Winter 2018 Writing and Research Workshops

The Graduate Writing Center offers a wide variety of writing workshops, ranging from general to more specialized topics, such as academic genres, writing in certain disciplinary areas, or writing English as a Second Language. We also provide information on workshops and services from selected campus offices that provide assistance with research, data management, and data analysis. Special thanks to our campus programming partners: the UCLA Library, Writing Programs, the Institute for Digital Research and Education, Counseling and Psychological Services, and the Career Center.

Past Workshops

Summer Boot Camps

General Workshops

Navigating the Academy: A “How to” Workshop for Graduate Students of Marginalized Identities
Michael Moses, Education, Graduate Writing Center Consultant
Bobby Smith, English, Graduate Writing Center Consultant
Feeling overwhelmed by the “hidden curriculum” of the Academy? Concerned that academic professionalization does not account for your experiences as a first generation college and/or student of color? This workshop covers aspects of the “hidden curriculum” specifically related to the three pillars of the Academy — research, teaching, and service. Through discussion and activities, attendees will leave with a working knowledge of how to navigate academic processes and succeed as minoritized scholars.
Thursday, January 25th, 5:00-7:00 PM
Location: Moore Reading Room (Moore Hall, room 3340)

Getting Started on the Master's Thesis
Tahseen Shams, Sociology, Graduate Writing Center Consultant
Bobby Smith, English, Graduate Writing Center Consultant
This workshop will give an overview of how to write a master's thesis. It will include writing activities and discussion to help participants develop their thesis topics. We will also present strategies for organizing research and literature reviews, as well as tips for drafting and revision.
Thursday, February 8th, 5:10-6:50 PM
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) ( Map )

How to Run an Effective Writing Group
Eric Newman, English, Graduate Writing Center Consultant
This workshop will explain how to run an effective writing group and other ways to seek feedback and support while working on long-term writing projects. At the end of the workshop, graduate students who are interested in being placed in a writing group will stay in order to discuss logistics and next steps. If you are interested in being in a group, please fill out the writing group questionnaire and bring it to the workshop.
Tuesday, February 13th, 5:10-6:45pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) ( map )

Humanities Writing Workshops

Strategic Reading
Allison Collins, Comparative Literature, Graduate Writing Center Consultant
Feeling overwhelmed by your reading lists? Taking pages of notes for every article you read? Not even sure where to begin? 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 effectively. We will discuss how to adapt reading strategies for various purposes, including reading intensive courses, research projects, and comprehensive exams. Note: This workshop does not teach speed-reading techniques.
Friday, January 26th, 12:00-1:30 PM
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) ( Map )

Strategies for Writing the Humanities Dissertation Prospectus
Eric Newman, English, Graduate Writing Center Consultant
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.
Friday, February 2nd, 2:00-4:00 PM
Location: Royce Hall, room 236

Social Sciences Writing Workshops

Strategies for Writing the Social Sciences Dissertation Proposal
Mercedes Douglass, Anthropology, Graduate Writing Center Consultant
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. If you have preliminary drafts of an abstract or research questions, please bring them.
Wednesday, January 31st, 4:00-6:00 PM
Location: Bunche Hall, room 6275

An Introduction to Publishing Journal Articles (Sciences and Social Sciences)
Jenna Cummings, Psychology, Graduate Writing Center Consultant
Christina Schonberg, Psychology, Graduate Writing Center Consultant
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 also discuss strategies for revising articles for a target journal.
Wednesday, February 21st, 5:10-6:50 PM
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) ( map )

Science and Engineering Writing Workshops

Writing a Literature Review in STEM
Marilyn Gray, Director, Graduate Writing Center
Ariella Machness, Material Science Engineering, Graduate Writing Center Consultant
This workshop will cover strategies and best practices for writing a literature review or background section, including note-taking strategies, writing process issues, and common organizational patterns. The workshop focus will be on literature reviews for original research projects, such as research proposals and article manuscripts, but will generally be applicable to all literature reviews.
Thursday, March 1st, 5:10-6:50 PM
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) ( map )

ESL Workshops

Self-Editing Strategies for Non-Native Speakers of English
Alexandra Verini, English, Graduate Writing Center Consultant
This workshop will provide concrete strategies and online tools to enable non-native speakers of English to make appropriate vocabulary choices and approach issues like article and preposition usage in their own writing projects.
Tuesday, January 23rd, 5:10-6:45 PM
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) ( map )

Statistical Software Workshops and Consultation

Current and former workshops may be found here.

For walk-in consulting information, Stat books for loan, and the most up-to-date listing of seminars, please see the Statistical Consulting Services web page of the Institute for Digital Research and Education.

Research Workshops at the Library

To see the most complete, current schedule of UCLA Library advanced research workshops, consult the UCLA Library research workshop page.

Click the link below for more information about the research and teaching support offered by the UCLA Library: http://www.library.ucla.edu/support

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.