Are you having trouble getting started writing your thesis? Come to the Thesis Writing Tips and Strategies workshop today at Koerner Library from 12:15-1:15pm. This workshop covers writing basics for graduate students – you’ll learn about writing resources, time management and principles of outlining and writing at the paragraph and sentence level.

The workshop will be taught by Ramona Montagnes, the Director of UBC’s Writing Centre since 1992.

This workshop is part of the Graduate Students Workshop Series.

A reminder about the RefWorks session tomorrow, Tuesday January 30, from 1-3 pm in the Koerner Library teaching lab on the 2nd floor.

What’s RefWorks, you ask?
RefWorks is a web-based research management tool which allows you to easily gather, manage, store and share all types of information. Managing references and creating bibliographies for research papers has always been a time-consuming and complex task – RefWorks can help you with the process.

In this hands-on workshop you will create your own personal database in RefWorks, learn how to add references, and use these references when writing a paper, automatically formatting your footnotes and bibliography in the citation style of your choice (including the Linguistic Inquiry style used by the Department of Linguistics.)

This Friday’s colloquium will be given by Justin Fisher from the Department of Philosophy, UBC. The title of his talk is “How Smart Languages Learn to Teach Themselves to Stupid Children” (abstract below).

The talk will be in the Buchanan Penthouse, starting at 3:30 pm (coffee and cookies at 3:15), on Friday, Jan 26th.

ABSTRACT
“This paper has two aims. One is to undercut the arguments that many people have taken to favor a popular nativist position in linguistics. The other is to present a strong alternative to Linguistic Nativism. I call this alternative Symbiotic Developmentalism, for, as I argue, I think we can profit by thinking of ‘language acquisition’ as involving the simultaneous development of two symbiotic ‘organisms’ – a language and a homo sapiens child. (A similar view is advocated by Terrance Deacon 1997.)

I begin by stating clearly what is held by Linguistic Nativists. I then carefully consider the various sorts of evidence that have been mustered in favor of Linguistic Nativism. I argue that none of this evidence favors Linguistic Nativism over Symbiotic Developmentalism, while some of it does favor Symbiotic Developmentalism. In the concluding section, I argue that Symbiotic Developmentalism may open promising new avenues for linguistic research, avenues which are not readily available within a nativist framework.”

The Winter 2007 schedule for the Faculty of Arts Student Workshop series is out. Sessions include:

Getting Started at the UBC Library

If you’re new to UBC or just wanting a refresher, come join us for an overview of the UBC Library and our web sites. Learn about the resources & services available to you, whether you’re in the library, at the office, or doing research from home. This introductory class includes an orientation to the Catalogue, ejournals, indexes, subject guides, and the chat reference service AskAway

Google Scholar and More: All Articles All the Time!

You know that lots of journals and magazines are published on the web. But where? This workshop will show you where to look — whether you’re starting with a bibliography, an author’s name, a topic, or just an idea.

Refworks for the Arts

RefWorks is a web-based citation management tool, sponsored by the UBC Library, and available free-of-charge to current UBC faculty, staff, and students.
In this hands-on workshop you will create your own personal database in RefWorks, learn how to add references, and use these references when writing a paper, automatically formatting your footnotes and bibliography in the citation style of your choice.

Register online for any of these free workshops at the UBC Library Instruction Calendar. (Click the session you want to attend to get to the registration form.)

Sponsored by UBC Library, and supported in part by funding from the office of the Dean of Arts.

Did you know that you can borrow laptops from the library? These laptops allow you to download software, so that if you need to use special language fonts such as IPA phonetic fonts or other language-related software, a loaner laptop will do the trick. (Campus and library computer labs generally don’t allow you to download onto workstations.)

The loan period is 4 hours, and they’re available at the Koerner, Woodward, David Lam, and Robson Square branch circulation desks. You can even check the library catalogue for availability! Just do a title search for “laptop computer“.

For more information, see the Loaner Laptops FAQs.