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We offer two series of 25-minute workshops for the classroom: Academic Skills Workshops, which focus on the skills needed to be successful in any class (and in life), and Writing Skills Workshops, which focus on the skills needed to write well (in any class).
Instructors, our staff will bring the workshops to you in your classroom "on request" — if you request a workshop, we will do our best to make it happen.
Students, we also present the Academic Skills Workshops for clubs, organizations, study groups and individuals.
AS-1: Time Management – Are you really that darn busy?
In this workshop, we will discuss how procrastination and wasting time can put us in the hot seat and learn how setting limits and prioritizing can help us be more productive.
AS-2: Stress Management – Take a chill pill
In this workshop, we will explore the physical and mental symptoms of stress and practice ways of reducing stress.
AS-3: Anger Management – How to take the GRRRRR out of anger
In this workshop, we will discuss the top 10 ways to handle anger, including the best ways to stop letting others push our buttons.
AS-4: Study Skills – What's the point?
In this workshop, we will discuss how to sharpen your study skills so you study smarter, not harder.
AS-5: Taking Notes – How to become a note-taking ninja!
This workshop reveals the secrets to taking notes more effectively and efficiently, both in class and from your textbook.
AS-6: Textbook Reading – Today a reader, tomorrow a leader!
In this workshop, we will discuss how to most efficiently use your various types of textbooks.
AS-7: Test-taking Tips – What is your test really testing?
In this workshop, we will go over the best strategies to employ when taking multiple-choice, essay, open-book and fill-in-the-blank tests.
AS-8: To Google and Beyond – Conducting scholarly research
This workshop will introduce students to the art of doing scholarly research. We will navigate the MATC Library Website, do full text and keyword searches, evaluate various databases, and learn to distinguish reliable sources from unreliable ones. (Library staff lead this session.)
AS-9: Using NetTutor – Help is on the web
In this workshop, students will learn how to use NetTutor, MATC's new free online tutoring service.
Our Writing Skills Workshops are especially helpful for instructors of non-English courses who assign papers. For example, "WS-4: Where do I begin? Preparing a First Draft" can help History students get started in the writing process, and "WS-8: To Cite or Not to Cite? APA Documentation Made Easy" can help Psychology students properly format their papers.
Winning Ways for writingWS-1: Four Foolproof Steps of the Writing Process
We will discuss the steps of the writing process and their importance in creating a well-thought-out scholarly essay.
WS-2: Facing the Blank Page: Prewriting and Developing a Thesis
In this workshop, we will discuss techniques students can use to get started writing an essay. These techniques include brainstorming, free writing, listing, outlining, clustering/mapping and questioning. Students will then have the opportunity to use their prewriting skills to write a working thesis statement.
WS-3: Where Do I begin? Preparing a First Draft
We will use a prepared thesis statement to walk through the process of creating a rough draft of a five-paragraph essay. This will include setting up the page in the proper format, writing an introduction, using topic sentences to keep body paragraphs focused, and writing a conclusion.
WS-4: Avoiding Logical Fallacies in Writing
In this workshop, we will use critical thinking skills to avoid common fallacies that weaken an argument. We will use ethics, passion and logic to construct solid persuasive arguments.
WS-5: If You Don’t Read It, Who Will? Editing and Proofreading
We will discuss ways to eliminate wordiness, avoid clichés, and remove bloated language to create lean, effective essays. We will then cover the final step in the writing process: proofreading. We will learn the importance of reading your work objectively and use tricks of the trade to find hidden mistakes in a manuscript.
WS-6: To Cite or Not To Cite? MLA Documentation Made Easy
This workshop will address MLA manuscript layouts, in-text citations and reference pages using the MLA style manual.
WS-7: To Cite or Not To Cite? APA Documentation Made Easy
This workshop will address APA manuscript layouts, in-text citations and works-cited pages using the APA style manual.
WS-8: Mystery Internet Theater: Using Internet Resources
We will discuss the basics of using online resources such as the MATC Online Writing Lab (OWL) and NetTutor.
WS-9: Rules of the Sentence Highway: Basic Punctuation Review
We will discuss the most common uses and misuses of punctuation.
WS-10: Comma Sense
We will discuss the seven most common uses of the comma.