Shop Talks

Are you just beginning your master's program at Texas State? Come listen to the wisdom and advice of experienced master's students as they discuss things they know now that they wish they had known when they began their degrees!

Are you just beginning your doctoral program at Texas State? Come listen to the wisdom and advice of experienced doctoral students as they discuss things they know now that they wish they had known when they began their degrees!

Graduate school is time-consuming, and balancing academic, work, and personal life is challenging. This session will provide attendees with tips and techniques for evaluating and managing their time and attention. Students will learn mindful productivity strategies to increase time for deep work and reduce stress and overwhelm. Both print and digital tools will be introduced.

Do your palms sweat at the thought of presenting in class or at a conference? You're not alone—and you're not stuck. This workshop is designed specifically for graduate students who want to conquer their fear of public speaking and become confident, compelling communicators. 
 
In this workshop, you will learn how to:
•    Understand the psychology behind speaking anxiety
•    Reframe nervous energy into powerful presence
•    Structure and deliver clear, impactful messages
•    Practice techniques for managing stress and building confidence
 
Whether you're preparing for a thesis defense, teaching your first class, or presenting at a professional conference, this workshop will equip you with the tools to speak with clarity, confidence, and authenticity.

Elevate your professional presence on LinkedIn with essential strategies. Discover how to craft a standout profile, strategically network, and unlock hidden opportunities in the job market. This Shop Talk session will provide actionable insights to help you navigate LinkedIn with confidence and maximize your career potential.

In this session, students will learn about preparing for the Graduate Student Research Conference (GSRC), held by The Graduate College. The GSRC will be a live in-person poster conference. This Shop Talks session will provide an overview of the conference, details about how to create an excellent poster, and information about submitting the poster for the conference. We hope to have lots of graduate students showcase their work in the GSRC!

This Shop Talks session is designed for doctoral students seeking tenure-track and lecturer positions at four-year colleges and universities. It covers the last part of the interview process, namely job offer negotiations. Specifically, we will discuss which factors to consider when evaluating a job offer, what questions to ask, and how to negotiate the terms you were offered. In addition, we will discuss concerns of dual career couples and international students.

When you write a thesis, dissertation, or academic journal article, you are addressing a small audience of academics in your field. However, academic writers sometimes need to speak to wider audiences with limited or no specialized knowledge, such as when writing proposals for funding, when creating outreach materials for the public, or when communicating with the media. During this session, you will gain practice with the following:

• analyzing your audience
• recognizing and avoiding jargon
• editing for simplicity and conciseness
• using examples and anecdotes
• writing with directness

This virtual workshop will equip you with the communication tools you need to effectively engage with professors, peers, and advisors. Learn how to craft professional emails, navigate office hours with ease, and handle advisor relationships with confidence. We’ll also cover best practices for collaborating with classmates, ensuring you make a positive impression in all your academic interactions. Join us to sharpen your skills in professional communication and build the confidence to handle any situation that comes your way!

Comparison and perfectionism are difficult to avoid in graduate school. This webinar will not only provide information about these issues, but it will also include activities and a discussion about how to cope with perfectionistic tendencies, as well as comparing oneself to peers.

Everything you ever wanted to know — or didn't realize you needed to know — about the process of submitting an IRB Application at Texas State: how, what, where, when, and why does it take so long?

We are here to help graduate students, faculty supervising thesis or dissertations, and faculty or staff researchers understand the process from A to Z so you can submit well-prepared applications that get approved on the first review.

Are you publishing or presenting research in your discipline? Do you want to make your research more impactful? Develop an online researcher profile and make your research more discoverable by researchers globally..

Online tools such as ORCID, ResearchGate, Web of Science, and Google Scholar Citations can be useful for establishing a successful online academic profile. They can increase the impact of your research, ensure credit for your work, and streamline the publishing and grant-funding process.

In this Shop Talks session, we will show some examples of successful online researcher profiles and the impact you can make by managing your online academic environment.

Designed for doctoral or master’s students writing a thesis or dissertation (or planning to!), this Shop Talks session focuses on important elements and strategies for successfully submitting the thesis/dissertation. One of our Degree Audit Specialists at The Graduate College, discusses helpful resources and information, required formatting, common mistakes and what reviewers are checking for when they look over your document. We encourage you to also check out the Thesis & Dissertation Information page on The Graduate College’s website to see the resources that are covered in this session.

Learn the secrets of successful graduate students. In just one hour, you will understand advanced search queries, effective research, database tricks, and library services you never knew existed.

This workshop covers finding unique databases, identifying important articles through citation analysis, using citation management tools, exploring a topic with knowledge graphs, and locating opportunities for publishing your scholarship and building your research identity.

At this workshop, Arlene Salazar, librarian for the College of Education, will cover search tips that can help when searching library databases. No matter what discipline you’re in, these search tips will help you conduct more effective searches. The workshop will also cover related library services and resources, as well as citation management tools & software that you can consider incorporating into your research to help keep you organized.

This workshop combines reflection activities with practical strategies to increase your confidence as a writer and improve your writing productivity. The session will challenge common writing myths and address typical pitfalls that often hold writers back, such as waiting for inspiration, “binge writing,” all-or-nothing thinking, and more. Participants will identify their own attitudes and beliefs about writing, learn techniques to shift their writing mindset, and practice exercises to build writing stamina and promote positive writing experiences. Participants will also have the opportunity to build their own writing community by signing up to join a writing group. We recommend bringing materials to type or write with to this session!

Nervous about or unsure of how to take your job search to the next level? Don’t give up! You just need a plan. Find out how to organize your search and target the high-impact activities that will accelerate success. Come learn to use these “tricks of the trade” to uncover exciting job leads and professional contacts. The content for this Shop Talks session is tailored for graduate students.

Graduate students are more successful in their graduate studies and future careers if they have productive mentorship relationships. This session will provide tips about working successfully, effectively, and efficiently with research advisors, thesis or dissertation committee chairs, and/or mentors. The Associate Dean of The Graduate College will provide several tips for communicating and clarifying expectations with research advisors. By attending this session, you will learn how to seek out advisors and mentors, what to expect from an advisor or mentor, and what your role in a mentorship relationship involves.

This workshop highlights the steps in the academic writing and publication process to turn research findings into conference presentations and published works such as peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. Useful tips, tools, templates, and examples applicable to graduate students in all fields of study will be shared to help make the implicit aspects of the process explicit and manageable. Participants will engage with and personalize the resources to meet their scholarly goals and needs.

Many applicants to external fellowships, scholarships, and grants fail to provide the level of specificity needed to make their academic background, research experience, personal history, and career plans relevant to a funder's mission and goals. This Shop Talks session will teach participants how to recognize and address this problem through interactive exercises on the following topics:

• avoiding generic language
• detailing vague language
• using examples strategically
• making space for specificity

The knowledge and skills participants gain during this Shop Talks session will be broadly applicable to many pursuits.

Dive into an open citation tool to manage your research. Online Learning Specialist Henna Punjabi will share their experience using Zotero for saving articles, adding notes, and organizing research into folders. Participants will also learn how to integrate Zotero into Microsoft Word and Google Docs for cite-as-you-write convenience!