Skills Training for Research Higher Degree Candidates
RHD candidates will be sent an email to their student mail address when new seminars are scheduled. Information on Endnote training, IT skills training, animal ethics and counselling services are also available below.
Success@Confirmation Program
The Office of Graduate Studies has deisgned and developed the Success @ Confirmation for research higher degree (RHD) candidates in their first year of their program. The program assists RHD candidates to develop their research and professional skills for success at confirmation, the first checkpoint of a RHD.
The Success @ Confirmation program has three components:
For detailed information on the workshop program please click here.
For more information please contact Susan grimes at RHDSuccess@newcastle.edu.au
Writing Circles for RHD Candidates 2013
Being an effective writer is a key component of research. The writing process not only communicates your work, but helps you refine your thinking. You can develop the clarity and quality of your writing by sharing feedback in a small supportive writing circle run by Learning Development. Writing Circles are for all students, at any stage of candidature. For information on how to apply, please click here.
For more information, please contact Jill McKeown Jill.McKeowen@newcastle.edu.au (Callaghan & HMRI students) or Emma Joel Emma.Joel@newcastle.edu.au (Ourimbah)
English Language Support 2013
2013 RHD English language support flyer
RHD Grammar Workshops
These workshops are for RHD students from all faculties, at all levels of their program who would like help with grammatical structure. The workshops are held weekly at 3pm and commence Friday 8th March 2013. For information on how to apply, please click here
For more information, please contact Nicholas Collier Nicholas.Collier@newcastle.edu.au
RHD Speaking sessions
These sessions are designed especially for research students. You can practise your speaking skills at an advanced level, and benefit from feedback and advice from an ESL specialist teacher. This is not a fixed sequence of lessons; the teacher will respond to students' needs. For details, please click here.
To register, please contact Helen Thursby Helen.Thursby@newcastle.edu.au.
DAELT (Diagnostic Academic English Language Tool)
We recommend that all Non-English Speaking Background (NESB) students take the DAELT. You may be aware of your existing strengths and weaknesses, but the DAELT will give you an objective report to help you target your efforts effectively. The DAELT assessment is offered at the start of each trimester and semester, and involves assessment of reading, writing, listening and speaking. You will receive immediate feedback on your performance, and we do not report your results to anybody. For registration details, click here or go to the Learning Development Blackboard.
After you have done the initial DAELT assessment, you can attend follow-up workshops. You can choose which workshops to attend, so you don't have to go to all of them. For details go to Learning Development Blackboard.
Speech Intelligibility Clinic
This service is offered by the Speech Pathology unit. It helps NESB students to develop their English speaking in terms of sound production, speed of speech, and intonation. You can have a free assessment of your speech inteligibility, and up to 12 weeks of individual support. There are also group programs focusing on rate of speech, body language and intonation. The clinic is open from 9.00 - 4.00 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. For more information, please click here.
To make an appointment, please contact Helen Blake Helen.Blake@newcastle.edu.au
The Highly Effective Researcher Series
Hugh Kearns and Maria Gardiner of Flinders University visit Newcastle each year to run their 'Highly Effective Researcher Program". Hugh and Maria have developed a national reputation for working with researchers and RHD candidates to increase their research output. First introduced in 2006, Hugh and Maria now also run their program in the USA, UK, Ireland and Spain. Maria will be here in May 2013 to run their successful seminar series.
The 7 Secrets of Highly Successful PhD Students
Thursday, 2 May, 2013: 2.00pm - 5.00pm in HB15
Presenter: Maria Gardiner
What do research students do to finish on time, to overcome isolation and doubt and to enjoy the process? And just as importantly what do they do in order to spend guilt-free time with their family and friends and perhaps even have holidays? Do you find that you engage in anything but work on your thesis, constantly telling yourself that tomorrow you’ll organise a meeting with your supervisor or get started on your data analysis? And do you find you are highly productive when it comes to organising the postgrad symposium, but not so much when it comes to things related to your research higher degree? Are you really busy and doing a lot of things, but just don’t seem to be making as much progress as you would like?
This workshop describes the key habits that our research and experience with thousands of students shows will make a difference to how quickly and easily you complete your research higher degree. Key aspects of this workshop have featured in the journal Nature.
This workshop will help you to understand how to:
- take (at least some) responsibility for your relationship with your supervisor
- improve the supervisory experience
- structure your study time so you get more done in 2 hours than 8
- overcome perfectionism
- get the help you need when you are stuck
- deal with multiple commitments
- keep on going when the going gets tough
Who is it for: Research students at any point in their candidature.
This workshop was recorded with Lectopia and is available from the RHD Blackboard site. Please check the website for information regarding the 2013 program.
Turbocharge Your Writing
Friday, 3 May, 2013: 9.00am - 12.00 noon in MCTH (McMullin Theatre)
Presenter: Maria Gardiner
Would you like to know the secret to high output, high quality, scholarly writing? In academia, because writing is such a big part of what you do, it is often assumed that it comes naturally. However, for most academics, it can be a hit and miss activity, with some days (weeks or even months!) being hard to get started. And when you do get started you might sit there for hours and not produce many words. Finally, when the words are on the page, you may wonder why you bothered since what you have written isn’t very good.
This workshop draws on the overwhelming body of research (and experience with thousands of writers). This research shows that there are very clear and practical evidence-based strategies that can greatly increase your writing quality and quantity. Key aspects of this workshop have featured in the journal Nature.
This workshop will help you to understand:
- why it can be hard to get started
- how we deliberately use distractions to slow down writing
- the principles of quick starting
- why snack writing is generally more productive than binge writing
- how to deal with the internal committee that slows down writing
- how to set achievable goals by writing in a silo
- how to greatly double (or more) the number of actual words you produce
- how to clarify your thinking and improve the quality of your work
Who is it for: Researchers and research students.
This workshop was recorded with Lectopia and is available from the RHD Blackboard site.
These workshops are offered as part of the Innovative Research Universities (IRU) Highly Effective Researcher Program.
The care and maintenance of your supervisor
Hugh Kearns and Maria Gardiner - the presenters of the 'Highly Effective Researcher' Seminars including 'The Seven Secrets of Highly Successful PhD Students' have recently had three articles published in the prestigious science journal 'Nature'. 'The care and maintenance of your supervisor', 'Waiting for the motivation fairy' and 'Turbocharge your writing' can all be viewed on line. To view the articles, go to http://www.nature.com/ and type Hugh Kearns into the search function.
2013 RHD Seminar Series
Human Ethics Application Processes
Date: Wednesday 2 May 2012
Time: 10.00 am – 11.30 am
Place: Lecture Theatre HB13 (near the Hunter Building Café)
Presented by Professor Allyson Holbrook, Chair, Human Ethics Committee, this seminar covers the importance of obtaining ethics approval and the application procedures. If you require ethics approval for your research and have not yet obtained it, then this seminar is important for you. It was recorded with Lectopia and available from Blackboard for downloading.
Understanding the Confirmation Year Process
Date: Tuesday 8 May 2012
Time: 2.30pm – 4.00pm
Place: Lecture Theatre HB13 (In the Hunter Building, near the Café).
This seminar is important for all commencing RHD candidates. It explains the reasons that students undertake confirmation, the requirements and the process. It is presented by Prof. Scott Holmes, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Dean, Graduate Studies. This is a one-off seminar, not to be confused with the Pre-confirmation workshops run by the Centre for Teaching and Learning. The seminar was recorded with Lectopia and available to download from Blackboard.
Off campus students
For students located off campus, Learning Development has a Blackboard site with many online resources. Please log in to Blackboard and select Learning Development from the ‘My Courses’ list. Once there, select the ‘online resources’ button. Where possible, seminars run by the Office of Graduate Studies will be recorded with Lectopia and can be viewed from the RHD Blackboard site.
Supports and Services
NUPSA
NUPSA organises training sessions for its members - please check the NUPSA Blackboard site for details.
Recommended Reading
The Library contains useful resources for RHD students on successful RHD study. We recommend: Doctorates downunder : keys to successful doctoral study in Australia and New Zealand, edited by Carey Denholm and Terry Evans;
By Hugh Kearns:
The 7 secrets of highly successful PhD students
Defeating self-sabotage : getting your PhD finished
The PhD experience : what they didn't tell you at induction
Endnote
What is EndNote?
EndNote allows you to record and organise personal databases of searchable references to books, journal articles, conference papers and other publications. You can create your bibliographies automatically by inserting references from your Endnote library into a Word document. Endnote formats the bibliography for your paper in the reference style that you choose. Endnote training is organised by the Library. For details of online training and workshops please visit:
http://www.newcastle.edu.au/service/library/endnote/
Animal Ethics
There is a separate training program on Animal Ethics provided by Research Services. Full details are available at the Animal Ethics website.
General Skills Training
A range of general skills training is available to research higher degree candidates at the University of Newcastle.
ITskills is a suite of "learn-it-yourself" training modules which are free to access. There are over 100 interactive online modules for the PC or Macintosh environments, in topics such as Microsoft Office, project management, Dreamweaver and basic computer skills.
The Careers and Employment Office of the University provides assistance or workshops on CV writing, interview techniques and writing job applications.
Counselling
The University's Counselling website has many resources to help you clarify and resolve a range of issues, which might otherwise interfere with academic or personal effectiveness.
