Winter 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

Academic Writing Skills Workshop for ESL Graduate Students
Carole Yue, Psychology
In this interactive workshop, ESL graduate students will learn skills and strategies to build their fluency, accuracy, and comprehensibility in English academic writing. In addition, we will discuss useful on-campus, online, and print resources that will help students to work independently to improve their writing. There will also be time for questions and answers about ESL writing issues and concerns. Thursday, January 10th, 5:00-7:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Strategic Reading
Rebecca Hill, English
Feeling overwhelmed by your reading lists? Concerned that you are missing the point of what you have just read? Are you taking pages of notes for every article you read? This workshop will cover effective reading and note-taking strategies so that you read more efficiently, assess your reading with a critical eye, and annotate each work so that important concepts are easily accessible.
Friday, January 11th, 12:00-1:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

The Art of Writing the Literature Review
Erin Brown, History
Renee Hudson, English
This workshop will cover strategies and best practices for writing a literature review, including note-taking strategies, writing process issues, and common organizational patterns. The workshop focus will be on literature reviews for original research projects but will be generally helpful for all literature reviews.
Thursday, January 24th, 5:00-7:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Best Practices for Writing Your Master’s Thesis
Erin Brown, History
Winmar Way, Education
This workshop will begin with a discussion of scope, expectations, and time constraints as related to master’s theses. We will then consider writing and organizational strategies for the typical components of master’s theses in different disciplines. Lastly, we will discuss approaches to and tips for revision of the project. Students at any stage of writing are encouraged to attend.
Friday, January 25th, 12:00-2:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Policy Writing: Best Practices in White Paper and Memo Writing
Patty Carroll, Education
This workshop provides an overview of best practices in memo and white paper writing as seen in policy-related fields (e.g., urban planning, public policy, public health, business and education). We will discuss the purpose, organization, and style of this genre of writing. Then we will apply this knowledge through an in-depth analysis of exemplar papers. This workshop is designed to enable you to write effective memos and white papers for graduate and professional settings..
Thursday, February 7th, 5:00-6:30pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Editing for Journal Editors
Marilyn Gray, Graduate Writing Center; Stacey Meeker, Director, GSA Publications; Angela Riggio, UCLA Library
Editors: You've got manuscripts! Now how do you edit them? This workshop will cover stages and levels of editing manuscripts in a journal workflow from initial peer review to the finished publishable product. Topics include editorial organization and workflow, substantive editing, copyediting, proofreading, author agreements, and basic production requirements for different media. Current, future, or would-be editors are welcome to attend any or all parts of the workshop.
RSVP to pubs@gsa.asucla.ucla.edu by Tuesday, February 5th.
Friday, February 8th, 11:00am-2:30pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Writing a Paper in the Arts
Lisa Yamasaki, Education
The workshop will cover ways to analyze art in relation to theory and its sociological and historical context. Although the approach covered is applicable to different art forms, the workshop will mainly discuss visual art. The workshop will also cover ways to discuss formal elements of visual art.
Friday, February 15th, 12:00-2:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Grammar & Punctuation 101: A Refresher Workshop
Carole Yue, Psychology
What is the difference between "who" and "whom"? When should I use active or passive voice? When should/shouldn't I use a comma? Designed for both native and non-native speakers of English, this workshop will review sentence structure, punctuation, restrictive/non-restrictive clauses, dangling and misplaced modifiers, pronoun case, relative pronoun use, noun/verb agreement, and passive/active voice. Participants will practice editing for grammatical accuracy in addition to discussing methods and resources for self-correction.
Friday, March 1st, 12:00-2:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Style 101: A Refresher Workshop
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 workshop will help participants improve the clarity and cohesion of their sentences and paragraphs. They will also practice editing for style.
Friday, March 8th, 12:00-2:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Revision Workshop: Strategies for Revising Longer Texts
Marilyn Gray, Graduate Writing Center Coordinator 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 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 by tagging each paragraph with a phrase describing its main point.
Thursday, March 28th, 12:00-2:00pm
Note: This was originally scheduled for Thursday, March 7th.
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Dissertation and Proposal/Prospectus Workshops

Dissertation Writing Groups, Support Groups, and Resources for Dissertators
Dr. Tanya Brown, Counseling and Psychological Services
Erin Brown, History
Marilyn Gray, Graduate Writing Center Coordinator
Dr. Natasha Olmos, Counseling and Psychological Services
The workshop will provide information about resources for dissertators and thesis-writers. It will present information on writing groups and support groups, including how to run your own dissertation writing group or writing partnership. Finally, at the end of the workshop, graduate students who are interested in being placed in a writing group will stay in order to form groups and discuss scheduling. If you are interested in being in a group, fill out the writing group questionnaire and bring it to the workshop.
Thursday, January 17th, 5:00-6:30pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Strategies for Writing the Social Sciences Dissertation Proposal
Daniel Lim, Political Science
Stacey Meeker, Information Studies
This workshop will give an overview of the main components of a dissertation proposal in the social sciences and cover strategies for writing the introduction, literature review, methods, and significance sections. These strategies should be adapted to your department's and advisor's expectations about the structure and content of your proposal. Please bring two copies of your abstract to this workshop.
Tuesday, January 29th, 5:00-7:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Strategies for Writing the Humanities Dissertation Prospectus
Erin Brown, History
Renee Hudson, English
This workshop is geared towards giving incipient prospectus writers the tools to write their prospectus over the course of two months. We will discuss literature review and argument development as well as how to turn the many different pieces of a prospectus into a coherent document. Nota bene: this is meant to be an addition to--not a substitution for--serious discussions with your advisor about what is expected of you in your home department.
Thursday, January 31st, 5:00-7:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Humanities Writing Workshops

Strategies for Writing the Humanities Dissertation Prospectus
Erin Brown, History
Renee Hudson, English This workshop is geared towards giving incipient prospectus writers the tools to write their prospectus over the course of two months. We will discuss literature review and argument development as well as how to turn the many different pieces of a prospectus into a coherent document. Nota bene: this is meant to be an addition to--not a substitution for--serious discussions with your advisor about what is expected of you in your home department.
Thursday, January 31st, 5:00-7:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Preparing and Presenting Conference Papers in the Humanities
Erin Brown, History
Renee Hudson, English
The purpose of this workshop is to present strategies for writing a conference paper from scratch or transforming an already existing document to fit a particular call for papers. From titles to opening up for questions, we will discuss different methods for preparing an engaging and substantive oral presentation, including various technological aids you may want to use.
Thursday, February 21st, 5:00-7:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Social Sciences Writing Workshops

Preparing a Conference Paper: PowerPoint Presentations in the Social Sciences
Daniel Lim, Political Science
This workshop will focus on techniques for outlining, building, and presenting an effective 10-20 minute oral/video (e.g., PowerPoint) presentation as typically presented in the social sciences. We will discuss strategies including converting a written paper into an oral presentation, effectively using limited time, and incorporating multimedia elements into a presentation.
Thursday, February 28th, 5:00-7:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Science and Engineering Writing Workshops

Preparing and Presenting 10-Minute Conference Talks in the Sciences
Carole Yue, Psychology
This workshop will cover the principles of the 10- minute talk in the context of biomedical sciences. We will discuss how to condense your research into PowerPoint, and how to effectively present it within the allotted timeframe. We will cover stylistic issues and public speaking issues as well.
Friday, February 22nd, 12:00-1:30pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Practical Tips for Writing a Scientific Paper
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)

ESL Workshops

Email Etiquette at the University
Carole Yue, Psychology
Graduate students will write thousands of emails while getting your degree—emails that invite professors to serve on your dissertation committee, emails that ask for extensions on papers, emails in which you introduce yourself to potential mentors or advisors. Designed for graduate students who speak English as a second or foreign language, this workshop breaks down the language necessary to make polite requests over email. It also covers basic email etiquette and includes opportunities to edit emails written by real graduate students.
Friday, January 18th, 12:00-2:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level)

Statistical Software Workshops

Los Angeles Basin SAS Users Group
This is one-day event with six speakers covering multiple topics about the use of SAS. This event is intended for faculty, staff and students who are familiar with SAS who would like to improve their skills. More information, including pricing, is available at http://www.sascommunity.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Basin_SAS_Users_Group

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. More detailed location information, including directions to the Visualization Portal in the Math Sciences building.

Research Workshops

Endnote
This session offers a basic overview of the purpose, uses, and features of EndNote, a software program that helps researchers manage their references and produce bibliographies for projects large and small. Taught by Gabriella Gray, Librarian for Education and Applied Linguistics, Charles E. Young Research Library.
Wednesday, January 16th , 2:00-3:00pm
Tuesday, January 29th , 3:00-4:00pm
Location: Research Library East Classroom, 21536 ( map )

How to Formulate Your Research Question
This workshop offers an opportunity to develop your own research question. You will learn 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 about the components of a good argument and how to figure out where to start exploring for evidence. Taught by Kelly E. Miller, Director, Teaching and Learning Services and Head of the College Library. Spaces are limited; online registration is required: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/research-question-workshop.
Wednesday, January 23rd, 3:00-5:00 pm
Location: Research Library Digital Cultural Heritage Lab ( map )

Introduction to Zotero
Find out about the purpose, uses, and features of Zotero, a free, open-source application that helps researchers manage their references and notes and create formatted bibliographies. Taught by Margarita Nafpaktitis, Librarian for Slavic and East European Studies and Instruction Coordinator, Charles E. Young Research Library. Thursday, January 24th, 2:00-3:00pm
Tuesday, February 5th, 12:00-1:00pm
Location: Research Library Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F ( map )

Copyright 101
This session will explain the basic mechanics of copyright law, including types of materials, specific rights, and lengths of copyright terms. It will also cover fair use, an important exception to copyright law that is vital for scholarship and research, which allows copyrighted works to be reused without permission under certain circumstances. Taught by Diane Gurman, scholarly communication and licensing librarian; and Martin Brennan, copyright and licensing librarian.
Thursday, February 7th, 11:00am-12:00pm
Location: Research Library Presentation Room, room 11348 ( map )

Intermediate Zotero
Already a Zotero user? Explore more features in this session, including working with groups, sharing bibliographies, and visualizing your Zotero libraries. Taught by Margarita Nafpaktitis, Librarian for Slavic and East European Studies and Instruction Coordinator, Charles E. Young Research Library.
Thursday, February 21st , 2:00-3:00pm
Location: Research Library Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F ( map )

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.