Open workshops

As a masters student, you need to be critical… but how? And what exactly does it mean?

This friendly, interactive online workshop will give you some starter ideas on how to take a more critical approach to thinking generally for your masters.

Students are encouraged to ask questions and voice opinions during the workshop.

Students are asked to think about what ‘being critical’ means to them.

This session will not cover:

• Subject or discipline-specific advice
• English Language advice

This session will take place via blackboard collaborate (virtual classroom). Booking is required in order to receive the workshop link and further information about how to join the session.

Cancelling: If you need to cancel your booking, please do so at the earliest opportunity and at least 3 working days before the event.  Someone else may be able to take your place, but we need time to contact them. Also, although you are not charged for an event, there are costs we incur which relate directly to places reserved.

As a masters student, you will have probably been asked to demonstrate critical thinking in your assignments. But what does this mean and how do you do it?

This interactive online workshop will give you some tips and strategies on how to practice and communicate critical thinking in your assignments.

It would be useful for students to have an awareness of their marking criteria and any feedback they have had from previous assignments.

Students are encouraged to comment and ask questions during the workshop.

This session will not cover:

• Subject or discipline-specific advice
• English Language advice

This session will take place via blackboard collaborate (virtual classroom). Booking is required in order to receive the workshop link and further information about how to join the session.

Cancelling: If you need to cancel your booking, please do so at the earliest opportunity and at least 3 working days before the event.  Someone else may be able to take your place, but we need time to contact them. Also, although you are not charged for an event, there are costs we incur which relate directly to places reserved.

If you find writing a challenge, you are not alone. There are a number of difficulties, but many writers find that their biggest problem is simply getting started.

In this online session we will focus on strategies we can use to help us get over that fear of the big blank page.  We will look at freewriting and how this can help us generate text and, also, help us think on paper.

By the end of this one hour interactive online session, you will have a better understanding of what free writing is and how it can help you in your scientific writing and your scientific thinking.

And, you will also learn a little about unicorns.

During this session, you will have the opportunity to do some freewriting, so make sure you have some paper and a pen handy.

This session will take place via blackboard collaborate (virtual classroom). Booking is required in order to receive the workshop link and further information about how to join the session.

Cancelling: If you need to cancel your booking, please do so at the earliest opportunity and at least 3 working days before the event.  Someone else may be able to take your place, but we need time to contact them. Also, although you are not charged for an event, there are costs we incur which relate directly to places reserved.

This workshop is open to all postgraduate taught (PGT) students.

A dissertation is a serious investment of time and energy. It is the defining feature of a Masters so it is worth thinking about what it is you really want to do with it and what you really want to get out of it.

This online interactive session will give you strategies to start thinking about the subject and focus of your dissertation as well as practical tips for project managing it. Participants are encourage to ask questions and raise issues.

This session will not cover:

• Subject or discipline-specific advice
• English Language advice

This session will take place via blackboard collaborate (virtual classroom). Booking is required in order to receive the workshop link and further information about how to join the session.

Cancelling: If you need to cancel your booking, please do so at the earliest opportunity and at least 3 working days before the event.  Someone else may be able to take your place, but we need time to contact them. Also, although you are not charged for an event, there are costs we incur which relate directly to places reserved.

You will be expected to produce significant pieces of academic writing for your Masters e.g. reports, essays and your dissertation! They are a major investment of time and effort, so it is worth spending time polishing it by properly proofreading and editing.

This interactive online session will introduce useful tips and strategies to help you incorporate effective proof-reading and editing into your writing process.

This session will not cover:

• Subject or discipline-specific advice
• English Language advice

This session will take place via blackboard collaborate (virtual classroom). Booking is required in order to receive the workshop link and further information about how to join the session.

Cancelling: If you need to cancel your booking, please do so at the earliest opportunity and at least 3 working days before the event.  Someone else may be able to take your place, but we need time to contact them. Also, although you are not charged for an event, there are costs we incur which relate directly to places reserved.

Grammar should be like the background music in a film.  If it’s good you hardly notice it.  If it’s bad, it jars and distracts you, and does not allow you to focus on what’s important.  We write to communicate our ideas, opinions and discoveries.  If the way we write obscures these goals in any way, then we have to rethink our approach.  Some people think grammar is unimportant, being a secondary issue to the main thrust of their writing.   However, if your use, or misuse, of grammar and punctuation leads your reader to stumble over your meaning, you have failed.  Grammar is important.

In this online session, we will look at the most common problems faced by technical writers when it comes to grammar and punctuation. And, using a lot of examples we will learn how to avoid these problems.

This session will take place via blackboard collaborate (virtual classroom).Booking is required in order to receive the workshop link and further information about how to join the session.

Cancelling: If you need to cancel your booking, please do so at the earliest opportunity and at least 3 working days before the event.  Someone else may be able to take your place, but we need time to contact them. Also, although you are not charged for an event, there are costs we incur which relate directly to places reserved.

A masters course is an intensive and demanding period. You have to fit a lot of challenging work in around your life, your work, your family etc. and try to keep the momentum going.

This online, interactive workshop aims to give you practical tips and strategies to working effectively during your masters. 

Participants are encouraged to ask questions and raise issues they would like to discuss.

Pre-coursework

Participants are asked to think of their challenges when it comes to time management – and be prepared to tackle it!

This session will not cover:

• Subject or discipline-specific advice
• English Language advice

This session will take place via blackboard collaborate (virtual classroom). Booking is required in order to receive the workshop link and further information about how to join the session.

Cancelling: If you need to cancel your booking, please do so at the earliest opportunity and at least 3 working days before the event.  Someone else may be able to take your place, but we need time to contact them. Also, although you are not charged for an event, there are costs we incur which relate directly to places reserved.

When it comes to effective revision, what works and what doesn’t? This online workshop will focus on revision techniques that have been demonstrated to be effective and how you can use and adapt your current habits to incorporate them.  

This session is informal, friendly and includes discussion in a supportive atmosphere.  You are encouraged to ask questions and raise issues.

This workshop will not cover:

• Subject or discipline-specific examination formats
• Subject or discipline-specific advice
• English Language advice
• Referencing

This session will take place via blackboard collaborate (virtual classroom). Booking is required in order to receive the workshop link and further information about how to join the session.

Cancelling: If you need to cancel your booking, please do so at the earliest opportunity and at least 3 working days before the event.  Someone else may be able to take your place, but we need time to contact them. Also, although you are not charged for an event, there are costs we incur which relate directly to places reserved.

This on-line workshop will be an hour session focusing on how to manage your exams by improving your exam technique.

The session will focus on issues raised by participants and so could cover, for example, exam preparation and participation; i.e. how to cope with stress, practicing your exam technique and a review of exam strategies.

This session will take place via blackboard collaborate (virtual classroom). Booking is required in order to receive the workshop link and further information about how to join the session.

Cancelling: If you need to cancel your booking, please do so at the earliest opportunity and at least 3 working days before the event.  Someone else may be able to take your place, but we need time to contact them. Also, although you are not charged for an event, there are costs we incur which relate directly to places reserved.

This session is suitable for any taught postgraduate student who wants to improve their exam technique.

A hands-on session with Academic Support Librarians designed to give you tips, save you time and effort and give you confidence in finding relevant academic literature for essays, reports, literature reviews, dissertations etc.

If you are unable to attend the session but would like advice, please get in touch with your Academic Support Librarian directly - http://www.ed.ac.uk/is/academic-support-librarians-a-z

How to Design a Conference Poster In research, we are often called upon to present our work in the form of a poster at a conference.  The design and layout of these posters is important, if we are to show our work in the best possible light.  Many posters are, however, poorly thought out and badly designed.  This half-day workshop, using a series of short presentations and practical sessions will examine in detail the features of good poster design, will look at the relative importance of pictures versus words, and will equip the participants to play an active role in the design of their future conference posters. After the workshop each participant will: •            understand the purpose of the conference poster •            be familiar with the basic rules for poster design •            understand the importance of words, pictures and flow •            know how deliver a conference poster •            have a working strategy for designing a winning poster.   What previous participants have said about the course:   “Presenter covered the material clearly and with enthusiasm.” “I now know what I should not do as well as what I should do.” “Easy layout to follow, practical information, informative, attention catching.”

Being a masters student is challenging, not just because of the level you will be learning at but also the amount of work (e.g. reading and writing) you’ll be expected to do, and all the while being ‘critical’. With so much to do, using effective strategies will help you to manage the different demands of your masters.

This workshop will focus on practical strategies for masters-level effective reading and writing, and developing your critical thinking during these. Participants will be able to practice some strategies in short exercises during the workshop.

This is an interactive workshop and discussions and questions by participants are warmly encouraged.

This session will not cover:

• Subject or discipline-specific advice
• English Language advice

Cancelling: If you need to cancel your booking, please do so at the earliest opportunity and at least 3 working days before the event.  Someone else may be able to take your place, but we need time to contact them. Also, although you are not charged for an event, there are costs we incur which relate directly to places reserved.

‘Critical’ is a word that is frequently used in academic discourse. Students are advised to think, read and write ‘critically’. But what does ‘critical’ actually mean in an academic context? In this workshop we identify qualities that are core to a critical engagement with academic work, and we explore through examples how you can apply critical values to your reading, writing and academic practice.

Pre-course Work:Please bring printed copy of a short academic article that is relevant to your research interests.

Cancelling: If you need to cancel your booking, please do so at the earliest opportunity and at least 3 working days before the event.  Someone else may be able to take your place, but we need time to contact them. Also, although you are not charged for an event, there are costs we incur (eg photocopying) which relate directly to places reserved.

This course aims to show how a well-crafted sentence is put together and to give an understanding of the underlying grammatical rules.

No prior knowledge of grammar is required.

We will be dealing with such problems as tense, sentence length, sentence structure, joining sentences and punctuation, with a view to producing clear, unambiguous and readable academic writing.

This course will not cover writing for specific purposes, such as these, dissertations or abstracts. 

Cancelling: If you need to cancel your booking, please do so at the earliest opportunity and at least 3 working days before the event.  Someone else may be able to take your place, but we need time to contact them. Also, although you are not charged for an event, there are costs we incur (eg photocopying) which relate directly to places reserved.

This workshop will help you to:

• Reflect on your current actions and priorities• Behave efficiently as well as effectively and so manage your time more productively.• Prioritize and place your focus in appropriate areas

 Cancelling: If you need to cancel your booking, please do so at the earliest opportunity and at least 3 working days before the event.  Someone else may be able to take your place, but we need time to contact them. Also, although you are not charged for an event, there are costs we incur (eg photocopying) which relate directly to places reserved.

Are you a taught postgraduate student working on your assignments or dissertation? Or trying to write for publication?  Would you like an opportunity to be able to learn some writing techniques, and have space to practise them?

The aim of the ‘writing bootcamp’ is to facilitate a time and place for you to write without the distractions of emails, Facebook, twitter and everyday life.

The session will begin with a short Bitesize style workshop to offer advice on writing techniques, and motivate you to write. Following this you will have a 2-and-a-half-hour writing session. No distractions, just writing.

Thinking of coming along? Here is what you need to know.

• You’ll need to do any necessary preparation before attending the mini writing bootcamp (guidance will be sent out prior to the session).

• If you wish to write using a laptop, please bring your own with you. There will be plenty of power sockets. 

As places are limited please only book a place if you are able to attend the session in full.

Cancelling

If you need to cancel your booking, please do so at the earliest opportunity and at least 3 working days before the event. Someone else may be able to take your place, but we need time to contact them. Although you are not charged for an event, there are costs we incur which relate directly to places reserved.

This highly interactive and fast paced course will explore the key skills necessary to help you communicate your research to both academic and non-specialist audiences. We’ll focus on the latest research in communication studies and discuss the good, the bad and the ugly results of academic presentations. We’ll watch keynote TED talks and examine why the speakers succeed and what keeps us on the edge of our seats.

Why should you come?  

1.    Researchers need to engage a variety of audiences for a successful career(s).

2.    To build your core communication skills and confidence.

3.    To prepare you for reviews, seminars and future conference presentations.

4.    It’s also  a little challenging, dynamic and seriously fun.

Finally we’ll help you explore your strengths as a professional presenter and create a short action plan for future presentations

Cancelling: If you need to cancel your booking, please do so at the earliest opportunity and at least 3 working days before the event.  Someone else may be able to take your place, but we need time to contact them. Also, although you are not charged for an event, there are costs we incur (eg photocopying) which relate directly to places reserved.

The Course is a mixture of presentations and hands on practical computer-based sessions to help participants understand the information research process and develop good practice in literature searching.

The key objectives and aims of the course are:

• Develop  an understanding of how information resources provided by the Library and beyond, both printed and electronic, are organised and their major features
• Develop the ability to search and evaluate research literature by performing advanced search strategies and techniques, such as by using Boolean search operators
• Develop the ability to manage search results and citation styles with the help of a bibliographic management software such as EndNote

Cancelling: If you need to cancel your booking, please do so at the earliest opportunity and at least 3 working days before the event.  Someone else may be able to take your place, but we need time to contact them. Also, although you are not charged for an event, there are costs we incur (eg photocopying) which relate directly to places reserved.

In order for academic reading to be effective, it needs to be a combination of efficient (in terms of speed and retention), strategic (in terms of appropriately targeted) and critical.  This short workshop will give you a number of tools to help you to read more quickly, more strategically and more critically.

Course Objectives

The workshop (and practice afterwards) will help you to increase your speed and effectiveness of reading.  The practical exercises during the session will show you how to measure your base read speed and comprehension level and then increase your reading speed and efficiency.

We will use practical exercises and tutor-led input to help refine and improve four key areas:

• Strategy – considering your reading strategy and learning some practical ways to improve information selection and absorption

• Speed  - Techniques to increase speed of reading, and applying these with more dense and difficult material

• Criticism – Acquiring methods and questions to improve your critical reading strategies

• Consistency – Discover how to build consistent reading habits that will improve your efficiency, retention and recall.

Pre- coursework

There will a small amount of pre- coursework sent to you around two weeks before the course.  This will not take long and is nothing that you should not naturally be doing anyway.

This workshop does not include:

• Subject or discipline-specific advice
• English Language advice

This session is intended for all UG, PGT and PGR who would like to get help or advice for using Zotero to keep a database of literature sources and create reference lists easily in essays and other written work.

Learning outcomes are tailored to fit your aims and queries submitted when you register, but sessions in the past have covered:

• Why use Zotero? (or any bibliographic manager)
• Getting started
  • Overview: browser, web and standalone options
  • Registration & installation
  • Intalling plugins
• Adding records
  • Manually
  • Importing pdfs and using watched folders
  • Exporting from literature databases
• Creating citations in Word
  • Inserting citations and reference lists into Word
  • Changing the formats of citations and reference lists
• Added value
  • Searching records & attached files
  • Adding your research notes
  • Organising into collections, sharing with groups, using tags
• Zotero: comparative strengths & weaknesses

 *Before* the workshop, you should

1. Sign up for a Zotero account https://www.zotero.org/user/register/

2. Download both the Firefox plugin and the standalone client: https://www.zotero.org/download/

 3. Follow these video tutorials for getting started https://www.zotero.org/support/screencast_tutorials

 4. Try to use Zotero before the tutorial – you’ll get more out of the tutorial if you do.

This session will take place via blackboard collaborate (virtual classroom). Booking is required in order to receive the workshop link and further information about how to join the session.

Cancelling: If you need to cancel your booking, please do so at the earliest opportunity and at least 3 working days before the event.  Someone else may be able to take your place, but we need time to contact them. Also, although you are not charged for an event, there are costs we incur which relate directly to places reserved.