About the workshop

Would you like to enhance your English conversation skills and build confidence in your communication abilities? Designed for multilingual graduate students, Grad Talk is a weekly one-hour session hosted by fellow grad students. These sessions provide a supportive environment to practice speaking, listening, and interacting in English. You'll build confidence, connect with peers, receive constructive feedback, and engage in interactive activities.

About the workshop

Old to New Information Flow

In this session, you will learn about Thematic Progression, a powerful strategy for organizing your text by effectively managing the flow of information from old to new. This approach helps guide readers through your writing by establishing clear, logical connections between ideas. We will explore how to implement this strategy to enhance the coherence and readability of your work, ensuring that each new piece of information builds smoothly on what has come before. Through practical exercises, you’ll develop skills to create well-structured and engaging content that maintains reader interest and supports your arguments effectively.

About the workshop

Paragraph Patterns

In this session, you'll explore how scientific research writers use topic development patterns to structure their paragraphs effectively. We'll focus on two key patterns: the linking pattern, which creates continuity and enhances the flow of your writing by seamlessly connecting ideas within and between paragraphs, and the repeated theme pattern, which reinforces key concepts through repetition. Through practical exercises, you'll learn to apply these patterns to ensure that your writing is cohesive, logically organized, and easily navigable for readers, ultimately improving the clarity and impact of your academic work.

About the workshop

Controlling the Theme

In this session, you will gain control over which part of the clause serves as the topic or theme, allowing you to guide your reader’s focus more effectively. You will learn to use various grammatical resources to strategically position information as old or new, thereby creating strong connections within your writing. This technique enhances the clarity and coherence of your text, making it easier for readers to follow and understand your arguments. Through practical exercises, you'll apply these strategies to improve the organization and impact of your academic writing.

 Textbooks

• Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. B. (2021). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills (4th ed.). University of Michigan Press. 
  Note: A PDF will be distributed to all participants during the first session.
   
• Caplan, N. (2020). Grammar choices for academic and professional writers. University of Michigan Press.
  Note: Optional textbook, available at Belzberg Library.

About the workshop

Writing Problem-Solution Text

In this session, you will learn the problem-solution structure, a crucial approach for structuring research paper introductions and academic arguments. You will explore how to effectively present a problem, propose potential solutions, and organize your argument to build a compelling and logical case. Through practical exercises, you'll apply this structure to enhance the clarity and persuasiveness of your writing, ensuring that your research paper or academic text addresses issues systematically and engages your audience effectively.

 Textbooks

• Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. B. (2021). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills (4th ed.). University of Michigan Press. 
  Note: A PDF will be distributed to all participants during the first session.
   
• Caplan, N. (2020). Grammar choices for academic and professional writers. University of Michigan Press.
  Note: Optional textbook, available at Belzberg Library.

About the workshop

Constructing Effective Introductions and Conclusions

In this session, you will learn techniques for crafting compelling introductions that engage your readers and set the stage for your text. Additionally, you'll explore strategies for writing strong conclusions that effectively summarize and emphasize key points. Through practical exercises, you'll apply these techniques to your own writing, enhancing your ability to create engaging openings and impactful endings.

 Textbooks

• Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. B. (2021). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills (4th ed.). University of Michigan Press.  
  Note: A PDF will be distributed to all participants during the first session. 
   
• Caplan, N. (2020). Grammar choices for academic and professional writers. University of Michigan Press.
  Note: Optional textbook, available at Belzberg Library.

 About the event

This conference-style event offers a full day of the Research Commons’ most popular workshops, specifically designed for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

 Workshops/events 

*Note: subject to minor adjustments

• Research Ethics and Responsible Conduct of Research
• Citations made easy: Introduction to Zotero
• Digital Humanities tools and approaches 
• Introduction to Research Data Management 
• Intro to ArcGIS Online 
• Making Literature Reviews Easier with NVivo 
• Academic Publishing 101: What You Need Know
• Get Started with Tableau Public for Data Visualization 
• Level up! Search Strategies and Research Alerts
• The Graduate Student’s Guide to AI: Fundamentals, Tools, and Ethical Considerations 
• Tour of Harbour Centre and Library Services Overview: Learn More About the Spaces and Supports Available to You 
• Top Ten Tips for Building a Sustainable Academic Writing Practice

  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

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

 About the workshop

Although R is known for its statistical computing and graphical capabilities, it also provides many powerful tools for handling, processing, and analyzing strings and text data. This workshop gives an introduction to handling strings using both Base R and the stringr package, and an introduction to regular expressions in R.

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

• use common operations and functions to manipulate strings
• learn what regular expressions are and how to use them in R
• apply these concepts to perform text analysis in R

 Requirements 

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

 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.

This interactive workshop will cover everything that you need to know to get started with Zotero.

  Requirements

Bring a fully charged laptop (power outlets are limited). In advance of the workshop, please: register for a Zotero account and download and install Zotero 7 and the Zotero Connector. If you encounter any difficulties doing this, please send an email to citation-managers@sfu.ca so we can help you. Please note that the Zotero Connector works best with Firefox and Chrome. If you choose to use the Zotero Connector with Safari, please be aware that there are a few known compatibility issues at this time which may prove frustrating. Read more about Safari's compatibility with Zotero.

Resources

Workshop slides and handout are available here. 

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.

This interactive workshop will cover everything that you need to know to get started with Zotero.

Requirements

In advance of the workshop, please: register for a Zotero account and download and install Zotero 7 and the Zotero Connector. If you have any difficulties doing this, please send an email to citation-managers@sfu.ca so we can help you. Please note that the Zotero Connector works best with Firefox and Chrome. If you choose to use the Zotero Connector with Safari, please be aware that there are a few known compatibility issues at this time which may prove frustrating. Read more about Safari's compatibility with Zotero.

Resources

Workshop materials are available here. 

About the workshop

• Do you know that a very large amount of data from many resources (the web, government, research, etc.) contains coordinates or other geographic information that can be mapped? If you are not taking advantage of the spatial characteristics of your data, you are missing key insights spatial analysis and maps can offer.
• Do you hope to make a decent map for your publications?
• Do you want to tell which maps are telling blatant lies (believe us, there are plenty of such examples floating on the web) or avoid making misleading maps yourself?  

Come to this in-person workshop to learn some fundamental concepts of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and how to use QGIS- a free, open-source GIS platform with powerful tools and a wide variety of plugins- to import, analyze, and visualize your data spatially. We will also introduce some basic concepts of cartography (this is a fancy word, but basically, it means how to make meaningful, trustworthy, and aesthetic maps!).  

You are welcome to talk about your project ideas or how you would like to visualize or analyze your data.  

Learning Outcomes:  

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

• Understand a few basic GIS concepts
• Import data to QGIS
• Edit data within QGIS
• Understand a few basic types of thematic maps and the connections between thematic maps and data
• Manipulate map symbology  
• Understand a few basic cartographic concepts  
• Create and export a map using the layout manager

Target audience

This workshop has been designed for those with little or no prior experience with GIS. It may also be of interest to those already familiar with GIS, but would like to have some hands-on experience using QGIS.

Requirements

• Please bring your own laptop.  
• 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

AGOL is a web-based mapping platform that allows you to build maps and apps, conduct spatial analysis, and explore spatial data online. In this workshop, you will learn how to construct a simple web map, explore spatial data (Living Atlas), perform basic spatial analysis and queries, and publish the map to the web. You will also be introduced to the core concepts of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and geospatial data.

The workshop is ideal for those:

• Curious about GIS and its applications.
• Interested in visualizing data with a spatial dimension.
• Interested in creating interactive web maps or apps for their audience.
• Looking to explore the diverse features and resources offered by ArcGIS Online.

Learning objectives

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

• Use ArcGIS Online to import data, change basemaps, change symbology, query data, and make a web map and app. 
• Understand some features in the ArcGIS Online ecosystem.

Target audience

No previous knowledge of GIS is required.  

Requirements

Software

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

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

Come to this in-person, two-part workshop to learn the fundamentals of doing spatial data analyses in R. The programming language R is very popular in the data science field, with a wide range of packages developed by a rich community to serve many data analysis needs. In this workshop, we will focus on using the ‘sf’ and ‘shiny’ packages in R to create interactive web map applications. This workshop series uses free and open-source software, so you are free to do anything that you wish with what you learn in this workshop! 

Here are some examples to demonstrate the capabilities of R Shiny and creating web maps:

• https://gallery.shinyapps.io/063-superzip-example/ 
• https://gallery.shinyapps.io/086-bus-dashboard/ 

 You are welcome to talk about your project ideas or how you would like to visualize or analyze your data. 

 Learning Outcomes

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

• Understand a few basic GIS concepts
• Use the ‘sf’ package in R 
• Import spatial data into R 
• Basic spatial data operations (intersection, clip, buffers, etc.) 
• Understand how to view and transform coordinate reference systems in R
• Use the ‘shiny’ package in R 
• Create an interactive web application for viewing the spatial data on the web

 Target audience

This workshop is designed for those with previous experience with R programming and are generally comfortable working with R. This should be of interest to those that would like to learn how to do basic spatial analysis and would like to publish interactive websites for this spatial data. 

 Requirements

• Please bring your own laptop (Windows, MacOS, Linux) 
• Install R (Version 4.3 or later) and RStudio IDE (https://posit.co/download/rstudio-desktop/)

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

Please bring a fully-charged Mac laptop with NVivo 14 installed.

Installing NVivo 14: You can download NVivo 14 and access the license key with your SFU computing ID by using the self-serve download link here. If you have any questions, please email us at nvivo-rc@sfu.ca.

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

About the workshop

This in-person interactive workshop introduces importing and coding of literature review materials and key tools that can be particularly helpful when reviewing literature in your area of research.

Topics covered include:

• introducing NVivo and setting up a project
• working with your information
• identifying themes, topics and ideas and collecting data to support them
• using tools such as text search query, matrix coding query, and Framework Matrix.

What skills will you acquire in this workshop? You will acquire the ability to set up a literature review in NVivo, and begin to work with your information. You will also be able to use NVivo to organize your content and begin to identify themes, topics, and ideas. It is appropriate for those who have had some experience with NVivo. For more information about NVivo at SFU, please visit NVivo Software for Research Analysis.

Requirements

• Please bring a fully-charged Mac laptop with NVivo 14 installed. *** Please install NVivo 14 before the workshop ***
• Installing NVivo 14: You can download NVivo 14 and access the license key with your SFU computing ID by using the self-serve download link here. If you have any questions, please email us at nvivo-rc@sfu.ca.
• Participants should also have some familiarity with citation management software (Zotero, Mendeley, Refworks, EndNote, etc). Zotero will be used during this workshop.

About the workshop

This in-person interactive workshop introduces importing and coding of literature review materials and key tools that can be particularly helpful when reviewing literature in your area of research.

Topics covered include:

• introducing NVivo and setting up a project
• working with your information
• identifying themes, topics and ideas and collecting data to support them
• using tools such as text search query, matrix coding query, and Framework Matrix.

What skills will you acquire in this workshop? You will acquire the ability to set up a literature review in NVivo, and begin to work with your information. You will also be able to use NVivo to organize your content and begin to identify themes, topics, and ideas. It is appropriate for those who have had some experience with NVivo. For more information about NVivo at SFU, please visit NVivo Software for Research Analysis.

Requirements

• Please bring a fully-charged Mac laptop with NVivo 14 installed. *** Please install NVivo 14 before the workshop ***
• Installing NVivo 14: You can download NVivo 14 and access the license key with your SFU computing ID by using the self-serve download link here. If you have any questions, please email us at nvivo-rc@sfu.ca.
• Participants should also have some familiarity with citation management software (Zotero, Mendeley, Refworks, EndNote, etc). Zotero will be used during this workshop.

About help sessions

Questions about working with NVivo? Get answers.

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

About the workshop

Are you interested in learning how to use NVivo visualization tools in your projects? Attend this brief in-person workshop and quickly gain an understanding of some of the excellent visualization tools available in NVivo!

Requirements

• This workshop assumes that you already have some familiarity with NVivo. If you are unfamiliar with NVivo, we recommend watching our Introduction to NVivo for Mac workshop recording or Introduction to NVivo for Windows workshop recording beforehand.
• Before the workshop, please download and install NVivo 14. If you have any questions, please email us at nvivo-rc@sfu.ca.

About the workshop

  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

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

Although R is known for its statistical computing and graphical capabilities, it also provides many powerful tools for handling, processing, and analyzing strings and text data. This workshop gives an introduction to handling strings using both Base R and the stringr package, and an introduction to regular expressions in R.

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

• use common operations and functions to manipulate strings
• learn what regular expressions are and how to use them in R
• apply these concepts to perform text analysis in R

 Requirements 

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

About the workshop

This online workshop will help you choose a suitable journal for publishing your research. This workshop will appeal to graduate students with all levels of publishing experience. We invite you to join us whether you have published in academic journals before or are considering this for the first time. We will discuss:

• Where to look for journals in your discipline
• How to tell if a journal is right for your work
• When and how to consider journal rankings such as the Journal Impact Factor 
• How to make your work open access
• How to identify and avoid predatory publishers

About the workshop

Graduate students are always encouraged to publish but often without really knowing what that means or how to start. This in-person 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.

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.

Who is looking at your research and how can you measure it? Find out more about research impact – what it is, how to measure it and how to leverage it. This session will help you:

• understand what is meant by research impact,
• become familiar with the different types of research impact metrics,
• know the tools available to calculate research impact.
• and devise a strategy to increase the impact of your own research activities.

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 documents are required 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

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 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 runs for ten weeks each term and 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. Thesis Writing Group also makes many aspects of our in-person Thesis Writing Retreats available online throughout each term. 

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 during the weekly sessions. 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 may be offered some weeks. For Fall 2024, sessions will be held on Fridays, 9:30 am - 12:30pm for 10 weeks, starting Friday, September 27, 2024 and concluding Friday, November 29, 2024.

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 breakout rooms. 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.

Please register by Thursday, September 26, 2024 before 6:00am in order to receive the Zoom link to join.

If you have any questions about Thesis Writing Group, please contact Julie Jones, Research Commons Librarian, at jsj7@sfu.ca. 

About the workshop

Constructing Effective Introductions and Conclusions

In this session, you will learn techniques for crafting compelling introductions that engage your readers and set the stage for your text. Additionally, you'll explore strategies for writing strong conclusions that effectively summarize and emphasize key points. Through practical exercises, you'll apply these techniques to your own writing, enhancing your ability to create engaging openings and impactful endings.

 Textbooks

• Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. B. (2021). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills (4th ed.). University of Michigan Press.  
  Note: A PDF will be distributed to all participants during the first session. 
   
• Caplan, N. (2020). Grammar choices for academic and professional writers. University of Michigan Press.
  Note: Optional textbook, available at Belzberg Library.

About the workshop

Controlling the Theme

In this session, you will gain control over which part of the clause serves as the topic or theme, allowing you to guide your reader’s focus more effectively. You will learn to use various grammatical resources to strategically position information as old or new, thereby creating strong connections within your writing. This technique enhances the clarity and coherence of your text, making it easier for readers to follow and understand your arguments. Through practical exercises, you'll apply these strategies to improve the organization and impact of your academic writing.

 Textbooks

• Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. B. (2021). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills (4th ed.). University of Michigan Press. 
  Note: A PDF will be distributed to all participants during the first session.
   
• Caplan, N. (2020). Grammar choices for academic and professional writers. University of Michigan Press.
  Note: Optional textbook, available at Belzberg Library.

About the workshop

Old to New Information Flow

In this session, you will learn about Thematic Progression, a powerful strategy for organizing your text by effectively managing the flow of information from old to new. This approach helps guide readers through your writing by establishing clear, logical connections between ideas. We will explore how to implement this strategy to enhance the coherence and readability of your work, ensuring that each new piece of information builds smoothly on what has come before. Through practical exercises, you’ll develop skills to create well-structured and engaging content that maintains reader interest and supports your arguments effectively.

About the workshop

Paragraph Patterns

In this session, you'll explore how scientific research writers use topic development patterns to structure their paragraphs effectively. We'll focus on two key patterns: the linking pattern, which creates continuity and enhances the flow of your writing by seamlessly connecting ideas within and between paragraphs, and the repeated theme pattern, which reinforces key concepts through repetition. Through practical exercises, you'll learn to apply these patterns to ensure that your writing is cohesive, logically organized, and easily navigable for readers, ultimately improving the clarity and impact of your academic work.

About the workshop

Writing Problem-Solution Text

In this session, you will learn the problem-solution structure, a crucial approach for structuring research paper introductions and academic arguments. You will explore how to effectively present a problem, propose potential solutions, and organize your argument to build a compelling and logical case. Through practical exercises, you'll apply this structure to enhance the clarity and persuasiveness of your writing, ensuring that your research paper or academic text addresses issues systematically and engages your audience effectively.

 Textbooks

• Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. B. (2021). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills (4th ed.). University of Michigan Press. 
  Note: A PDF will be distributed to all participants during the first session.
   
• Caplan, N. (2020). Grammar choices for academic and professional writers. University of Michigan Press.
  Note: Optional textbook, available at Belzberg Library.

 About the event

This conference-style event offers a full day of the Research Commons’ most popular workshops, specifically designed for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

 Workshops/events 

*Note: subject to minor adjustments

• Research Ethics and Responsible Conduct of Research
• Citations made easy: Introduction to Zotero
• Digital Humanities tools and approaches 
• Introduction to Research Data Management 
• Intro to ArcGIS Online 
• Making Literature Reviews Easier with NVivo 
• Academic Publishing 101: What You Need Know
• Get Started with Tableau Public for Data Visualization 
• Level up! Search Strategies and Research Alerts
• The Graduate Student’s Guide to AI: Fundamentals, Tools, and Ethical Considerations 
• Tour of Harbour Centre and Library Services Overview: Learn More About the Spaces and Supports Available to You 
• Top Ten Tips for Building a Sustainable Academic Writing Practice

About the workshop

Would you like to enhance your English conversation skills and build confidence in your communication abilities? Designed for multilingual graduate students, Grad Talk is a weekly one-hour session hosted by fellow grad students. These sessions provide a supportive environment to practice speaking, listening, and interacting in English. You'll build confidence, connect with peers, receive constructive feedback, and engage in interactive activities.

About the workshop

Graduate students are always encouraged to publish but often without really knowing what that means or how to start. This in-person 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.

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.

 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 runs for ten weeks each term and 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. Thesis Writing Group also makes many aspects of our in-person Thesis Writing Retreats available online throughout each term. 

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 during the weekly sessions. 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 may be offered some weeks. For Fall 2024, sessions will be held on Fridays, 9:30 am - 12:30pm for 10 weeks, starting Friday, September 27, 2024 and concluding Friday, November 29, 2024.

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 breakout rooms. 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.

Please register by Thursday, September 26, 2024 before 6:00am in order to receive the Zoom link to join.

If you have any questions about Thesis Writing Group, please contact Julie Jones, Research Commons Librarian, at jsj7@sfu.ca.