Open workshops

Wanting more than just a dissertation? Think about publication!

Your dissertation requires a substantial amount of time and effort from you, so how can you get more from it? One way to make your dissertation work for you is to publish it.

Many dissertations represent significant additions and advancements to their field. Publishing is a way to get your work noticed and can lead to surprising opportunities. Plus, your supervisor will be pleased because they won’t have to do it!

This friendly, interactive session will look at options of where and how you can publish your dissertation.

This session will not cover:

• Subject or discipline-specific advice
• English Language advice
• Referencing
• Proofreading and editing

The literature review is a key component of a dissertation, because it motivates and contextualises key research issue. Developing a review is a complex task which involves selecting, organising and evaluating source material; reading actively while taking effective notes; and shaping relevant information into a coherent piece of writing. This workshop offers practical ways of making this process manageable and beginning to develop a review.

Pre-course work:

Please bring  printed copy of an article (by an author other than yourself) that you are familiar with and are planning to incorporate into your literature review.

Despite what you might believe, there is no great secret to creativity. All it requires is a brain and some techniques. You bring your brain, and I'll provide the techniques. I don't promise you'll be composing sonnets by the end of the session, but you will leave with some clear approaches to being more creative in your work.

‘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.

Want more from your dissertation? Think about a publication!

Your dissertation requires a substantial amount of time and effort from you, so how can you get the most out of it? One way to make your dissertation work for you is to publish it. Many dissertations represent significant additions and advancements to their field. Publishing is a way to get your work noticed and can lead to surprising opportunities. And it doesn’t have to be just journal articles!

This 1 hour, online interactive workshop will discuss strategies for producing a range of publications from your dissertation. It is open to online and on-campus students.

This workshop does not include

• Referencing and formatting
• 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.

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

Getting started writing your dissertation can be a daunting task. It can be difficult to get started and really easy to put off! But no-one else can write your dissertation but you…

So how do you start, and maintain, writing your dissertation?

This online interactive session will give you practical strategies for thinking about writing, planning your writing and actually starting to write your dissertation.

This workshop does not include:

• Subject or discipline-specific referencing, formatting, or 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.

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.

A successful research project does not solely depend on an important research question and a well-designed protocol, but also on the efficient execution of the project. Many research projects fail to complete on time and on budget and some struggle even to get off the ground. In this half-day workshop we will apply the principles of project management to research projects and show how by applying some simple tools and techniques we can solve many of the common problems we face and avoid others altogether. The workshop will consist of a series of short, interactive lectures, interspersed with practical exercises.

After the workshop each participant will:

• be able to define the different component parts of a research project
• understand the common challenges that arise when managing a research project
• be familiar with project management tools and techniques
• be able to put these into practice
• understand how to avoid the commonest problems that arise in management of research

As our careers grow and develop we can often find ourselves in positions where we have a great deal of responsibility and perhaps not too much authority.   This is where our ability to Lead and Influence becomes paramount. 

These elements come naturally to some, but they are just rules in a game that can be learned and assertively applied. 

This session will focus on building an understanding of how to effectively influence people around us.   We’ll also consider a few basic elements of how to lead in an authentic way – and not simply rely on a badge that says ‘in charge’.

This will be achieved through a blend of situation-based discussion, tutor input, paired work and real-life problem solving.

By the end of the session, participants will

• Have built a toolkit of influence skills and techniques.
• Understand how to assertively influence with confidence.
• Establish some rules and tools for leading, influencing and dealing with challenging individuals.

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.

Do you need to start making some connections with people who might help you with your research project and who will be interested in your findings? You might also be thinking about networking for your future career. This interactive workshop will help you develop a strategy for networking with your stakeholders and provide some hints and tips for effective networking. Students should come prepared to talk about why they would like to build connections.

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
• Feedback on individual pieces of work
• Proof-reading or editing of individual pieces of work

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.

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

A dissertation is a significant piece of academic writing and the defining feature of a Master’s degree, so it is worth taking time to consider your structure.

This interactive session will help you step back from the detail of your writing and take an overview of your dissertation.  It will suggest practical ways you can isolate the main themes of your work and develop a convincing order to present your ideas.  We will also discuss the purpose of key sections of academic dissertations.  

This session will not cover:

• Subject or discipline-specific advice
• English Language advice
• Feedback on individual pieces of work
• Proof-reading or editing of individual pieces of work

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.

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.

This 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 will not include:

• Subject or discipline-specific advice
• English Language advice

Editing can feel like the hardest part of writing a thesis – some dread it, others complain it’s dull. But it’s a skill and it can be incredibly productive, as any professional writer will affirm. This half-day workshop will explore the difference between editing and writing, it will examine the different kinds of editing. There will be an emphasis on writing as a craft and how practical editorial skills can contribute to the process.

Participants will be asked to submit a sample (no more than two double-spaced pages) of their own writing for the tutor to read in advance of the workshop. You will also be required to bring a hard copy to edit during the session.

Whether we like it or not, in modern academia we are judged by how much we publish and where it is published. Thus, all academics strive to get their work  accepted in the highest impact journals. However, this takes work and often requires persistence. In this online presentation, Allan Gaw, who has been an academic for over 30 years and who has published extensively, will give you his top tips for success.  

After the presentation, the attendees will:

• be aware of the importance of choosing the right journal

• understand the need to follow the instructions to authors

• know how to structure an academic paper

• appreciate the peer review process

• know how to respond to, and when to challenge, a review

Whether you are writing a Masters Dissertation, a PhD Thesis, a Grant Application or a Paper you will be required to produce a literature review. This aspect of academic writing presents many problems to those new, and sometimes not so new, to the task.  Some mistakenly think that a simple, and often exhaustive, catalogue of past research is what is required.  But, or course, a good literature review is much more than that.  This online presentation will guide the participants through a carefully plotted route, helping them to produce a winning strategy for writing their next literature review.

After the workshop each participant will:

• understand the key elements of a good literature review and its purpose
• be able to formulate a literature review writing plan
• possess the necessary critical skills to summarise & synthesise literature
• appreciate the need for editing and review of the written work.

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.

This online 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.

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

This session is open to all UG, PGT, PGR and Online Learners who would like to get help or advice for using Endnote 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 EndNote (or any bibliographic manager)
• Getting started
• Adding records to EndNote
  • Manually
  • Exporting from literature databases
  • Creating citations in Word from EndNote
    • Inserting citations and reference lists
    • Changing the formats of citations and reference lists
    • Added value – managing your literature sources
      • Attachments to records
      • Adding your research notes
      • Alternatives to EndNote

EndNote is installed on all on-campus open access computers (like the Library) but you can get your own copy of EndNote desktop version via the UoE Licence https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/computing/desktop-personal/software/main-software-deals/endnote    Comparison chart of EndNote and other bibliographic management software options http://www.docs.is.ed.ac.uk/mvm/BiblioManagersTable.pdf

This session is intended for all UG, PGT, PGR and Online Learners who would like to get help or advice for using Mendeley 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 Mendeley? (or any bibliographic manager)
• Getting started
  • Overview: web and desktop components
  • Registration & downloading Mendeley desktop
  • Intalling plugins
• Adding records to Mendeley
  • Manually
  • Importing pdfs and using watched folders
  • Exporting from literature databases
• Creating citations in Word from Mendeley
  • 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
  • Folders and Groups
  • Finding & merging duplicate records
  • Mendeley’s File Organiser
• Mendeley: comparative strengths & weaknesses

 *Before* the workshop, you should

1.Sign up for a Mendeley account and download the desktop client: http://www.mendeley.com/

2.Follow these video tutorials for getting started: http://www.mendeley.com/videos-tutorials/

3. Try to use Mendeley 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.

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.