6 Things You Need to Know for Starting Your Research This Semester
Welcome to the 2025 Back to School Webinar series designed to equip researchers with the essential skills and knowledge to successfully embark on their academic journey, this series covers everything from mastering scholarly literature and conducting effective information searches to sharing research data, presenting your work, and building a strong professional CV with Overleaf.
*All attendees will be entered into a raffle during each webinar for a free annual subscription to either Overleaf AI Assist or Papers Pro.
Managing Your Professional Identity
This class focuses on the strategic elements of establishing and growing your research career. We'll discuss various metrics for measuring research impact, helping you articulate the significance of your contributions to broader audiences. Finally, you'll learn best practices for managing your research identity (e.g., ORCID, academic profiles) to ensure your work is discoverable and your professional network is strong. Throughout, we'll emphasize practices that uphold the credibility and transparency of your research for lasting impact.
Instructor: Alexandra Winzeler
Date: Monday, 15 September
Time: 10:00-11:00 AM Eastern US
Navigating the Research Landscape
Efficiently finding and managing information and data is critical for any researcher. This class will sharpen your skills in searching for both scholarly literature and diverse datasets, teaching you how to construct precise and comprehensive search queries. We’ll explore the evolving world of open access, distinguishing between pre-prints, post-prints, and grey literature to expand your research horizons. We’ll also provide guidance on leveraging AI tools effectively for searching and literature review, discussing how to craft clear prompts for optimal results and maintain oversight of AI-generated content.
Instructor: Sara Gonzalez
Date: Tuesday, 16 September
Time: 10:00 - 11:00 am Eastern US
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Essentials of Research Funding
Navigating the research funding landscape is an essential skill for scientists of all career stages. In this session, you’ll learn key concepts and strategies for identifying and applying to funding opportunities. We’ll also cover topics that are often overlooked but critical for success, including how to engage with funders, tips for designing research projects that are both innovative and feasible, and strategies for building and leveraging a research network for collaboration, evaluation, and motivation.
Instructor: Julie Kellner
Date: Wednesday, 17 September
Time: 10:00 - 11:00 am Eastern US
Effortless Scientific Writing: Your Introduction to Overleaf and LaTeX
This foundational class introduces Overleaf, the collaborative, cloud-based LaTeX editor designed to make academic writing seamless and efficient. We will guide you from creating your first project to mastering the essential features for producing beautifully formatted documents. You’ll learn to navigate the basics of the platform, including the code and visual editors, and we’ll cover practical skills like adding images, creating tables, and managing references. We will also introduce powerful Overleaf features like track changes, commenting, and using AI Assist to troubleshoot code and grammar, ensuring you have the tools to write and collaborate with confidence.
Instructor: Lee Spence
Date: Thursday, 18 September
Time: 10:00 - 11:00 am Eastern US
Hands-On Lab: Crafting Your CV and First Manuscript with Overleaf
Apply your foundational knowledge of Overleaf in this hands-on lab focused on creating the essential documents for your research career. In the first half, we will guide you through selecting and customizing a template to build a professional Curriculum Vitae (CV). In the second half, you will learn how to find and use an official journal template to structure a research article, ensuring your manuscript is formatted correctly from day one. This practical session will demonstrate how Overleaf templates can accelerate your workflow for a wide range of academic and professional writing tasks.
Instructor: Lee Spence
Date: Thursday, 18 September
Time: 12:00 - 1:00 pm Eastern US
Research Data Sharing: A Guide to Reproducible Research
Join us for a hands-on class on data sharing and discovery, where you'll learn how to navigate the modern research landscape using powerful tools from Digital Science. This session will provide a practical overview of why data sharing is important and how to manage and share research datasets. You'll learn the crucial considerations for selecting the right repository for sharing your own research and how to apply best practices to publish high quality data records for maximum impact and discoverability. We’ll show you how your shared dataset may be surfaced across the internet in indexes, data availability statements, and the repository itself. By the end of this class, you'll be equipped with the skills to effectively prepare and share research data.
Instructors: Lisa Curtin, Andrew McKenna-Foster
Date: Friday, 19 September
Time: 10:00 - 11:00 am Eastern US
Get 15% Off Papers with the Back to School Discount
Code 2025BTS15 is valid for personal purchases of Papers until October 31, 2025.
This discount code can be used in addition to the academic discount.