Webinars

2013 Writing Center Student Webinar Series

The Writing Center's webinars address APA guidelines and writing skills that apply to all students, along with capstone content and templates in free, live, online sessions.

See the Abstracts under the calendar for each webinar's details.

Can't make a live webinar? Visit our Webinar Archive where we post recordings of past webinars, along with any PowerPoint slides the presenter used.

Questions? Comments? Have a great idea for a webinar? Let us know! E-mail us at wcwebinars@waldenu.edu.

Schedule

Wed May 8

7:30 - 8:30 p.m. CT

Beginnings and Endings

with Sarah Prince

All students

 Register PowerPoint slides

Mon May 13

6:00 - 7:00 p.m. CT

Mastering the Mechanics Part 2: Structuring Sentences

with Rachel Grammer

All Students

  Register PowerPoint slides
Handout

Th May 16

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. CT

Writing at the Graduate Level

with Matt Smith

Graduate students (master's or doctoral)

 Register PowerPoint slides

Mon May 20

7:00 - 8:00 p.m. CT

Mastering the Mechanics Part 3: Beyond Basics

with Kayla Skarbakka

All students

 Register

PowerPoint slides


Handout

Webinar Archive and Abstracts

Abstracts and Archive

Click each webinar's title below to read each webinar's abstract, as well as find the recording, PowerPoint slides, and transcript (when available).


Getting Started

Introduction to the Center for Student Success

All students

This presentation provides students with an introduction to the four centers within Walden's Center for Student Success: the Library, Academic Skills Center, Career Services Center, and Writing Center. Staff members in each center will describe their group's goals, services, student resources, and contact information.

Joining the Conversation: Relearning the Conventions of Academic Writing

All students

Being a student in an online environment requires a lot of writing; not only are you writing for assignments, but you are communicating with your classmates and instructors via writing in a scholarly environment using a clear and professional tone

Welcome to the Writing Center

All students

During this introduction to the Writing Center’s services, learn about the many resources we have to offer. This webinar is designed to orient you to the many of resources available at your fingertips, including Grammarly, paper reviews, tutorials, and social media.

Undergraduate-Specific Webinars

Tips for Undergraduate Writing

Undergraduate students

Learning to write at the college level will be key to your success at Walden. In this session, we have outlined the top skills we wish all students knew; come hear our tips for succeeding in your writing assignments!

APA Webinars

APA Citations: The Method to the Madness

All students

Does APA formatting feel arbitrary to you? Believe it or not, there are clear reasons for these guidelines that are directly related to your work as a scholar.

In Part 1 of our APA Citations series, we will provide an overview of APA citation principles, including standard formats for reference lists and in-text citations, showing how APA rules are actually designed to help you communicate your ideas more clearly. This session is intended to give you a foundational APA knowledge of citations that we then expand upon in Part 2 of the APA Citations series.

APA Citations Part 2: NonTraditional Sources

All students

In this second of two APA sessions, Writing Center staff members will discuss nontraditional APA citations and references, with an emphasis on those that are common to Walden assignments. We will provide guidance on citing discussion posts, course videos, and other sources that are required at Walden but not explored thoroughly in the APA manual. Participants will receive links and other tools for helping students master these formats.

APA Q&A Panels

All students

APA's many rules can confuse students. During this session, a panel of Writing Center staff will respond to students' APA questions, showing you not only the APA rule, but resources you can use to answer APA questions in the future. While staff will answer questions students submitted before the webinar, you will also be able to ask (and have answered) APA questions during the session. 

APA Overview

All students

References

All students

Reference List Checklist

All students

Tired of losing points for APA missteps in your reference list? We will teach you how to spot and correct the most common reference list errors students make. Our checklist will help ensure you do not make these mistakes in your next draft!

Tables & Figures, Scientific Abbreviations, and Other APA Nuances

Master’s and Doctoral Capstone students

Tables and figures are great ways to present data, but how do you format them? Learn the APA rules concerning tables and figures, as well as how to present abbreviations and other APA nuances you need to know in advanced papers like Master’s theses and doctoral capstone work.

Using and Crediting Sources in APA

All students

Crediting sources for their ideas is often a tricky balancing act between citing too much and not enough. This session focuses on how to cite research using proper APA format; attend this webinar to become a citation expert!

Grammar Webinars

Engaging Your Reader with Sentence Structure

All students

Academic writing does not have to be boring: Your ideas are exciting, so your writing should be too. Learn how to create sentences that will engage your readers, helping them to be as excited as you are about your ideas.

Mastering the Mechanics of Writing Part 1: Building Blocks of Grammar

All students

Grammar and punctuation errors can distract readers from your great ideas and result in lost points in assignments. Strengthen your sentence-level writing skills in this first of three Mastering the Mechanics webinars, where we will explore and practice using different parts of speech and punctuation and learn about common errors to avoid.

Part 1 will serve as a foundation that we will build on in Parts 2 and 3 of this weibnar series.

Mastering the Mechanics Part 2: Structuring Sentences

All students

Join us to learn how to combine clauses and phrases to create clear, complete sentences, with a focus on examples and practice during the webinar.

While this webinar will build on ideas discussed in Part 1 of this webinar series, viewing Part 1 is not a requirement for viewing Part 2.

Parallel Construction

All students

When writing complex sentences, you often need be aware of parallel construction, presenting similar parts of your writing in the same pattern. If you have ever had trouble with ensuring clarity or creating parallel lists in your writing, attend this webinar.

Topic Sentences and Paragraph Development

All students

Topic sentences are like the introduction to each paragraph; they are essential to helping your reader follow your thoughts and creating well-written paragraphs! Learn to write clear, strong, and effective topic sentences as foundations to your paragraphs. Then, we will discuss the other components of a paragraph, ensuring your ideas transition smoothly and develop throughout your paragraph.
 

Scholarly Writing Webinars

Creating an Academic Argument

All students

As scholars, the purpose of our writing is to create an argument for the reader to consider. Thus, you also need to know how to convey that argument. In this session, discover how to construct an academic argument as well as how to present it through your writing.

Appropriate Use of First Person and Avoiding Bias

All students

Confused about whether the first person “I” is allowed in academic writing at Walden?  Unsure of how to avoid bias in your scholarly work? Come learn Walden’s and APA's policy on the use of first person, as well as various ways to avoid biased language in your writing. 

Beginnings and Endings

All students

This webinar highlights two essential aspects of any paper or discussion post: the introduction and the conclusion. What is an appropriate way to introduce your main topic? How should these paragraphs interact with the rest of the paper? In this webinar, we will explore several examples and discuss tips for successful introductions and conclusions.

Cohesion and Flow: Bringing Your Paper Together

All students

You might have great ideas and research, but unless you can bring it all together for your reader, you will not have a strong academic paper. Attend this webinar to learn the nuances of establishing organization, flow, and critical thinking in you work.

Demonstrating Critical Thinking in Writing Assignments

All students

Demonstrating critical thinking through writing is one of the tasks of a scholar. This webinar explores some strategies on how to incorporate critical thinking in your writing, highlighting how to use sources to support your own ideas and focusing on creating a thesis statement.

Developing Your Writing: Creating a Cohesive Paper from a Discussion Post

All students

  • Session recorded October 4,2012
  • Webinar recording
  • PowerPoint slides  

      • Life Cycle of a Paper

      All students

      Become familiar with the writing process by visualizing it at various stages—from brainstorming and prewriting through the final draft and reflection. Students will see a sample paper from the first idea to conceptualization and completion, and receive tips on each stage of the writing process.

      Prewriting Techniques: Taking the First Steps

      All students

      In this session we will discuss various techniques for brainstorming ideas and gathering your thoughts, all in preparation for writing your paper. These techniques will help you avoid writer's block and make your writing process as efficient as possible.

      Synthesis and Thesis Development

      All students

      Synthesizing, the act of integrating different sources to support your ideas, is essential to advancing your academic argument. This webinar explores some strategies on how to approach synthesis and thesis development in your draft, helping you to integrate both to improve your writing.

      Writing and Responding to Discussion Posts

      As a Walden student, you'll write many discussion posts as part of your course requirements. Attend this webinar to learn the Writing Center's tips on how to create strong discussion posts, as well as how to respond to your classmates' discussion posts.

      Writing Persuasively in Academic Writing: Using Sources and Citations

      Undergraduate students

      College-level writing is all about convincing your reader using cold, hard facts. In this webinar, we will demonstrate how to use those facts to support an argument, paraphrase and give credit to sources, and analyze sources—all with the appropriate tone. With these skills, you will be able to build your own persuasive paper.

      Graduate-Specific Webinars

      Annotated Bibliographies

      KAM students (or anyone writing an annotated bibliography)

      This session discusses the do’s and don'ts of annotated bibliographies using examples. While this session focuses on the annotated bibliography in a KAM (the Depth section), anyone writing an annotated bibliography will benefit from this webinar.

      Developing Social Problems into Research Problems for Graduate Study

      Doctoral Capstone students

      This webinar will explore strategies to help you identify a social problem and develop it into a research problem for graduate study. These strategies include a model for narrowing your focus to a specific research problem for analysis in course papers, KAMs, and doctoral capstone projects.

      Literature Review and Annotated Bibliography Basics

      Master’s, Doctoral Capstone, and KAM students

      Wonder what constitutes a literature review in a course paper? Confused about how this review differs from an annotated bibliography? This webinar addresses the basic elements of these two assignments and what it means to synthesize and evaluate your scholarly sources.

      Writing at the Graduate Level

      Master’s and Doctoral Capstone students

      We are not born knowing how to write academically, and you did not enter graduate school knowing how to write like a graduate student. After all, writing is a learning process. This session will discuss the characteristics of scholarly writing, giving you strategies to elevate your writing to graduate school expectations.

      Writing the KAM

      KAM students

      The Writing Center can help you master the most common writing challenges of the Breadth, Depth, and Application in this webinar, giving you strategies to write and format each section. 

      Writing the Learning Agreement (LA)

      KAM students

      In this session, Writing Center staff will lead you through the LA template, helping you to create a concise overview of your KAM, progress through the components of the LA, and learn the proper LA format.

      Capstone Webinars

      Preparing for the Form and Style Review

      Doctoral capstone students

      The presenters will review the purpose of the form and style review and where it occurs in the approval process as well as outline student, committee, and editor responsibilities in finalizing manuscript drafts to prepare for ProQuest publication. How to prepare for the review, including resources; what to expect from the review; and how to use editor feedback to revise and improve a manuscript will be covered during the session.

      Q&A with the Dissertation Editors

      Doctoral capstone students

      During this session, a panel of Walden dissertation editors will respond to your questions on APA style in doctoral capstone manuscripts and on preparing your manuscript for the form and style review. The editors will show you resources you can use to prepare for the form and style review and, ultimately, for publication in ProQuest.

      Using the Walden Doctoral Capstone Templates

      Doctoral capstone students

      The Walden Writing Center templates for doctoral capstone studies are preformatted with the correct pagination, margins, heading styles, and basic structure for an APA-compliant document. In this webinar, you will learn how to use the templates in MS Word, including how to create a table of contents, helping you to save time and ensuring that your document meets Walden and APA guidelines.

      Note: As the Writing Center is primarily PC-based, we cannot provide suggestions for students using a Mac. See Microsoft's Mac how-to page for help.

      Writing the Introduction to the Study

      Doctoral Capstone students

      This session will cover the basic components of the introductory sections of capstones for PhD, DBA, and EdD students, including problem statements, research questions, purpose of the study, nature of the study, theoretical or conceptual framework, and significance of the study.

      Writing the Literature Review

      Doctoral Capstone students

      This session will focus on writing approaches to synthesizing the research, including strategies to help organize and evaluate your sources. This webinar addresses the literature review sections of doctoral capstones for PhD, DBA, and EdD students, but it is also applicable to any students working on a literature review.

      Writing About the Methodology of the Study

      Doctoral Capstone students

      This webinar will focus on writing the components of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research studies. While this session does not address the content of the methodology and research design, the we will help guide you through the process of writing about your methodology, discussing the methodology sections of doctoral capstones for PhD, DBA, and EdD students.

      Writing About Data Collection and Results

      Doctoral Capstone students

      In this session, students will learn strategies for presenting quantitative and/or qualitative data in both prose form and visually using APA-compliant tables and figures. This webinar addresses the results sections of doctoral capstones for PhD, DBA, and EdD students.

      Writing the Discussion, Interpretation, and Recommendation of the Study

      Doctoral Capstone students

      This session will cover strategies for discussing and interpreting study results, as well as making recommendations for practice and further research, addressing these sections of capstones for PhD, DBA, and EdD students.



      Are you a Walden instructor? Learn more about our faculty webinar series.

      TutorTalk

      During TutorTalk sessions students can enter a live meeting space to ask questions, talk about writing, and get feedback. While you're welcome to register in advance, it is not required. 

      You do not need to attend the whole session; you can come, get what you need, and leave at your convenience.

      Attendees may bring pieces of writing for comments or questions, but we will need to limit time on each writing sample depending on the number of attendees. Because this space is public, we may read your question or share your work with others in the session.

      On-Demand Webinars

      In addition to the webinar series, we will be offering classroom webinars upon instructor request.

      Let your course instructor know if you and your classmates are interested in participating in a session! Faculty can contact our Manager of Program Outreach and Faculty Support to set it up.