Skill development

Graduate Research Development runs face-to-face, online and hybrid workshops and courses that support researcher development in the skills that feature in the Graduate Research Development Framework. These include:

• preparing a thesis
• writing for publication
• presenting at conferences
• using software to handle qualitative or quantitative data
• preparing a research budget
• creative and design thinking
• planning and managing a research project

To help you make progress on your thesis and publications, we also run regular writing retreats on-campus, offsite and online.

To peruse and register into workshops and writing retreats, go to Macquarie University’s Research Development Calendar, myRDC.

Recordings of several of our workshops are available in the Workshop Collection on the Graduate Research Development ilearn unit.

Macquarie University provides graduate research students access to a range of online resources via iLearn and subscription-based video tutorials to help develop their academic writing skills.

• Graduate Research Development ilearn unit: recordings and slides from graduate research workshops and seminars which have been presented at Macquarie University. Announcements of new courses and workshops are also made from this unit.
• Epigeum’s Research Skills Toolkit: a suite of comprehensive training programmes that build the knowledge and skills essential to becoming a first-class researcher. To access the toolkit, go to https://courses.epigeum.com/register and complete the registration form using your MQ email address. When asked for a token, enter 390f6223. Any issues, consult the help page or contact Epigeum's customer support team via this webform.
• Udemy video courses: a collection of thousands of how-to instructional video courses. Each course is composed of several short (typically 3 to 8 minute) video tutorials, and is self paced, so you can schedule the tutorials around your research and teaching commitments. These courses may be of immediate use to you:
  • Comprehensive Microsoft Word
  • Microsoft Excel - Excel from Beginner to Advanced
  • Statistics/ Data Analysis with SPSS: Descriptive Statistics
  • SPSS Data Analysis for Beginning Researchers
  • From Zero to Nvivo 11
  • The Essential Guide to Stata
• How do I…? guides: these one-page guidelines provide succinct, user-friendly advice for graduate research students that is consistent with best practices and MQ Policy and Procedures at the time of writing:
  • Apply for PGRF
  • Budget my research project
  • Edit my paper
  • Get constructive feedback
  • Get my thesis edited
  • Make the most of conferences
  • Make the most of feedback
  • Manage the flood of literature
  • Present my research at conferences
  • Respond to reviewers
  • State my contribution
  • Write like a researcher

Graduate Research Development hosts several Research Writing Groups (RWG) for graduate research students of different interests and levels of experience.

Participating in a RWG is an excellent way to:

• improve your academic literacy
• increase your ability to read critically and peer review
• keep motivated in your research writing.

Each RWG is tailored to the needs of its members in terms of meeting frequency and duration, and group size and composition. RWGs are facilitated initially by a Graduate Research Development Advisor, and later become self-sustaining. Participants of writing groups should be courteous, constructive and respectful in their feedback.

If you’d like to start or join a RWG with other graduate research students in your department and/or similar disciplines, email gr.development@mq.edu.au.

If you wish to create an online RWG, you should access our RWG toolkit to help you set up and maintain your RWG. You might also be interested in PhD accountability groups.

Graduate research students can book a one-on-one appointment in person or online with a Graduate Research Development Advisor to discuss:

• thesis writing
• conference preparation
• grant applications
• publishing
• other research skills issues

Email gr.development@mq.edu.au or your Graduate Research Development Advisor directly (see contact details below). Please include your name, your department, and what you would like to discuss.

For statistical support, the graduate research statistical consulting service is available on Tuesdays in person or online. Email Associate Professor Peter Petocz to book an appointment or submit a question online.

The Graduate Research Coaching Program is a 12-week program run each semester. You will be paired up with a professional staff member at Macquarie who holds a PhD and has been trained as a PhD coach. The program targets the skills of project management and self-management, specifically: self-awareness, accountability, resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility. Sign up on the myRDC or email gr.development@mq.edu.au to join the program.

Thesis Editing: The Graduate Research Development team does not provide thesis editing, but has produced this one-page guide for getting your thesis edited: ‘How do I get my thesis professionally edited’.