Writing and Research Workshops

Spring 2012

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

Best Practices for Writing Your Master’s Thesis
Netta Avineri, Applied Linguistics
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.
Thursday, April 5th, 5:00-7:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) (map)

Writing Successful Grant and Fellowship Applications
Seppi Lehner, Archaeology (German Chancellor Fellow 2012-2013, DAAD Fellow 2012)
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 12th, 5:00-6:30pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) (map)

Strategies for Writing Time-Limited Exams
Erin Brown, History
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.
Friday, April 20th, 12:00-1:30pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) (map)

An Introduction to Publishing Journal Articles
Netta Avineri, Applied Linguistics
 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.
Thursday, April 26th, 5:00-7:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) (map)

Workshop for Journal Editors: Manuscript Editing and Production for Journal Editors in the Digital Age
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 half-day workshop will cover stages and levels of editing manuscripts in a journal workflow from the revise-and-resubmit letter to the finished publishable product. Sections include editorial organization and workflow, substantive editing, proofreading, and copyediting, policy documentation and protocols, and production. Current, future, or would-be editors are welcome to attend any or all parts of the workshop.
RSVP for the Editorial Organization Roundtable lunch by emailing pubs@gsa.asucla.ucla.edu.
Friday, April 27, 12:00-4:30pm, Schedule of Sessions:
12:00–1:00: Roundtable lunch: Editorial Organization and Workflow Overview
1:00–3:00: Essentials of Editing (Substantive Editing, Copyediting, Proofreading)
Coffee break
3:15-4:30: Rolling up Our Sleeves: Policy Documents (Mission Statements, Author Agreements, Submission Guidelines, Peer Review Statements)
4:30-5:30: Production Systems and Software (InDesign and Acrobat Lite, eScholarship, and Technical Media Requirements for Editors)
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) (map)
Co-sponsored by the Graduate Writing Center and GSA Publications.

Policy Writing: Best Practices in White Paper and Memo Writing
Remy Monteko-Sherman, Urban Planning and Management
This workshop will provide an overview of the best practices in memo and white paper writing. We will discuss the purpose, organization, and style of this genre of writing as well as dissect exemplary papers from the urban planning and public policy departments so that you can write effective memos and white papers on your own, whether for graduate school or in a professional environment.
Thursday, May 3rd, 5:00-6:30pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) (map)

Figures and Digital Visual Aids in Conference Presentations and Publication
Seppi Lehner, Archaeology
This workshop focuses on strategies for designing effective figures and visual materials for conference presentations, publications, and other contexts. The workshop will introduce different software packages, such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, which are commonly used to design figures, and offer further resources for learning these programs.
Thursday, May 17th, 5:00-6:30pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) (map)

Being Your Own Best Editor: Editing Skills Workshop
Stacey Meeker, Information Studies; GSA Director of Publications
This hands-on workshop will guide people through 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 flow. Please bring a hard copy of your own work, at least 5-10 double-spaced pages (more is fine).
Friday, May 18th, 12:00-2:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) (map)

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, May 24th, 5:00-6:30pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) (map)

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 15-20 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.
Friday, May 25th, 12:00-2:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) (map)

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 10th, 5:00-7:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) (map)

Humanities Writing Workshops

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 15-20 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.
Friday, May 25th, 12:00-2:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) (map)

Social Sciences Writing Workshops

An Introduction to Publishing Journal Articles
Netta Avineri, Applied Linguistics
 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.
Thursday, April 26th, 5:00-7:00pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) (map)

Science and Engineering Writing Workshops

Writing an Engineering Paper
Sarah Gibson, Electrical Engineering
In this workshop, we will cover the basics of how to structure and write an engineering paper. We will also discuss voice, style, and transitions, as well as compare models of "good" vs. "bad" writing. The workshop will be applicable to engineering journal and conference papers, as well as to masters and doctoral theses and proposals. 
Thursday, May 31st, 5:00-6:30pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) (map)

We have some previously-recorded online workshops about writing in the sciences, including workshops on applying for the NIH NRSA fellowship and writing dissertation proposal and an article-based dissertation in the sciences. For more information, click here.

ESL Workshops

Self-Editing Strategies for Non-Native Speakers of English
Carole Yue, Psychology
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.
Friday, May 4th, 12:00-1:45pm
Location: Conference Room 4, Student Activities Center (basement level) (map)

Research Workshops

Text Analysis and Visualization
Using ManyEyes and Voyant/Voyeur, this session explores basic text-analysis tools and visualization techniques, including hands-on practice with an emphasis on methodology.
Tuesday, April 17th, 2:30-3:30 pm
Location: Research Library Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F (map)

EndNote
This hour-long session offers an introduction to EndNote, a software program that helps researchers organize and manage their references and create and format bibliographies.
Wednesday, April 18th, 2:00-3:00pm
Location: Research Library East Electronic Classroom, room 21536 (map)

Copyright Basics
This session focuses on the basic mechanics of copyright law, including kinds of materials copyright covers, specific rights it encompasses, and length of copyright.  It also covers the important principle of fair use, a vital exception for scholarship and research that allows for limited reuse of copyrighted works without permission under certain circumstances. There will be time at the end for questions.
Tuesday, April 24th, 1:00-2:00pm
Location: Research Library Presentation Room, room 11348 (map)

Introduction to Network Analysis using Gephi
Learn about network analysis in this workshop, which will introduce researchers to the basics of network analysis: how to use Gephi to create network data and visualize and analyze it. Basic features of the software will be demonstrated, then attendees will participate in an exercise to create a visualization of their Facebook friends.
Tuesday, April 24th, 2:30-3:30pm
Location: Research Library Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F (map)

Managing Research Assets
There’s research, there’s writing, and then there’s a netherworld in between of wrangling all the digital files researchers gather in the course of their work. Designed primarily for researchers in the humanities, this workshop features tools for gathering, sorting, and citing this information so that researchers can focus on writing.
Wednesday, April 25th, 2:00-3:00pm
Location: Research Library Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F (map)

Finding Images
This workshop combines online demonstrations and hands-on practice to show researchers how to find images in databases such as ARTstor and how to use these resources effectively.
Monday, April 30th, 2:00-3:30pm
Location: Research Library Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F (map)

Introduction to XML
Knowing XML increases researchers’ ability to plan projects, talk to technology experts, and share content with collaborators anywhere.  This workshop presents a short introduction to XML, how and why to use it for innovative digital scholarship projects, how to read and edit it, and the relationships among XML, XSLT, and HTML. There will be some hands-on exercises and an introduction to Oxygen, an XML editor.
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2:00-3:30pm
Location: Research Library Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F (map)

Introduction to Encoded Archival Description (EAD)
EAD is an XML markup language for archival finding aids. This workshop explores the structure of EAD finding aids, the principal tags and syntax, and validating against the EAD Document Type Definition (DTD) and W3C Schemas.
Monday, May 7th, 2:00-3:30pm
Location: Research Library Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F (map)

Graduate Students and Open Access Publishing
Graduate students have the most to gain from a shift in the scholarly publishing landscape toward open access and away from traditional models.  But until open access models gain more ground in the academy, graduate students could also have the most to lose by taking a stand.  In this ninety-minute workshop, you’ll have a chance to learn more about open access, clarify your own position on the issue, and find out what the library can do to help you achieve your scholarly publishing goals.
Tuesday, May 8th, 11:30am-1:00pm
Location: Research Library Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F (map)

Introduction to Topic Modeling
Are you working with a large collection of unstructured documents? Topic modeling is a useful method for categorizing and comparing large quantities of texts. This workshop introduces participants to topic modeling techniques using Mallet.
Tuesday, May 8th, 2:30-3:30pm
Location: Research Library Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F (map)

Zotero
This hour-long session offers an introduction to Zotero, an open-source application that helps researchers organize and manage references and create and format bibliographies.
Wednesday, May 9th, 2:00-3:00pm
Location: Research Library Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F (map)

Publishing EAD to the Web, or, An Introduction to XSLT for Archivists
This workshop shows participants how to use XSLT to convert XML Encoded Archival Description (EAD) finding aids to XHTML for publication on the Web. Previous experience with EAD is not required, and the workshop also serves as a general introduction to XSLT.
Monday, May 14th, 2:00-3:30pm
Location: Research Library Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F (map)

Introduction to TEI
This session gives a quick introduction to the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) standard, which is used by humanities scholars and librarians to create digital editions of documents, books, manuscripts, and other materials. Learn to use the TEI standard during this hands-on workshop. 
Wednesday, May 16th, 2:00-3:30pm
Location: Research Library Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F (map)

Build an Academic Website
This ninety-minute workshop will enable researchers to create a free, professional-looking website in which to present research and teaching – no coding required!
Thursday, May 17th, 3:00-4:30pm
Location: Research Library Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F (map)

Publishing EAD Documents as PDFs, or, An Introduction to XSL-FO for Archivists
Using EAD finding aids as an example, this workshop shows participants how to format and convert an XML document to PDF, either for posting to the web or for printing.
Monday, May 21st, 2:00-3:30pm
Location: Research Library Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F (map)

How to Map Your Data with Google Fusion Tables and ArcGIS
This hands on workshop, led by UCLA Campus GIS Coordinator, Yoh Kawano, will demonstrate how to use Google Fusion Tables and ArcGIS to create stunning presentations of your GIS data. 25 CLICC laptops (with ArcGIS) will be available to participants on a first-come, first-served basis.  You are welcome to bring your own laptop, but you will need ArcGIS in order to participate in the workshop.
Thursday, May 24th, 2:30-4:00pm
Location: Research Library Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F (map)

XML/TEI/EAD Lab Session
Spend more time practicing XML, TEI, or EAD with hands-on exercises in this lab session.  Prepared exercises will be available, but you can also bring your own documents to work on.
Friday, June 1st, 1:30-3:30pm
Location: Research Library Research Commons Classroom, room 11630F (map)

Other Resources--

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 all available at http://guides.library.ucla.edu.

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 at http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/librarians.cfm.

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.

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 here for more detailed location information, including directions to the Visualization Portal in the Math Sciences building.