing?
  • Do you have page numbering issues?
  • Do you want to create a landscape oriented page?
  • Are some of your headings not showing up in the Table of Contents?
  • Other formatting issues?
 
If you are currently using the Thesis Word Template provided by the Library and would like some help with troubleshooting, please join us at one of our drop-in sessions.
 
Note:
If you haven't started using the Thesis Word Template or are just about to start and would like to learn how to use the template, please register for one of our Thesis Template workshops (via Zoom or in-person), book a one-on-one consultation or watch our videos.

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Thursday, January 26, 2023 - 9:00am to 10:00am
Thursday, February 16, 2023 - 9:00am to 10:00am
Thursday, March 16, 2023 - 9:00am to 10:00am
Thursday, April 6, 2023 - 9:00am to 10:00am
via Zoom

Thesis Writing Group [Online]

 About Thesis Writing Group

Join Thesis Writing Group to make some serious progress on your thesis (or other academic writing projects) and to develop a sustainable writing practice. Thesis Writing Group is modelled after other successful online writing groups that use scheduled time to work on writing with the (quiet) presence and support of other writers.

What you can expect

Thesis Writing Group is held via Zoom. It is facilitated by members of the Graduate Writing Services team and the Research Commons Librarian, who are available for writing and research support. An Assistant for Theses will also be available for some of the sessions for any questions about using the thesis template, formatting, and the thesis submission process. Optional mini workshops on topics such as library research techniques, copyright, and academic publishing will be offered some weeks. For Spring Term, sessions will be held on Fridays, 9:00 am – 12 noon for 10 weeks, starting Friday, January 27, 2023 and concluding Friday, March 31, 2023.

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! The group will begin each session by briefly checking in and setting goals 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 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. 

Please register by Wednesday, January 25 at 4:00pm, after which registrants will be contacted with a confirmation and further instructions.

If you have any questions about Thesis Writing Group, please contact Robyn Long, Graduate Writing Services Coordinator, at robyn_long@sfu.ca, or Julie Jones, Research Commons Librarian, at jsj7@sfu.ca

 

 

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Friday, January 27, 2023 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
Friday, February 3, 2023 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
Friday, February 10, 2023 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
Friday, February 17, 2023 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
Friday, February 24, 2023 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
Friday, March 3, 2023 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
Friday, March 10, 2023 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
Friday, March 17, 2023 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
Friday, March 24, 2023 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
Friday, March 31, 2023 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
via Zoom (link will be sent to participants 24 hours before the workshop/event begins)

The Thesis Submission Process [Online]

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.

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Wednesday, March 29, 2023 - 1:30pm to 3:00pm
via Zoom (link will be sent to participants 24 hours before the workshop/event begins)

Writing workshops

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Thesis Writing Group [Online]

 About Thesis Writing Group

Join Thesis Writing Group to make some serious progress on your thesis (or other academic writing projects) and to develop a sustainable writing practice. Thesis Writing Group is modelled after other successful online writing groups that use scheduled time to work on writing with the (quiet) presence and support of other writers.

What you can expect

Thesis Writing Group is held via Zoom. It is facilitated by members of the Graduate Writing Services team and the Research Commons Librarian, who are available for writing and research support. An Assistant for Theses will also be available for some of the sessions for any questions about using the thesis template, formatting, and the thesis submission process. Optional mini workshops on topics such as library research techniques, copyright, and academic publishing will be offered some weeks. For Spring Term, sessions will be held on Fridays, 9:00 am – 12 noon for 10 weeks, starting Friday, January 27, 2023 and concluding Friday, March 31, 2023.

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! The group will begin each session by briefly checking in and setting goals 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 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. 

Please register by Wednesday, January 25 at 4:00pm, after which registrants will be contacted with a confirmation and further instructions.

If you have any questions about Thesis Writing Group, please contact Robyn Long, Graduate Writing Services Coordinator, at robyn_long@sfu.ca, or Julie Jones, Research Commons Librarian, at jsj7@sfu.ca

 

 

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Friday, January 27, 2023 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
Friday, February 3, 2023 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
Friday, February 10, 2023 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
Friday, February 17, 2023 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
Friday, February 24, 2023 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
Friday, March 3, 2023 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
Friday, March 10, 2023 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
Friday, March 17, 2023 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
Friday, March 24, 2023 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
Friday, March 31, 2023 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
via Zoom (link will be sent to participants 24 hours before the workshop/event begins)

Writing through trauma: How journalists are doing things differently, to care for those in their stories and themselves

About the workshop

A conversation between Tamara Cherry and Karen Snowshoe, trauma-informed journalism experts, and Angela Sterritt. Not just for journalists but anyone wanting to have a trauma informed practice in their work and life. 

This event is part of SFU Library's series of activities with our Non-Fiction Writer in Residence, journalist and author Angela Sterritt! Learn more about the Non-Fiction Writer in Residence events.

Speakers

Tamara Cherry is a trauma researcher, survivor advocate, and award-winning journalist who spent the bulk of her career in some of Canada’s largest newsrooms. In late 2019, Tamara left her post as CTV News Toronto’s crime specialist to form Pickup Communications, a public relations firm that supports trauma survivors and the stakeholders who surround them. Tamara is the author of All the Bumpy Pebbles, a novel about domestic sex trafficking that was inspired by the stories shared with Tamara by survivors. Her forthcoming non-fiction debut, The Trauma Beat: A Case for Re-Thinking the Business of Bad News, focuses on her research examining the impact of the media on trauma survivors and the impact of trauma on members of the media. Part-journalism, part-memoir, The Trauma Beat draws on the experiences of more than 100 trauma survivors — from homicides to traffic fatalities, sexual violence to mass violence. Tamara is a regular voice on Newstalk 1010 radio in Toronto and across the iHeart Radio Talk Network. She lives in Regina, Saskatchewan with her partner and their three kids.

Since 2009 Karen Snowshoe has developed a dispute resolution practice that draws upon her formal education, lived-experience and traditional knowledge generationally passed down through her Tetlit-Gwich’in heritage. Karen is a leader in providing trauma- informed and culturally sensitive investigations. As senior counsel with the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Two-Spirit People (MMIWG2S), Karen built, trained, and led a national team of statement gatherers who conducted trauma-informed interviews across Canada.

Karen is a highly sought-after educator in trauma- informed practice. Her customized workshops on Indigenous Reconciliation and Trauma-Informed Practice have garnered widespread acclaim for inspiring participant to engage in reconciliation in a way that honours the humanity and dignity of all. In the spirit of keeping people safe and grounded during sessions, Karen co-facilitates with a Registered Clinical Counselor rooted in cultural humility.

Karen brings a unique perspective to her work, which includes respect and appreciation for the diversity of peoples and cultures throughout British Columbia, Canada, and the world.

Karen has been a long-time resident on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwxw̱ ú7mesh (Squamish), and Selí̓lw̓ itulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, today known as Vancouver. She also lived and worked in Canada’s north (the Yukon and the Northwest Territories) for 14 years.

Angela Sterritt is an award-winning investigative journalist and author from the Gitanmaax community of the Gitxsan Nation on her dad’s side and from Bell Island Newfoundland on her maternal side. Sterritt has worked as a television, radio, and digital journalist for more than a decade. She is currently the host of the CBC original podcast Land Back. Her book Unbroken, a work that is part memoir and part investigation into the murders and disappearances of Indigenous women will be published on May 30, 2023, by Greystone Books.

 

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Thursday, March 23, 2023 - 2:00pm to 3:30pm
via Zoom (link will be sent to participants 24 hours before the workshop/event begins)

Ethics and consent in non-fiction writing

About the workshop

In this panel discussion, journalists and authors will talk about ethical approaches to writing about vulnerable communities, on sensitive and complex topics and when pushing for accountability from authorities that are being accused of harm. We will look at how extractive forms of non-fiction writing is being challenged by BIPOC journalists. 

This event is part of SFU Library's series of activities with our Non-Fiction Writer in Residence, journalist and author Angela Sterritt! Learn more about the Non-Fiction Writer in Residence events.

Speakers

TBA

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Tuesday, April 4, 2023 - 10:00am to 11:30am
via Zoom (link will be sent to participants 24 hours before the workshop/event begins)

Preparing to Publish [Online]

About the workshop

Graduate students are always encouraged to publish but often without really knowing what that means or how to start. This workshop will focus on navigating the peer review process and will also touch on the topics of open access, choosing a journal, working with an editor, and co-authorship.  It will include a discussion of copyright transfer agreements and licenses and provide insight into publishing venues for assuring your research has the best possible visibility, accessibility, and impact.

A few questions this session will help to answer:

  • How does the publishing cycle work?
  • How can you assess potential publishing venues?
  • What is peer review and how can you respond to reviewer comments?
  • What rights can you retain to your published research?
  • What are predatory publishers and how can you avoid them?

Resources

Coming soon.

 

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Wednesday, April 5, 2023 - 1:00pm to 3:00pm
via Zoom (link will be sent to participants 24 hours before the workshop/event begins)