Cecilia Vadala

Citation Management Graduate Academic Assistant

Cecilia (Cece) is not only a fixture on our UBC Library Research Commons team, but also in the Koerner Library (working with us for many years, during her undergraduate and now graduate studies). As soon as you meet Cece you feel her enthusiasm and positivity. At the library we’ve witnessed her aptitude for being up for most any challenge. She is an outstanding problem-solver and colleague, as she is at once creative and encouraging to others.

Come to the UBC Library Research Commons for help with your citations with Cece. You will see how eager she is to help you and simplify your life! We were lucky enough to catch up with Cece and ask her some questions:

What areas does your own graduate research focus on?

I am pursuing an MFA in Theatre Design and Production; My graduate work is part theoretical research and part design projects. My graduate research focuses on the scenic design practice, more specifically I am interested in investigating the way in which the theatrical space qualifies as heterotopia and how the idea of design as storytelling is contributing to the creation of this type of space.

Which Research Commons tools have you been able to use for your work? How did you use them?

As an MFA student my work is mainly project based and design is the key component, but I am still using citation management tools like Mendeley and Refworks to collect and organize material for the theoretical aspect of my research. And I will for sure ask for the advice of the Thesis Formatting team when I am ready to write my thesis.

What one thing about the Research Commons do you wish more graduate students knew about?

As a new graduate student at UBC you have so many services and resources available to you, that it is understandable to sometimes feel a little bit lost. My suggestion would be to not let this feeling overcome you and plan to actively discover all your options one or two at a time. In the end you probably will not use all of the resources, but you will feel very grateful you got to know about some of them.

Thank you to Cece for all of the creativity and positive energy she has already shared with the Research Commons; We enthusiastically look toward the future knowing her ideas and hard work will continue to lift the team.

To find out more about any of the resources that Cece mentioned, email us at research.commons@ubc.ca.

Whether you are not sure which citation management tool to pick or want to master Mendeley, RefWorks, or Zotero, bring your questions to Cece in one of her workshops or one-on-one consults.