October is a great time to do some upskilling in research methods, with meaty workshops on NVivo, SPSS, data analysis, and interviewing skills all on offer this month. Plus, don’t forget about our other great methods resources available online year-round: the SAGE Research Methods database, and the CARMA methods database (instructions on using the latter here).
The Rangahau Aranga editorial team is hard at work this month preparing to publish abstracts from the PG Research Symposium. If you contributed an abstract and consented to have it published, you will hear more about this soon.
We are looking forward to welcoming those of you who were accepted to the October Writers’ Retreat to beautiful Long Bay Beach for 3.5 days of blissful, uninterrupted writing time. This is the last writing retreat for 2023, but look out here for details on 2024 retreat and Write-Away days as we confirm dates.
It’s also a great time to be social, with a special Mix & Mingle on 26 October featuring Pecha Kucha presentations from some of our PG students (as well as the usual yummy nibbles, non-alcoholic drinks, and good company).
What else is on in October? Read on below.
Postgraduate Research Workshops in October
| What? | Where? | When? |
|---|---|---|
| EndNote for researchers This workshop covers best practice, using EndNote 20 reference management software. Learn how to create, customise and populate your EndNote library; organise your EndNote library; use EndNote with Word; and back up your EndNote library. Please ensure you install EndNote on your device before attending the workshop. Knowledge of the referencing style you use (e.g. APA style) is essential. | Online | Mon 2 Oct, 1:00pm – 2:30pm |
| Publishing for science and engineering authors: A symposium hosted by Springer Nature The face of scientific publishing is changing at a very fast pace. This session will address the transitions in and the needs of the publishing world and how researchers need to prepare for it for both journal and book. This author workshop has been devised specifically as a resource for teaching researchers, particularly young scientists, how to achieve publication success. | City campus | Wed 4 Oct, 12:00pm – 1:30pm |
| Growing your research impact Research impact is important. It defines the way in which your research influences and creates benefits to society, the environment, culture and innovation. This Library workshop provides practical tips for growing your research impact. Learn how to plan for research impact (your impact goals, pathway and engagement strategy); make your research accessible to everyone and easy to find; and communicate your research findings effectively. | Online | Wed 4 Oct, 4:30pm – 5:30pm |
| Communicating your research identity Focuses on thinking through who you are as a researcher for the purpose of generating and refining content for research profiles and considering where to publish. Suited to doctoral and non-doctoral students (masters, honours) who want to develop and communicate their research identity. | Online | Thu 5 Oct, 1:00pm – 3:00pm |
| Connecting your research Explores how writers use language to connect to both past and future research. Participants will have time to analyse examples relevant to them and practice using common language patterns to clearly show readers how new research fits in to the wider field. | Online | Thu 5 Oct, 5:30pm – 7:30pm |
| NVivo core skills for students This course is targeted at researchers wanting an efficient means of handling and analysing their qualitative data. No prior knowledge of the software is assumed; however a basic understanding of qualitative analysis procedures would be helpful. | Online | Fri 6 Oct, 10:00am – 3:00pm |
| Publishing for postgraduates and early career researchers This Library workshop is designed to guide you through the process of finding relevant publications for your research. Understand elements of a publishing strategy; use databases and online tools to find relevant journals to publish in; and evaluate journals for suitability and quality. There will be opportunities for you to practice and ask questions. | Online | Fri 6 Oct, 12:00pm – 1:30pm |
| Thesis formatting: Introduction This workshop provides an introduction to Microsoft Word for academic writing. Learn formatting, editing and file management skills so that you are ready to start your thesis writing with confidence. This workshop provides an overview of MS Word for academic purposes, and is designed to answer your questions and clear up your confusion. | City campus | Sat 7 Oct, 9:00am – 12:00pm |
| Thesis writing: Discussions Provides an overview of the structure of discussion sections within a thesis. Identifies typical functions and distinctive features of this section in relation to the whole research project. Participants analyse and discuss text examples and relate these to their own writing. | Online | Wed 11 Oct, 12:00pm – 2:00pm |
| Writing clear and persuasive arguments Considers fundamental differences between writing descriptively and persuasively. Participants will look closely at why some arguments are easy to follow. We also consider the way language enables us to control how much we align with other points of view. Bring an article you have read recently and a sample of your own writing where you are either writing about past literature or discussing your research findings. | Online | Thu 12 Oct, 12:00pm – 2:00pm |
| Recording the social impact of your research This Library workshop will explore how alternative metrics, known as altmetrics, can be used to monitor your publications’ social impact. We will use the databases of Altmetric Explorer and Overton to track and record social attention of your research. | Online | Fri 13 Oct, 12:00pm – 1:00pm |
| Finding scholarship funding for postgraduate studies This workshop will show you how to search for and find various scholarship and research funding avenues and receive tips on how to draft up an application for external funding. There are different sources of funding for every postgraduate course and for every type of candidate. | Online | Tue 17 Oct, 10:00am – 11:00am |
| Interviewing skills for qualitative researchers This workshop aims to help researchers decide when interviews are suitable as a data gathering tool. It will look at the aim of interviews, what research questions they can answer and what they can’t. | Online | Tue 17 Oct, 5:00pm – 7:00pm |
| Tools for editing your writing Introduces ProWritingAid as a tool for editing. Focuses on using statistics to examine draft writing. These statistics are related to choices about paragraph structure, and where to condense your writing or elaborate. Participants will have time to use the tool to edit their own work. | Online | Tue 17 Oct, 5:30pm – 7:30pm |
| Analysing qualitative data This workshop provides a focused introduction to qualitative data analysis, and will cover the key stages in the process such as data preparation, coding, and identifying patterns in your data. It is interspersed with practical tips and aims to leave attendees feeling more confident in approaching this vital—but inevitably messy—stage of the research cycle. | Online | Wed 18 Oct, 10:00am – 12:00pm |
| What’s so good about open access? What’s so good about open access? 72% more citations is just one answer! To find out more, join the Research Services librarians as they demystify the jargon and confusing rules around open access and explain how you too can reap the benefits of publishing openly. | Online | Wed 18 Oct, 12:00pm – 1:00pm |
| Writing up qualitative research Moving from the analysis and interpretive stages to the writing phase can be challenging for qualitative researchers, and many people struggle with this stage of the research process. This training course covers tips and tricks for managing this process. | Online | Wed 18 Oct, 1:00pm – 3:00pm |
| Postgrad students wellness toolkit session – Stress Come along to our Wellness Toolkit sessions for postgraduate students so you can build your own set of ‘tools’ to enhance your resilience and wellbeing. This session covers stress and worry, helping you better understand and manage these common postgraduate difficulties, and prevent stress from negatively impacting your wellbeing and academic performance (prevent burnout). | Online | Wed 18 Oct, 2:00pm – 3:00pm |
| Fine-tuning your literature review Introduces a process to cross-check how a literature review connects to other sections, such as findings and discussion chapters or parts of a journal article. Participants will use their own work to visually track where concepts are first introduced and then continue to be used. Suited to research students who have already drafted both their research findings and literature review. | Online | Wed 18 Oct, 5:30pm – 7:30pm |
| Understanding Format 2 at AUT A research student completing their qualification by Format 2 (‘thesis by publication’) will compose their thesis by combining and contextualising papers they have published in peer-reviewed journals. Learn about and discuss the specific requirements of completing a thesis via Format 2: including authorship requirements, conditions for the publications themselves, and how publications can be linked and contextualised. | Online | Thu 19 Oct, 1:00pm – 3:00pm |
| SPSS core skills for students SPSS is designed to assist researchers in the analysis of quantitative data. This training course will teach participants how to successfully set-up SPSS data files and also run some basic analyses. No statistical knowledge is required for this workshop; however, the focus of the session will be on the SPSS software rather than statistical theory. | Online | Fri 27 Oct, 10:00am – 12:00pm |
