Writing and Communication

Check out this page https://academicintegrity.ubc.ca/resources/ for numerous resources and supports for both students and instructors. In particular, there are several relevant Canvas modules including:

“Academic Integrity Foundations”: this module introduces academic integrity in terms of what it is, why it is important within the UBC community, how students can put it into practice, and what pitfalls to watch out for. It also reviews the different types of academic misconduct.

“Introduction to Academic Integrity”: this module discusses academic integrity in the context of why it matters — as a core element of how we as scholars and professionals do our work (and live our professional lives) at UBC and beyond. The module features 4 videos with UBC faculty, librarians, and students, as well as pre- and post-reflection questions for students, and takes no more than 30 minutes to complete. Once they submit their responses, students can download a certificate of completion.

Academic Integrity Matters (AIM) Program: modules covering Unauthorized Collaboration and Cheating as well as Writing and Plagiarism

Check out these additional videos on Writing with Integrity

Below is a list of recommended reading to help you navigate grad school and strategize for your career.  These are some examples and there are many more!  Many have very similar topics, so are listed together.  Pick one or two depending on where you are in your program.  You do not need to read them all! They range from helping you choose your research project, to navigating each stage of your program, to helping you select opportunities for career planning. (Note: many of these are available through the UBC library)

• Designing your Life by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans https://designingyour.life/
  • An interactive book that helps you reflect on your like and work, and design a strategy for pursuing your life and career goals
• Work Your Career: Get What You Want from Your Social Sciences or Humanities PhD, by Jonathan Malloy & Loleen Berdahl
  • A practical, interactive Canadian guide for navigating graduate school while considering both academic and non-academic career options from the outside.  Relevant for masters and PhDs and all disciplines.
• Where Research Begins: Choosing a Research Project that Matters to You (and the world) by Thomas S. Mullaney and Christopher Rea https://whereresearchbegins.com/the-book/
  • An interactive book with exercises to help you choose a topic, turn it into a compelling research question, track your research, and design your research project
• The Deliberate Doctorate by Leela Viswananthan, https://www.ubcpress.ca/the-deliberate-doctorate
  • An interactive book for producing a personalized roadmap to your PhD and aligning your values and goals
• Applying Indigenous Research Methods: Storying with Peoples and Communities, edited by Sweeney Windchief and Timonthy San Pedro
  • Collection of Indigenous scholars discussing their research methods in conversation with other scholars, teachers, and community members (including some UBC faculty). Addresses the importance of IRMs in all qualitative scholarship.
• Research as Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods by Shawn Wilson
  • This book highlights how important relationships are to Indigenous scholarship, and how Indigenous research is the ceremony of maintaining accountability to these relationships.
• Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts by Margaret Kovach
  • Provides a conceptual framework for implementing Indigenous methodologies and serves as a useful entry point for those wishing to learn more broadly about Indigenous research.
• The Successful TA: A Practical Approach to Effective Teaching, by Kathy M. Nomme and Carol Pollock, https://www.ubcpress.ca/the-successful-ta
  • A short, accessible guide to university teaching including expectations, classroom management, assessment, and more.
• Deep Work by Cal Newport
  • A book that provides actionable advice you through strategies for developing time management habits to focus without distraction on cognitively demanding tasks.
• Writing your Dissertation in 15 minutes a day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis by Joan Bolker
  • Recommended by a colleague as 'the' book that helped them through their PhD
• A Field Guide to Grad School: Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum by Jessica McCrory Calarco
  • Overview of all of the unwritten and often unspoken knowledge and skills you need for thriving in grad school
• Succeeding Outside the Academy: Career Paths beyond the Humanities, Social Sciences, and STEM- edited by Joseph Frusicone & Kelly J. Baker
  • A novel that provides stories and advice for pursuing careers outside of the academy work
• “So What are you Going to Do with That?” by Susan Basalla & Maggie Debelius
  • Practical guidance for finding careers outside of academia
• The Professor is In by Karen Kelsky
  • A guide for turning your PhD into your ideal job.  More at https://theprofessorisin.com/
• The Power of a Positive No, William Ury
  • Learning how to decide what to say 'yes' to and what to say 'no' to.  If you say no, what are you saying 'yes' to

Other readings and student/colleague recommendations:

• Becoming an Academic Writer: 50 Exercises for Paced, Productive, and Powerful Writing, Patricia Goodson
• Making Time to Write: How to Resist the Patriarchy and Take Control of Your Academic Career Through Writing, Cathy Mazak
• Anne Krook's articles and practical advice for graduate students and posdoctoral fellows for how to seek non-academic employment. annekrook.com
• Getting What You Came For: The Smart Student's Guide to Earning an M.A. or a Ph.D. , Robert L Peters
• Advice for New Faculty Members, Robert Boice
• How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing, Paul Silvia
• The Clockwork Muse: A Practical Guide to Writing Theses, Dissertations, and Books, Eviatar Zerubavel
• Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Anne Lamott

Have a recommendation?  Email graduate.pathways@ubc.ca to add it to this list!

The Centre for Writing and Scholarly Communication developed these resources to assist students across the disciplines and professions. These evidence-based resources describe some of the typical practices that occur in high-stakes writing situations, with a focus on academic genres: abstracts, lay summaries, literature reviews, research article introductions, and so on.

Research Impact Canada has developed freely accessible online e-modules, each focused on a specific skill important in KMb. These online modules are stand-alone and can be completed in any order at any time.

The purpose of these modules is to:

• Introduce important KMb skills in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step manner
• Build your skillset in knowledge mobilization
• Provide tools and additional resources for increased uptake
• Apply this training directly to your own work

Topics include data-driven decision making, storytelling for impact, building and navigating partnerships, accessible and inclusive event planning and info graphic design.  Learn more at: https://researchimpact.ca/learning/kmb-modules/

This course is designed by UBC Media relations specifically to help scholars develop the confidence to engage with media about newsworthy research. Researchers will learn:

• how to evaluate the likelihood of media interest in a particular research story
• how to distill complex findings into media-friendly messages
• what to expect from various interview formats
• how to prepare for an interview
• how to control the focus of an interview
• when and how to connect with UBC Media Relations to promote findings

You can access the course with a Campus-Wide Login through Canvas Catalog and work through it at your own pace. The course consists of five modules that include exercises, quizzes, videos, and opportunities to ask specific questions of the Media Relations team. It takes approximately 2-5 hours to complete, depending on how much you engage with the optional exercises.

To receive a link to enrol, contact media.relations@ubc.ca

Check out this page for handouts and materials from sessions on Geospatial Information and Technology, Data Analysis and Visualization, Digital Scholarship, Research Data Management, Citation Management, Copyright, and more.

Study guides, videos, and quizzes to help with Communicating Science, Finding, Integrating, and Citing Sources, Grammar and Style, Developing an Effective Writing Process, and more.  There are also resources, including podcasts, that provide strategies for teaching writing, grading assignments, using peer review, giving feedback, and more.

Developed by the Public Humanities Hub, as part of their public scholarship series, each toolkit is themed around a specific kind of public scholarship, including:

• Art and Testimony
• Trauma-informed Research
• Witnessing Genocide
• Creating Accessible Events
• Curating Exhibitions
• Making Infographics
• Podcasting
• Using Wikipedia
• Writing Op-Eds

Toolkits include presentation recordings, examples, resources, and more.

A series of videos to introduce students to the fundamentals of academic writing and research: “Writing in Situations”, An interview with Dr. Anthony Paré plus
5 videos (“The Writing Process”, “The Prewriting Stage”, “The Writing Stage”, “The Revision Stage”, and “Managing Time to Write”) featuring conversations with 4 graduate students from Chemistry, Civil Engineering, English Literature, and Linguistics.  (Playlist)

A short video in which Drs Susan Porter and Beth Haverkamp discuss the importance of writing with integrity (the importance of writing and contributing new knowledge and scholarship with integrity; avoiding plagiarism)