A collaborative project of the Writing and Communication Centre and the University of Waterloo Libraries.

An in-person workshop series designed to prepare you for success from your very first year. Learn how expectations at university differ from those in high school and find out about the many resources available to you.  

Attend all three workshops or choose what interests you most. 

Beyond Google: Navigating library resources for academic success  (3:00 – 3:35 p.m.)
There is more to research than a quick Google search. This session will introduce you to UW Libraries’ research tools and services that go beyond Google. Learn how to efficiently find, access, and evaluate credible scholarly information for your assignments and projects. You will discover strategies for choosing the right research databases, finding peer-reviewed research, and assessing the relevance and credibility of your sources. Build your confidence and start your academic journey with research skills that will serve you throughout your university career.  

Succeeding at university level research and writing  (3:45 – 4:35 p.m.)
Your university writing assignments will be different from those you wrote in high school. Less descriptive and more analytic, these assignments will require a careful synthesis of academic research. In addition, the format and expectations differ widely across various fields of study. In this interactive workshop, you'll learn about the key differences between high school and university writing and discover how to build on what you already know so that you are prepared for success from your very first assignment!  

Using GenAI productively and ethically in university writing  (4:45 – 5:30 p.m.)
At university, you will be navigating new kinds of academic writing, which may require more sophisticated and critical approaches to using AI than you are used to. Learn how to use GenAI chatbots like ChatGPT and Copilot creatively and selectively to meet your learning and course goals.  In this workshop, we’ll discuss the importance of crafting a good prompt and share strategies for using GenAI chatbots as you plan, brainstorm, draft, and revise writing assignments for which you’re allowed or encouraged to use GenAI.  

This in-person workshop has limited capacity; please register to reserve your seat. If you have accommodation requests or questions, reach out to wcc@uwaterloo.ca with your needs.    

Register via Portal