Spring 2013 Writing and Research Workshops

The Graduate Writing Center Winter offers general writing workshops on a variety of topics as well as a few specialized workshops for non-native speakers of English. We also hold targeted writing workshops for graduate students in the areas of Humanities & Arts, Social Sciences, and Sciences & Engineering. Additionally, we post information about workshops being offered by the UCLA libraries and the ATS Statistical Consulting Group. Special thanks to our campus programming partners: UCLA Library, Writing Programs, Academic Technology Services Statistical Consulting Group, Counseling and Psychological Services, and the Career Center.

General Writing Workshops

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Filing Workshop
Claire McCluskey, Graduate Division
Come and learn about the new electronic filing process and requirements as well as the new formatting guide. We will cover the filing steps, common mistakes and tips for making the process go smoothly.
Tuesday, March 26th, 12:00-1:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Strategies for Writing Time-Limited Exams
Erin Brown, History
Rebecca Hill, English
This workshop will cover strategies for preparing and writing comprehensive master's and PhD exams. Strategies for both on-campus and take-home exams will be discussed. People who have trouble with timed writing exams for classes may also benefit from this workshop.
Thursday, April 11th, 5:15-6:45pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Writing the Personal Statement
Daniel Lim, Political Science
This workshop will cover strategies for writing personal statements for fellowship applications, internships, and Ph.D. programs. Among other topics, we will discuss organization, introductions and conclusions, and use of examples. Students from all schools and departments are welcome to attend. If you are currently working on a personal statement, we encourage you to bring your draft to the workshop.
Thursday, April 18th, 5:15-6:45pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

UCLA IRB Review: Policy and Procedures
Alison Orkin, UCLA Office of the Human Research Protections Program (OHRPP)
Paul Lillig, UCLA Office of the Human Research Protections Program (OHRPP)
This workshop will provide an overview of the UCLA IRB application process and related policies and procedures.
Wednesday, April 24th, 12:00-12:45pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Writing Successful Grant and Fellowship Applications
Sarah Al-Hiyari, Oral Biology, NIH fellowship recipient
Aaron Green, Chemistry, NSF GRF recipient
Lauren Krogh, Psychology, NSF GRF recipient
This workshop focuses on strategies for writing effective applications for grants and fellowships to support graduate study and research, especially for students seeking doctorates and research MAs. The workshop also covers tips for organizing the process. Finally, the workshop addresses briefly a few major funding opportunities for graduate students, including the NSF and NIH fellowships.
Thursday, April 25th, 5:15-6:45pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Revision Workshop: Strategies for Revising Longer Texts
Erin Brown, History
This hands-on workshop will provide people with revision strategies for longer texts, such as master’s theses, dissertation chapters or proposals. Please bring a hard copy of your own work—at least 15-20 double-spaced pages (more is fine). If you would like to do some of the preparation work ahead of time, start working on a backwards outline (outline from your text) by tagging each paragraph with a phrase describing its main point.
Thursday, May 2nd, 5:00-7:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

An Introduction to Publishing Journal Articles
Lauren Krogh, Psychology
Carole Yue, Psychology
Thinking about preparing an article manuscript for submission? Based on Wendy Belcher's workbook, Writing Your Journal Article in 12 Weeks, this workshop will focus on the aspects of the process of getting an article published that most differ from other graduate writing projects, such as selecting appropriate journals and interacting with editors. We will discuss how to structure an article as well as the writing and revision process.
Tuesday, May 7th, 5:15-7:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Editing for Style: How to Improve Your Writing
Stacey Meeker, Information Studies; GSA Director of Publications
Carole Yue, Psychology
I've been told that my writing is "dense" and "passive" and that my sentences don't "flow." How can I fix these problems? This hands-on workshop will cover strategies for improving writing at the sentence level. We will look at common problems like the overuse of weak verbs, passive voice, and nominalizations as well as offer specific tips to strengthen clarity and cohesion. Please bring a hard copy of your own work, at least 5-10 double-spaced pages (more is fine).
Friday, May 17th, 12:00-2:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Dissertation and Proposal/Prospectus Workshops

Getting Started on the Dissertation: How to Get Going and Keep Going
Marilyn Gray, Graduate Writing Center Coordinator
This workshop gives an overview of organization, time management, writing process issues and writing strategies. Recommended for people in the early stages of the dissertation, but useful for all stages.
Thursday, May 23rd, 5:15-7:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Humanities Writing Workshops

Social Sciences Writing Workshops

Writing Successful Grant and Fellowship Applications
Sarah Al-Hiyari, Oral Biology, NIH fellowship recipient
Aaron Green, Chemistry, NSF GRF recipient
Lauren Krogh, Psychology, NSF GRF recipient
This workshop focuses on strategies for writing effective applications for grants and fellowships to support graduate study and research, especially for students seeking doctorates and research MAs. We will discuss approaches common to the humanities, sciences, and social sciences, as well as specific suggestions for each academic area. Finally, we will briefly discuss major funding opportunities for graduate study from both UCLA and off-campus funding agencies.
Thursday, April 25th, 5:15-6:45pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Science and Engineering Writing Workshops

Practical Tips for Writing a Scientific Paper
Scott Arno, Neuroscience
This workshop will cover the basics of how to plan for, prepare, and organize science-specific writing, including term papers, manuscripts and abstracts. We will also cover style, common structure and tips for avoiding problems such as excess jargon and ambiguously stated hypotheses.
Monday, March 25th, 12:00-1:30pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Writing Successful Grant and Fellowship Applications
Sarah Al-Hiyari, Oral Biology, NIH fellowship recipient
Aaron Green, Chemistry, NSF GRF recipient
Lauren Krogh, Psychology, NSF GRF recipient
This workshop focuses on strategies for writing effective applications for grants and fellowships to support graduate study and research, especially for students seeking doctorates and research MAs. We will discuss approaches common to the humanities, sciences, and social sciences, as well as specific suggestions for each academic area. Finally, we will briefly discuss major funding opportunities for graduate study from both UCLA and off-campus funding agencies.
Thursday, April 25th, 5:15-6:45pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

ESL Workshops

Email Etiquette for the Job-Seeker
Carole Yue, Psychology
Precious Robinson, UCLA Career Center
As a graduate student, you will write many emails in the service of finding a job--emails that request informational interviews, set up interviews, and follow up on interviews. This workshop, which is designed for graduate students who speak English as a second or foreign language, will break down the language necessary to make polite requests over email. It will also cover basic email etiquette and include opportunities to edit emails written by real graduate students.
Friday, May 3rd, 12:00-2:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Self-Editing Strategies for Non-Native Speakers of English
Carole Yue, Psychology
This workshop will provide concrete strategies and recommend online tools to enable non-native speakers of English to make appropriate vocabulary choices and use articles and prepositions more accurately in their own writing projects.
Thursday, May 9th, 5:15-7:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Statistical Software Workshops

For walk-in consulting information, Stat books for loan, and the most up-to-date listing of seminars, please see the ATS Stats Group website. Click for more detailed location information, including directions to the Visualization Portal in the Math Sciences building.

Research Workshops

Research Workshops
The UCLA Library offers researchers helpful workshops on a variety of topics. Unless otherwise noted, sessions are open; no advance registration is required. Click for a listing of all current workshops, only some of which included below.

EndNote (60 minutes)
Wednesday, April 17, 2-3:00 PM
This hands-on session offers an overview of EndNote, a citation management software program that helps researchers manage and organize their references, and automatically create and format citations and bibliographies. Taught by Gabriella Gray, Librarian for Education and Applied Linguistics, Charles E. Young Research Library. Meet in the Research Library East Classroom, 21536.

Introduction to Zotero (60 minutes)
Tuesday, April 23, 12-1:00 PM
Find out about the purpose, uses and features of Zotero, a free, open-source application that helps researchers manage references and notes and create formatted bibliographies. Taught by Margarita Nafpaktitis, Librarian for Slavic and East European Studies and Instruction Coordinator in the Research Library. Meet in the Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F.

Management of Research Data (60 minutes)
Tuesday, May 7, 1-2:00 PM
This workshop is focused on the management of research data generated in the field of education. Topics include: rationale for data management planning in education research; best practices for collecting and organizing education research data; and best practices for protecting privacy and confidentiality in education research. The workshop provides and applied focus on handling video, audio, qualitative and quantitative data formats used in education research and will provide a list of resources and contact information for additional support. The methods and principles discussed will be of use to any scholars primarily in the social sciences who are collecting audio, video, qualitative and quantitative data. Taught by Libbie Stephenson, Data Archivist, and Rebekah Cummings, Intern Assistant from the UCLA Social Science Data Archives. Meet in the Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F.

Intermediate Zotero (60 minutes)
Thursday, May 9, 1-2:00 PM
Already a Zotero user? Explore more features in this session, including working with groups, sharing bibliographies, generating reports, and more. Taught by Margarita Nafpaktitis, Librarian for Slavic and East European Studies and Instruction Coordinator in the Research Library. Meet in the Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F.

Managing Research Assets (60 minutes)
Tuesday, May 14, 12-1:00 PM
There’s research, there’s writing, and then there’s that netherworld in between: wrangling all the digital files you gather over the course of your work. In this workshop, designed for researchers in the humanities, we'll talk about tools for gathering, sorting, and citing this information so that you can focus on your writing. Taught by Miriam Posner, Digital Humanities Program Coordinator. Meet in the Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F.

How to Formulate Your Research Question (90 minutes)
Thursday, May 23, 12:30 – 2:00 PM
This workshop covers how to move from your own interests to a topic, determine a possible research question, and make a case for the significance of that question. You’ll also learn the components of a strong argument and where to start searching for evidence. Taught by Kelly E. Miller, Director of UCLA Library Teaching and Learning Services and Head of the Collect Library. Meet in the Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F.

From Paper to 3D: Viewing Historical Maps in Google Earth (90 minutes)
Wednesday, May 29, 1-2:30 PM
Learn how to digitize a scanned print map to be used and visualized in GIS applications and Google Earth. The first part of the workshop will instruct users on how to georeference a scanned map using ArcGIS. Then, users will learn how to visualize their maps in Google Earth for a fully immersive 3D interaction. Taught by Ryan Chen and Yoh Kawano, UCLA’s GIS gurus. Meet in the Center for Digital Humanities Learning Lab, Rolfe 2118.

Research Guides
Online research guides link to key resources and reference books for certain courses and disciplines. Subject guides, course guides, and general research guides are available.

Research Appointments
Graduate students are encouraged to contact the Library's subject specialists for more specialized and personalized assistance with research, library resources, and subject databases; find a complete list of all subject specialists here.

Copyright Questions
Contact the Library's copyright experts for assistance with copyright, publishing, intellectual property, and other related issues at copyright@library.ucla.edu.

To see the most current schedule of UCLA Library workshops, consult the UCLA Library seminar page.