Skip to Main Content

Graduate Student Boot Camp: A Cosmic Quest: Session Descriptions

Sessions

Heroes are made by the paths they choose, not the powers they are graced with.

9:00-9:30 a.m. Graduate Student Lounge

Blast off with pearls of advice and encouragement from the Dean of GSO and graduate program directors and faculty. 

 

 

When you decide not to be afraid, you can find friends in super unexpected places.

9:35-10:20 a.m. Lab 162

SU Libraries offer a wide array of services and resources to graduate students. 

This session will  cover:

  • GAC Graduate Student Commons & other spaces
  • Research Help & LibGuides
  • Books/ebooks, databases/articles
  • Borrowing
  • ILL & UMD system
  • Nabb & CRC overviews

 With great power, comes great responsibility.

10:20 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.  Lab 162

The session will introduce the essential elements of conducting and writing a literature review (LR). This session will  cover:

  • Purpose
  • Differences between  LR and annotated bibliography
  • Different types of literature reviews
  • Strategies and the process of LR: summarizing, synthesizing, creating new knowledge/research

Love at First Cite

11:25 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.  GAC 260 C

In this interactive workshop, participants will learn about the resources the University Writing Center (UWC) offers specifically tailored to graduate students.  Participants will learn how the UWC can work with writers at any stage of the writing process and at any stage of their graduate coursework.  Participants will then split into two groups based on the documentation style used within their program—MLA or APA—for discussions about writing guides and citation styles.

 

You’re going to struggle. So you’ll need to surround yourself with people you trust!

1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Zotero (http://www.zotero.org/) is a free, powerful, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources. Downloaded as a standalone, you can save to your Zotero library directly from your Firefox, Chrome, or Safari browser. Zotero integrates with word processors, like Microsoft Word and OpenOffice Writer, to easily generate in-text citations, footnotes, and bibliographies.  SU has adopted Zotero as one of three citation management programs. 

The session will cover:

  • Downloading the software
  • Navigating the interface
  • Collecting and managing research sources
  • Integrating with word processors (Microsoft Word, etc.)

 

EndNote is a reference management software from Clarivate Analytics that keeps all your references organized, searchable, and sharable in a personal library. It easily integrates with word-processors like Microsoft Word to create formatted citations and bibliographies or independent reference lists. You can download a trial for 30 days at https://endnote.com/downloads/30-day-trial/

The session will cover:

  • Creating a library of references
  • Adding references (manual, direct export, online)
  • Finding fulltext for citations in your existing EndNote library
  • Organizing references
  • Cite While You Write (generate bibliographies easily with different output styles)

 

RefWorks RefWorks is a citation management tool that can help researchers cite sources in styles most commonly used at SU like APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian, ACS, AMA, and thousands of others. With this tool, researchers can gather, organize, read, annotate, and cite their research sources. Additionally, RefWorks can be used as an online collaboration space that enables groups of researchers to work together from any location.

This session will cover: 

  • Creating your account
  • Adding project references
  • Creating citations
  • Reference sharing tool features

Be Strong. You never know who you are inspiring.

2:30-3:30 p.m.

Scholarly Communication 

This session will focus on preparing effective presentations and provide information about copyrights, plagiarism, and publishing research.  The session will begin with a demonstration on how to work with PowerPoint, and will also include information about other available presentation platforms.  Often images, graphs, or other items can be used for added interest in a presentation, but copyrights and plagiarism must be considered.  Finally, publishing research is a vital mechanism for sharing your amazing findings, but not all journals are created equal.  Knowing where to publish and how to find “good” journals is an important tool as you advance in your graduate studies.

 

May the Data be with You!

3:40 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Labs 162, 163, 117

Qualtrics

This brief session will highlight basic information about survey/form creation, including steps for creating and modifying items, adjusting formatting, and working collaboratively with surveys. A brief overview of key survey options, distribution of surveys, and exporting of survey results will also be provided.

 

SPSS

You have data, now what are you going to do with it?!  Learn how to navigate the SPSS program to perform simple tasks such as recoding, calculating variables, merging data, and running frequencies.  A brief introduction to more advanced statistical analyses will be shared as well. 

 

nVivo

NVivo is a qualitative research software program that gives you a place to organize, store and retrieve your data so you can work more efficiently, save time and rigorously back up findings with evidence. Import data from virtually any source – text, audio, video, emails, images, spreadsheets, online surveys, social and web content and more. With advanced data management, query and visualization tools, NVivo lets you ask complex questions of your data so you can discover more. NVivo is ideal for desk research and literature reviews as well, and we will take a look at some of the basic functionality in this short demonstration.

 

Part of the journey is the end! ( Mindfulness, Yoga)

4:35 p.m. -5:35 p.m.  Lab 163

Join Tara Gladden for a gentle, relaxing yoga session designed to release stress and forge a deeper connection with breath. Basic yoga asanas will be introduced along with breathing exercises that increase awareness and unite mind and body.  Practice is suitable for all levels. Wear comfortable clothes you can easily move in and bring a mat if you have one.