Crafting a Compelling 3MT Presentation
Jan 23, 5:00-6:00pm, IDeATe B
This workshop will help you explain your dissertation research in a compelling way for the 3MT competition. Successful 3MT presentations balance technical content with audience considerations. In this workshop, you will learn about a series of moves to help frame your research, focus on the most compelling aspects of the work, and make a strong case for your work's importance to non-specialist audiences. Register here.
Email Communication with Professors and Potential Employers
Jan 24, 5:00-6:00pm
This workshop covers some common mistakes students make when communicating with their professors and potential employers. We will discuss "right" and "wrong" ways to email or speak to your professors about sensitive issues such as missed classes, difficulties understanding course material, or grading concerns. We also touch on some strategies for communicating with potential employers about job inquiries. This workshop will be particularly useful for freshmen and sophomore undergraduates, international students, or anyone concerned about how they are perceived based on their emails. Pizza provided. Register here.
Writing an Effective Cover Letter
Jan 29, 5:00-6:00pm
The job application cover letter is your first impression on a potential employer. As a result, this high-stakes document is often very difficult and stressful to write. This workshop covers five tips to writing a cover letter that persuades employers you are the ideal candidate for the position. We will go over several examples, and you can learn words and phrases to construct an effective cover letter. Pizza provided. Register here.
Refining your 3MT Presentation and Message
Jan 30, 5:00-6:00pm, IDeATe B
This workshop will allow you to practice performing your 3MT talk while receiving peer feedback on your content and delivery. The low-stakes workshop environment can help you get valuable feedback and ease your nerves before the preliminary rounds. You should arrive with your 3MT script and be ready to deliver it orally. Register here.
Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations
Feb 5, 5:00-6:00pm
Have you ever sat through a tedious or confusing PowerPoint presentation? This workshop will help you create effective PowerPoint presentations that present your research in a clear and compelling way. We will introduce innovative research on designing visually effective slides that increase audience engagement. We will also practice constructing and revising PowerPoint slides, and discuss other strategies for organizing and delivering your PowerPoint presentation. Pizza provided. Register here.
Visualizing for 3MT: Slide Design
Feb 5, 5:00-6:00pm
Visualizing your data to speak to an audience is an integral part of any research project. In many cases, audiences are more susceptible to believing or responding to visuals than to words alone. For 3MT, your slide is the only opportunity for you to visually communicate or underscore what you are verbally presenting. To ensure your slide is up to the task, we will be offering a workshop on best practices for 3MT slide design. Register here.
Writing a Related Work Section
Feb 14, 5:00-6:00pm
A related work section, or literature review, synthesizes relevant past literature to connect your work to the broader field. It also builds your credibility by showing your familiarity with major developments and trends in the field. However, it is easy for the literature review to become a “data dump” that overwhelms your reader with extraneous or irrelevant information. This workshop will give you strategies and language to connect research into trends and put studies in conversation with each other. We will look at strong and weak examples and focus on the language they use. This workshop is appropriate for students in the sciences and humanities, writing literature reviews in journal articles, research papers, dissertations/theses, and more. Pizza provided. Register here.
Team Communication I: The Fundamentals of Managing Team Projects
Feb 21, 5:00-6:00pm
Teamwork is central to professional life, but most students don't know how to manage a team project so it flows smoothly. This workshop will teach you how to create a teamwork infrastructure that will help you avoid the most common team problems. You will learn strategies for structuring your collaboration, especially on group documents. This workshop will also cover effective strategies for talking with your teammates when problems do occur. The advice in this workshop is based on Dr. Wolfe's research interviewing hundreds of students and professionals about their team experiences and practices. Pizza provided. Register here.
Team Communication II: Handling Difficult People and Situations
Feb 28, 5:00-6:00pm
Even if you do everything “right” on a team project, you can still encounter difficult people and difficult situations. This workshop teaches you to confront difficult team situations in a way that is most likely to give you positive results. You will learn strategies for confronting dismissive or aggressive teammates, how to respond to teammates who produce poor quality work, and how to advocate for a particular role on a project. We will cover both what to say and what not to say in tense situations. Pizza provided. Register here.
Designing Effective Scientific Posters
Mar 7, 5:00-6:00pm
This workshop provides advice on designing effective scientific research posters. We will teach you some basic – but effective – visual design principles to create a compelling and memorable research poster. This workshop will help you create a persuasive visual "story" or narrative about your research project and findings. We will also discuss and critique several strong and weak examples of scientific posters.
Making the Case for Your Research
Mar 21, 5:00-6:00pm
This workshop will teach you four steps that make the case for why your research is an essential contribution to the field. These four “moves” turn your research into a compelling narrative and highlight the importance and innovation of your work, especially when communicating to a non-specialist audience. These well-established moves can help you structure the abstract, introduction and literature review of journal articles and papers, in both the sciences and humanities. They can also be applied in various other contexts, including conference presentations, application materials, and grant proposals.
Communicating Data to Non-Experts
Mar 28, 5:00-6:00pm
In your professional life, you may often have to present technical data to non-expert audiences such as managers, clients, politicians, or members of the general public. This workshop teaches you principles for creating graphs and tables that non-experts can understand. You will learn to think of your data as a story that needs to capture the audience's attention, and you will be introduced to strategies for minimizing distractions to this story so audiences can quickly grasp your main point.
Concision and Clarity
Apr 4, 5:00-6:00pm
Have you ever been told that your writing is too wordy or is “choppy”? Concision and clarity are core principles of effective communication. Writing that clearly and directly emphasizes the bottom line helps readers easily and efficiently understand your main point. This workshop teaches you simple – but effective – principles for being more concise and improving the logical flow between sentences and paragraphs. These strategies will help an audience follow the progression of your ideas and arguments, in both the sciences and humanities.
Writing an Academic Cover Letter
Apr 16, 5:00-6:00pm
Academic cover letters share many of the characteristics of traditional cover letters, but there are some notable differences. Designed for PhD students who will be applying to academic jobs, this workshop will discuss the structure and content of an academic cover letter. We will help you learn how to interpret job ads and determine how to tailor your letter for different universities and positions. We will also discuss and critique several strong and weak examples.