Since 2019, the Emporia State University Libraries and Archives and the Academic Center for Excellence and Success (ACES) have offered Student Success Workshops for a variety of subjects with the goal of developing skills necessary for academic accomplishment.
“The purpose of the workshops is to support the students, showing them how to best utilize the resources that are available … and to set them up for success for college in their classes,” explained Alex Mosakowski, the first year experience and student success librarian at William Allen White Library.
According to Mosakowski these workshops cover topics such as how-tos on research, using library databases, time management, citations, and more. As an assistant professor, he admitted that faculty sometimes “take for granted” these skills because they assume students are already proficient.
“We also find as librarians that we don’t always have the opportunity to reach students where they are,” added assessment and instruction librarian Cynthia Kane. “We will have students (in our instructional courses) that might say, ‘I still don’t understand how to do an APA style reference,’ or, ‘I still am not quite sure how to find a book in your catalog.'”
The Student Success workshops are offered Monday nights until Oct. 27, excluding Oct. 22, at 7 p.m. via Zoom and taught by faculty of University Library and Archives or ACES. Students must register to attend, but registration is open until the workshop starts. If students are interested in the session but cannot attend, they can still register and receive a recording of the meeting
Instructors aim to keep these workshops to an hour or less, starting with a 30-40-minute presentation that covers “how to get started,” as Mosakowski put it, on that evening’s particular subject. The rest of the time is open to questions from attendees.
WAW’s digital scholarship and open educational resource librarian Melissa Emo emphasizes that “these tools and services aren’t just for those struggling. They’re just to make the process itself easier for students and should be something they want to utilize.”
Mosakowski hopes that students will not only reap academic benefits from the workshops, but also learn that the library and ACES are welcoming to all students.
“Our offices are always open so that people can ask questions,” he said. “There’s always someone at the (information) desk that’s available in person or online to help answer any questions … so even if they can’t make it to the workshop, or they go to the workshop, and they still have questions, we are always available to help … and guide them.”
Students canregister using the QR codes on the Student Success Workshop slides onHornet TV.
The remaining workshops are as follows:
Sept. 23 – Research Bootcamp: Strategies for Getting Started and Staying Ahead of Deadlines
Sept. 30 – Start Your Literature Review Today: Get It Done
Oct. 7 – Stylin’ With APA Style
Oct. 14 – Cite and Write with APA Academic Writer
Oct. 21 – Cite it Right: Mastering MLA and Chicago with Style
Oct. 28 – Pieces of History: Using Primary Sources for Research
Nov. 4 – Introduction to AI Tools for Research
