Kia ora to those of you joining AUT for your research programme! We hope you’ve enjoyed all the orientation festivities.
In this month’s round-up of postgraduate research events & activities, we wish an especially warm welcome to all our new doctoral students who are invited to a Doctoral Induction on 14 March. All doctoral students starting in the February intake should have received an invitation; but if you haven’t (or if you have any enquiries) please email the Researcher Education and Development (RED) team at red@aut.ac.nz.
What else is on in March? Read on below!
Postgraduate Research Workshops in March 2024
| What? | Where? | When? |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Tue 5 Mar, 12:00pm – 1:00pm |
| Thesis writing: Conclusions An overview of the structure of a Conclusion section of 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 | Tue 5 Mar, 5:30pm – 7:30pm |
| 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. | City campus | Wed 6 Mar, 2:00pm – 4:00pm |
| 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 | Wed 6 Mar, 4:30pm – 6:00pm and Fri 8 Mar, 10:30am – 12:00pm and Tue 12 Mar, 12:00pm – 1:30pm |
| Thesis formatting: The works This workshop focuses on the best ways to use Microsoft Word to handle a long document such as a thesis. Topics covered will include: using styles, section breaks, table of contents, page numbering and using various techniques to move around a long document easily. | City campus | Sat 9 Mar, 9:00am – 2:00pm |
| 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 12 Mar, 5:00pm – 7:00pm |
| Generating content for online researcher profiles Focuses on thinking through who you are as a researcher for the purpose of generating and refining content for research profiles. Engage in practical activities to identify and reflect on what you research, how and why you research it, and who is in your research network. Bring a device and be prepared to log in to AUT’s Microsoft 365 during the workshop. | Online | Tue 12 Mar, 5:30pm – 7:30pm |
| Getting started with library research A Library workshop for new AUT postgrads or those returning to study. We aim to give you a good understanding of the types of resources available from the Library and databases and/or search engines you may use in your literature research. | Online | Wed 13 Mar, 12:00pm – 1:00pm and Wed 27 Mar, 2:30pm – 3:30pm |
| Systematically searching for health literature This Library workshop will take you through the literature searching process: developing a search strategy, searching health databases in a systematic way, and best practices for recording and managing results. Please have your research question handy so you can use it to develop and practice your search. | Online | Wed 13 Mar, 4:00pm – 5:30pm |
| Getting started with writing Focuses on strategies to help researchers digest reading in preparation for writing about what you’ve read. Participants try freewriting and mapping concepts as strategies to get words on the page and then create more structured writing. Bring an article you have read recently and a sample of your own writing. | Online | Wed 13 Mar, 5:30pm – 7:30pm |
| Tools for editing your writing Fully booked; waitlist available 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. | City campus | Thu 14 Mar, 2:00pm – 4:00pm |
| Thesis writing: Highlighting research significance Explores where and how you can make your research findings stand out. Participants will consider ‘what matters’ and ‘who cares’ and where this information goes. Bring an article you have read recently and a sample of your own writing. Suited to PG research students who already have their research findings. | Online | Tue 19 Mar, 5:30pm – 7:30pm |
| 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. You will analyse and discuss text examples and relate these to your own writing. | City campus | Wed 20 Mar, 2:00pm – 4:00pm |
| Postgrad Students Wellness Toolkit session: Managing stress and worry 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 20 Mar, 3:00pm – 4:00pm |
| SPSS quick start SPSS is designed to assist researchers in the analysis of quantitative data, and is one of the most user-friendly and popular packages on the market today. 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 | Thu 21 Mar, 10:00am – 12:00pm |
| Thesis writing: Introductions Fully booked; waitlist available An overview of the structure of an Introduction section of 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 | Thu 21 Mar, 2:00pm – 4:00pm |
| Thesis writing: Literature reviews Fully booked; waitlist available An overview of the structure of literature reviews within a thesis. Identifies typical functions and distinctive features of this section in relation to the whole research project. Participants analyse, discuss and relate text examples to their own writing. Systematic reviews are not covered. | Online | Thu 21 Mar, 5:30pm – 7:30pm |
| Thesis writing: Connecting sections and chapters This workshop explores how we can organise research writing so that our readers clearly see how sections within a chapter and different chapters connect. Bring a research article that you think has a nice flow (one you think it is well written and easy to follow). Suited to research students who have fully drafted at least one chapter or article. | Online | Mon 25 Mar, 5:30pm – 7:30pm |
| Literature searching for postgraduate research This Library workshop will guide you through the literature searching process: developing a search strategy, searching databases systematically, using key search techniques, and evaluating, recording and organising results. Please have your research question handy so you can use it to develop and practice your search. | Online | Tue 26 Mar, 12:00pm – 1:30pm |
| CV, cover letter & job interview tips for academic roles Getting a job in academia is hugely competitive. If you want to stand a chance of succeeding, you’ve got to stand out. This workshop can help you understand what you should be adding to your CV or articulating in a job interview for a role in the academic world. | Online | Wed 27 Mar, 10:00am – 12:00pm |
| Thesis writing: Fine-tuning your literature review Fully booked; waitlist available 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. | City campus | Wed 27 Mar, 12:00pm – 2:00pm |
| CV, cover letter & job interview tips for working in industry This workshop can help you understand what you should be adding to your CV or articulating in a job interview for a job in industry. | Online | Thu 27 Mar, 10:30am – 12:30pm |
| Recording your research impact This workshop will explore how traditional metrics found in the databases of Scopus, Google Scholar, and Dimensions can be used to evaluate your publications’ academic impact; and how alternative metrics, as found in databases like Altmetric Explorer and Overton, can be used to monitor your publications’ societal impact. | Online | Thu 27 Mar, 12:00pm – 1:00pm |
