Creating Knowledge: Researching and Writing

Looking for a more effective way to find relevant information on your topic instead of scrolling through irrelevant results? This advanced research session will explore search techniques in two major databases, Humanities Index and Sociological Abstracts databases, that will help you get more out of your research process and build your search in a way that will identify the most relevant information to your topic.

Please note, this is an advanced research workshop. Attendees will be expected to already be familiar with Boolean operators, truncation, parentheses, and phrase searching.

Facilitator: Mikayla Redden – Instruction and Information Services Librarian

Mikayla Redden, (she/her) is an Instruction and Information Services Librarian at the New College Library at the University of Toronto. Mikayla is Anishinaabekwe and Anglo settler. Though she is a member of Curve Lake First Nation, she was raised in Nogojiwanong (Peterborough). Her great-grandparents, Jack Jacobs and Edith Marsden, and their minor children were enfranchised under section 214 of the Indian Act, meaning they relinquished their Indian identities and assimilated into white settler society. The family was legally enfranchised until Bill C-31 amended the Indian Act in 1985. Mikayla’s grandmother made community in Hiawatha First Nation, a place she would come to spend summers with her children and later, her grandchildren. Mikayla credits her raising on the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg homelands and the voices of Indigenous kin perspectives she takes to her career, where questioning, rethinking, and dismantling are the tools of transformation for library systems and practices. She is passionate about storytelling, anti-racist pedagogies, and amplifying marginalised Knowledges.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) is here to stay. For student writers, this is a very exciting time to explore and experiment with its potential. Maybe you are wondering how to use GAI well at the U of T, given that different instructors have different guidelines. In this workshop, learn how to avoid academic integrity infractions due to unsanctioned GAI use, but also, how to use GAI productively when allowed to take your writing to the next level. Together, we will discuss effective prompt creation to strengthen written work throughout all phases of the writing process. Ultimately, in this workshop, you’ll learn about not only areas to be cautious, but also where you can be endlessly creative, when using GAI during your undergraduate journey.

Facilitator: Marci Prescott-Brown, PhD, OCELT, Director of the NCWC

Marci Prescott-Brown (she/her/elle) is the Director of the New College Writing Centre and Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream in Writing Studies. She has practiced decolonialist and antiracist writing pedagogies since she began tutoring students from low income and minority backgrounds as a teenager. For over seventeen years, she has taught writing in various postsecondary and other academic contexts. She completed her dissertation using the principles of antiracist writing, receiving her PhD in English from the University of Toronto in 2019. She also completed a TESL Diploma in 2020 and earned the OCELT professional designation. Currently, she is the President of the Canadian Writing Centres Association/Association Canadienne des Centres de Rédaction (CWCA/ACCR). Her pedagogical and research focus is on how varieties of speech, language, and technology can be used as part of decolonialist and antiracist writing instruction to empower writers. Marci facilitates the writing group for the Caribbean, African, Equity and Solidarity Studies (CAESS) programs as well as the Write Now! Staff and Faculty Writing Group at New College. When relaxing, Marci enjoys baking pies, playing games, making crafts, and travelling with her family.

Description: This advanced research session will explore the OVID Medline database and demonstrate features that will help you with identifying relevant papers for grant proposals, scoping and systematic literature reviews.

Please note, this is an advanced research workshop. Attendees will be expected to already be familiar with Boolean operators, truncation, parentheses, and phrase searching.

Facilitator: Mikayla Redden – Instruction and Information Services Librarian

Mikayla Redden, (she/her) is an Instruction and Information Services Librarian at the New College Library at the University of Toronto. Mikayla is Anishinaabekwe and Anglo settler. Though she is a member of Curve Lake First Nation, she was raised in Nogojiwanong (Peterborough). Her great-grandparents, Jack Jacobs and Edith Marsden, and their minor children were enfranchised under section 214 of the Indian Act, meaning they relinquished their Indian identities and assimilated into white settler society. The family was legally enfranchised until Bill C-31 amended the Indian Act in 1985. Mikayla’s grandmother made community in Hiawatha First Nation, a place she would come to spend summers with her children and later, her grandchildren. Mikayla credits her raising on the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg homelands and the voices of Indigenous kin perspectives she takes to her career, where questioning, rethinking, and dismantling are the tools of transformation for library systems and practices. She is passionate about storytelling, anti-racist pedagogies, and amplifying marginalised Knowledges.

In your upper year classes, you will encounter longer research papers and may even be taking on a year-long research project. These new, more complex forms of writing don’t have to be daunting!  In this session, we will explore the approaches that successful writers in all disciplines use to organize their research projects, keep their momentum going, and keep large projects manageable. We will also discuss some of the psychological and motivational aspects of tackling larger, more complex written works.

Facilitator: Susan Hopkirk

Susan Hopkirk has spent over two decades teaching writing through university classes, workshops, and writing centres. She started working at the University of Toronto in 2010, joining the New College Writing Centre and the English Language Learning (ELL) Program. Susan also works as a Writing Instructor at St. Michaels’ College. She is interested in academic, reflective, professional, and graduate writing, as well as the intersection of writing and learning strategies, and loves discussing – and practicing – these with students.

Susan completed her PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Alberta, and her dissertation focused on gendered language use and reading practices as feminist agency in medieval romance. Susan also has an Ontario Graduate Certificate in Learning Strategies.

Learn how to more easily read and effectively critique science articles. We will examine the key features of each section of a primary research paper and review concepts such as significance, effect size, replication and meta-analysis, discussing their implications for your critique.

Facilitated by: Megan Stewart, STEM Specialist

Megan Stewart (she/her) has an extensive background in STEM and STEM writing, completing an HBSc with a specialization in Genetics at the University of Western Ontario as well as an MSc at the University of Toronto. Research conducted throughout her MSc project included investigating and describing the anatomy of neuron populations involved in social behaviour in Drosophila melanogaster. In addition to research, Megan supported students in their academics through TAships during graduate school at the University of Toronto in 1st to 4th year classes. Recently, Megan earned a teaching certification from the University of the West of Scotland, and she is certified to teach grades 7-12 biology and science.

Do you want to learn how to create an effective scientific poster? If so, this is the session for you. Join this online session where Megan Stewart, a STEM Specialist from the New College Writing Centre, walks you through how to create an excellent scientific poster that highlights essential findings of in your work, follows dominant conventions of scientific poster style, and contains highly readable and engaging content that will make your contribution shine!

Facilitated by: Megan Stewart, STEM Specialist

Megan Stewart (she/her) has an extensive background in STEM and STEM writing, completing an HBSc with a specialization in Genetics at the University of Western Ontario as well as an MSc at the University of Toronto. Research conducted throughout her MSc project included investigating and describing the anatomy of neuron populations involved in social behaviour in Drosophila melanogaster. In addition to research, Megan supported students in their academics through TAships during graduate school at the University of Toronto in 1st to 4th year classes. Recently, Megan earned a teaching certification from the University of the West of Scotland, and she is certified to teach grades 7-12 biology and science.

Tired of spending hours organizing resources and creating your in-text citations and reference list? Introducing Zotero, a time saving citation management tool that allows you to collect, organize, annotate, and extract your resources as a citation or bibliography. This session will teach you how to use Zotero to manage your resources and how Zotero can be used to collaborate with your colleagues.

Facilitator: Jeff Newman, New College Librarian

Facilitator: Jeff Newman

Get more diverse output from GenAI and learn how to double check the accuracy/integrity of the sources GenAI gives.

Facilitator: Jeff Newman, New College Librarian

As students head towards their senior years of undergraduate studies, there are higher expectations for how to paraphrase, quote, and summarize sources effectively within their work. Join this session to learn how to seamlessly integrate sources into your work and also cite these sources using MLA, APA, and Chicago style!

Facilitators: Marci Prescott-Brown, PhD, OCELT, Director of the New College Writing Centre and Susan Hopkirk, PhD, New College Writing Centre Instructor

Marci Prescott-Brown (she/her/elle) is the Director of the New College Writing Centre and Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream in Writing Studies. She has practiced decolonialist and antiracist writing pedagogies since she began tutoring students from low income and minority backgrounds as a teenager. For over seventeen years, she has taught writing in various postsecondary and other academic contexts. She completed her dissertation using the principles of antiracist writing, receiving her PhD in English from the University of Toronto in 2019. She also completed a TESL Diploma in 2020 and earned the OCELT professional designation. Currently, she is the President of the Canadian Writing Centres Association/Association Canadienne des Centres de Rédaction (CWCA/ACCR). Her pedagogical and research focus is on how varieties of speech, language, and technology can be used as part of decolonialist and antiracist writing instruction to empower writers. Marci facilitates the writing group for the Caribbean, African, Equity and Solidarity Studies (CAESS) programs as well as the Write Now! Staff and Faculty Writing Group at New College. When relaxing, Marci enjoys baking pies, playing games, making crafts, and travelling with her family.

Susan Hopkirk has spent over two decades teaching writing through university classes, workshops, and writing centres. She started working at the University of Toronto in 2010, joining the New College Writing Centre and the English Language Learning (ELL) Program. She is interested in academic, reflective, professional, and graduate writing, as well as the intersection of writing and learning strategies, and loves discussing – and practicing – these with students.
 

Susan completed her PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Alberta, and her dissertation focused on gendered language use and reading practices as feminist agency in medieval romance. Susan also has an Ontario Graduate Certificate in Learning Strategies.

This session will provide insights into the overall graduate school application process. Meet with a panel of professors from the social sciences, sciences, and writing studies to hear advice on asking for reference letters, finding a supervisor, choosing a program, and writing your personal statement. We will review a list of resources to help you throughout the year as you prepare your application.

Panelists:

Franco Taverna, PhD, Professor, Teaching Stream, Human Biology Program, University of Toronto, Special Advisor to the Dean on Experiential Learning, Faculty of Arts and Science

Professor Taverna is widely recognized as a leader in experiential learning and online teaching. He was an early adopter of online teaching and learning technologies such as large-scale webinar software to deliver synchronous online courses. He also developed teaching and learning innovations such as student engagement for synchronous environments and large classroom group work. Professor Taverna has designed popular experiential learning courses that help students connect their classroom learning to the lived experience of community members. Students in his Health in Community course become immersed within communities and collaborate with community organizations, such as Access Alliance, Down Syndrome Association of Toronto, and The Alzheimer Society of Toronto to meet community informed needs that support health and well-being. He also developed an international course module excursion to The Netherlands for students to visit and learn about innovative long-term care models such as The Hogeweyk, the internationally acclaimed “Dementia Village”. He is currently the Faculty of Arts & Science’s Special Advisor to the Dean for Experiential Learning and has served as a Faculty Advisor for the University’s Centre for Community Partnerships.

J. Coplen Rose, PhD, Sessional Lecturer II / Writing Instructor II,
Engineering Communication Program / New College Writing Centre,
Institute for Studies in Transdisciplinary Engineering Education and Practice / New College, University of Toronto

J. Coplen Rose (he/him) is an educator and scholar in Toronto, Canada. He teaches in a range of areas including postcolonial theory and literature, fantasy fiction, and introductory courses to engineering communication and design. Coplen earned his PhD in English and Film Studies. His primary area of research is post-apartheid South African literature and drama. His other research interests include science fiction, humour and political satire, and engineering communication. Coplen is currently the Executive Officer for the Canadian Association for Postcolonial Studies.

Roberta Buiani, PhD, Coordinator of New One: Learning without Borders, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream,
University of Toronto, New College
Artistic Director
ArtSci Salon | The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences

Susan Hopkirk, PhD, Writing Instructor & Communication Instructor at the University of Toronto in the New College Writing Centre, the English Language Learning (ELL) Program, in Engineering Strategies & Practice (ESP), and the Engineering Communication Program (ECP) Tutoring Centre.

Susan Hopkirk has spent over two decades teaching writing through university classes, workshops, and writing centres. She started working at the University of Toronto in 2010, joining the New College Writing Centre and the English Language Learning (ELL) Program. Susan also works as a Writing Instructor at St. Michaels’ College. She is interested in academic, reflective, professional, and graduate writing, as well as the intersection of writing and learning strategies, and loves discussing – and practicing – these with students.

Susan completed her PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Alberta, and her dissertation focused on gendered language use and reading practices as feminist agency in medieval romance. Susan also has an Ontario Graduate Certificate in Learning Strategies.

Moderator:

Marci Prescott-Brown, PhD, OCELT, Director of the New College Writing Centre, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, in Writing Studies,
New College, University of Toronto
President of the Canadian Writing Centres Association/Association Canadienne des Centres de Rédaction (CWCA/ACCR)

Marci Prescott-Brown (she/her/elle) is the Director of the New College Writing Centre and Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream in Writing Studies. She has practiced decolonialist and antiracist writing pedagogies since she began tutoring students from low income and minority backgrounds as a teenager. For over seventeen years, she has taught writing in various postsecondary and other academic contexts. She completed her dissertation using the principles of antiracist writing, receiving her PhD in English from the University of Toronto in 2019. She also completed a TESL Diploma in 2020 and earned the OCELT professional designation. Currently, she is the President of the Canadian Writing Centres Association/Association Canadienne des Centres de Rédaction (CWCA/ACCR). Her pedagogical and research focus is on how varieties of speech, language, and technology can be used as part of decolonialist and antiracist writing instruction to empower writers. Marci facilitates the writing group for the Caribbean, African, Equity and Solidarity Studies (CAESS) programs as well as the Write Now! Staff and Faculty Writing Group at New College. When relaxing, Marci enjoys baking pies, playing games, making crafts, and travelling with her family.