What’s coming up online at GCAC in August
In keeping with the ongoing extraordinary circumstances, the School of Graduate Studies’ Graduate Centre for Academic Communication (GCAC) has moved online; while the venue may have changed, one thing that won’t is our commitment to providing support to U of T grad students. Join us in our virtual classrooms as we offer guidance on how to improve your academic writing and speaking skills! Below you’ll find information on what we’ll be offering in August.
Looking ahead: Fall 2021 GCAC Courses
The next session of GCAC courses will start in September; the schedule of what we’ll be offering will be posted on our website mid-late August. Registration will open in late August, so keep checking our website for the exact dates.
Workshops
GCAC has a wide range of prerecorded workshops on everything from boosting your productivity as a writer to strategies for writing research articles to brushing up on your email-writing skills! Just click the titles below for workshop descriptions and registration details. Once you register, you’ll receive a link to view the session you chose. Below is a list of what’s currently available:
PRERECORDED WORKSHOPS
GETTING THROUGH GRADUATE WORK
Preparing to Write a Grant Proposal by Dr. Jane Freeman
Writing Effective Literature Reviews by Dr. Jane Freeman
Developing Effective Note-Taking Strategies by Dr. Jane Freeman and Jeff Newman
Becoming a Productive Writer by Dr. Rachael Cayley
The Craft of Revision by Dr. Rachael Cayley
Quoting & Paraphrasing: Working with Sources in the Social Sciences and Humanities by Dr. Peter Grav
IMPROVING ACADEMIC WRITING/SPEAKING IN THE SCIENCES
Creating Effective Figures by Dr. Peter Sabatini
Preparing Poster Presentations by Dr. Peter Sabatini
Writing CIHR Proposals by Dr. Peter Sabatini
Citation and Working with Sources in the Physical and Life Sciences by Dr. Peter Grav
WRITING ARGUMENTATIVE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH ARTICLES
Writing Titles and Abstracts by Dr. Peter Grav
Setting Up Your Argument: Writing Effective Introductions by Dr. Peter Grav
Writing Your Arguments and Conclusions by Dr. Peter Grav
WRITING IMRD (INTRODUCTION – METHODS – RESULTS -DISCUSSION) RESEARCH ARTICLES (for students in Divisions 2, 3 and 4)
Writing Titles and Abstracts by Dr. Peter Grav
The “I” in IMRD: Writing Effective Research Article Introductions by Dr. Peter Grav
The “M” in IMRD: Crafting Your Methods Section by Dr. Peter Grav
The “RD” in IMRD: Strategies for Successful Results and Discussion Sections by Dr. Peter Grav
CULTIVATING GRADUATE COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Making Requests Appropriately by Clare Nippard
Disagreeing Respectfully by Clare Nippard
Writing Emails with Your Audience in Mind by Clare Nippard
Building Your Academic Vocabulary by Lina Balsamo
Academic Idioms Part 1 by Lina Balsamo
Academic Idioms Part 2 by Lina Balsamo
Organizing Your Presentation by by Dr. Cristina D’Amico
Four PowerPoint Techniques for Academic Presentations by Dr. Matt Jones
Focus and Listening in Online Meetings by Dr. Matt Jones
GCAC Writing Centre
The GCAC Writing Centre will be offering online individualized one-on-one synchronous writing support through appointments booked though our website. During these appointments, you’ll meet with a writing consultant, who will work with you using audio/video, chat and a document-sharing whiteboard area. Full details on how to book an appointment are on our website.
Coming in August: GCAC’s 5-Day Intensive Academic Conversation Skills (ACS) Course for incoming international students!
This 5-day August intensive online version of our ACS course is designed to help incoming multilingual international students adjust to living/studying in an English-speaking environment. We’ll provide instruction, chances to use the speaking/listening strategies and time to interact with other incoming students from a range of departments. Overall, the objective is to prepare you to be active in conversations in graduate school, both online and in person. The course is offered in August in order to help students get ready to participate fully in orientation activities.
When: August 9 – 13 (inclusive), 9:00 am – 12:00 pm ET | Instructor: Dr. Jane Freeman
Register Here. You will be prompted to log in to the registration system using your UTORid and password. If you are not able to log in, try a different browser and then contact us at sgs.gcacreg@utoronto.ca.
Coming up in August – Grant writing intensive courses
Registration now open!
Good grant proposals are hard to write, and they are also hard to prepare during the busy beginning of term. For many years, GCAC has offered separate courses on writing SSHRC, NSCERC and CIHR proposals to graduate students who are preparing to apply for Master’s or doctoral awards. Again, the intensive version of those courses will be offered online; each will discuss how the genre of grant proposals works and provide strategies on how to best position and communicate your research objectives. As well, a goal of this writing-intensive version is to encourage students to devote concentrated time to writing their proposals before the business of term begins. You can now register for these courses at the links below.
Writing NSERC Proposals: August 9, 10, 11 and 12, 2021
Writing CIHR Proposals: August 9, 10, 11 and 12, 2021
Writing SSHRC Proposals: August 16, 17 and 18 2021
Stay Connected
- Up to date information about what’s on at GCAC can always be found on our website
- Keep on top of all GCAC news and announcements by following us on Twitter: @UofTGCAC
- Get weekly updates on all GCAC workshops and courses by subscribing to our listserv
As always – stay healthy, safe and positive! See you all in August!