Writing Week Allows Graduate Students to Sharpen Skills

The office of graduate student support has arranged for a series of virtual writing workshops for all U of A graduate students to focus on writing skills, strategies, resources and more. Writing week will run from Sunday through Thursday, Feb. 20-24, and will consist of the following sessions:

Sunday, Feb. 20

Writing Productivity — 5-6:30 p.m. CT
Vernetta Mosley, founder of Cultivate the Writer, will talk about how to approach and overcome obstacles in the writing process, including using a project management approach, using realistic deadlines and ways you can establish a writing schedule.

Monday, Feb. 21

Citation Tools Training: Zotero — 2-3 p.m. CT
Norma Johnson of the University Libraries will give students an overview of the citation management tool Zotero, how to make the most of its features and how it can be used as an element in the research and writing process.

The Critical Skill of Organizing Ideas — 4-5:30 p.m. CT
Mosley will share some strategies, tools and techniques for organizing ideas and research in the prewriting stage.

Tuesday, Feb. 22

Skimming Lessons: Managing the Required Reading for Grad School — 11 a.m. to noon CT
This session is presented by the U of A Writing Studio and will provide an overview on how to skim readings, scan and search for specific information, and annotate. Learn how to effectively understand your academic readings to provide solid evidence to craft a better paper.

Elements of a Sound Academic Argument — noon to 1:30 p.m. CT
Mosley will discuss how to understand, identify and strengthen the elements of a sound academic argument in the writing process.

Wednesday, Feb. 23

Citation Tools Training: Endnote — 2-3 p.m. CT
Luti Salisbury of the libraries will give students an overview of the citation management tool Endnote, how to make the most of its features and how it can be used as an element in the research and writing process.

U of A Writing Tools — 4-5 p.m. CT
Kiley Torres in the office of graduate student support and U of A Writing Studio staff will give an overview of the writing resources available to all graduate students at the U of A, including the Writing Studio, Library Resources, Cultivate the Writer and more.

Eliminating Wordiness from Your Writing — 6-7:30 p.m. CT
Mosley aims to illustrate ways in which students can reduce wordiness and redundancy and understand style issues that can impede the conciseness and quality of writing.

Thursday, Feb. 24

U of A Writing Tools — 1-2 p.m. CT
Torres and U of A Writing Studio staff will give an overview of the writing resources available to all graduate students at the U of A, including the Writing Studio, Library Resources, Cultivate the Writer and more.

Strategies for Writing a Literature Review — 5-6:30 p.m. CT
Mosley outlines the process of writing a successful and comprehensive literature review, including identifying components of a lit review and strategies to organize research sources.

Both online and on-campus graduate students are invited to register and attend these virtual sessions. For more information on these sessions or our Cultivate the Writer membership, email gradsupport@uark.edu.