Cambridge University Libraries course timetable

Fair attribution for technicians through either co-authorship or direct acknowledgement in research publications is a key component of the ‘visibility’ and ‘recognition’ areas of the Technician Commitment, of which the University of Cambridge was a founding signatory in 2017.

However, there is currently no policy or standard practice for acknowledging the role of technicians, equipment and facilities in the University or the wider sector. Technicians experience a great disparity in their recognition and visibility in scholarly outputs.

This interactive workshop will introduce you to the scholarly communications process as well as tools such as CRediT and ORCID, and facilitate conversation amongst peers.

This session will provide an overview of the support and resources available from libraries and other useful departments from across the University of Cambridge for new postgraduates and researchers. It will also provide an introduction to the various training opportunities on offer from library staff on a wide range of useful research themes and skills.

After this session, participants will have a better understanding of what services are out there to help support them in their time at Cambridge and who they can ask for help.

A session designed to take you step-by-step through academic writing and publication, with tips and resources to make writing up as simple as possible. The session will demystify the peer-review process, and help you to improve the precision and clarity of your academic writing.

Please note: This session will be offered, either online or in person, in Michaelmas, Lent and Easter terms.

This is an interactive online session for anyone engaging in research in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine (STEMM).

Taking account of previously published work on a subject is a key part of research. This session will explore why, where and how to search for academic literature, how to develop an effective search strategy and how to mitigate bias in your searches.

By the end of the session, you will be able to:

• Understand why you are conducting a literature search
• Find appropriate databases to search for literature relevant to your discipline
• Conduct an effective search
• Minimise bias in your literature searching

This session is online and will take one hour including activities.

Getting to grips with a new area of research or finding secondary literature to answer a research question can be a daunting task. This session is here to guide you enhance your literature search by introducing key resources and strategies that you can use for finding materials, illustrating a range of techniques for searching, and discussing how to stay up to date with research in your field. In the session, as well as looking at the Cambridge University Libraries' online catalogue iDiscover, we also introduce some of the databases that can be most useful to researches in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences carrying out literature searches.

By the end of this session, you should be able to:

• Plan a strategy for finding literature on your research topic.
• Discover a range of resources available for your literature search.
• Make the most of the resources available using a range of techniques and tools.
• Stay up to date with research in your field.
• Build a list of relevant literature related to your research topic.

Using a reference manager is one of the best ways to look after crucial research literature, whether planning for a literature review or simply keeping track of developments in a particular discipline. This session will introduce Zotero.

Using live demonstrations, discussions, and troubleshooting common referencing issues, the session will give an in-depth look at how Zotero (and tools like it) can help maximise a research project workflow while also ensuring that critical resources and information are not lost at any point in the research process.

This is an interactive online session for anyone engaging in research in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine (STEMM).

Reading academic literature is critical to writing a literature review and developing your own research. This session will explore how to develop a critical reading strategy for your papers, articles, and other reading material for your research.

By the end of the session, you will be able to:

• Efficiently select appropriate readings from your search results
• Understand the difference between comprehending and critical reading
• List of a range of methods for critical reading and know where to go for more information
• Use the SQRR strategic reading method to structure your critical reading.

This session is online and will take one hour including activities.

You've passed your viva. If your examiners requested any corrections, those have been submitted and approved.

You now need to deposit a physical copy and an electronic copy of your thesis to the Library. In this session, we will focus on depositing the electronic copy of your thesis, for inclusion in Apollo, the University's Repository.

We will cover:

• What to include in your electronic copy
• What not to include in your electronic copy
• The access levels that are available and guidance on which to choose
• Third party copyright considerations
• Sensitive information considerations
• Funder requirements

We will finish with a live demonstration of depositing a thesis using Symplectic Elements.

This is an interactive online session for anyone engaging in research in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine (STEMM).

Making notes on the academic literature you read helps you remember what you have read, clarify your own thoughts, and get started with writing. It also makes your life much easier when you come to adding references to your thesis or publication! This session will explore methods, tools, and strategies for making effective and efficient notes for your research.

By the end of the session, you will be able to:

• Understand various note making methods
• Select an appropriate note making method for your reading needs and personal preferences
• Create notes which demonstrate critical reading and support academic writing

This session is online and will take one hour including activities.

Effective note making is an essential bridge between reading and writing. When making notes for a long piece of writing, if you paraphrase and interpret as you go along, you will be able to retrieve what you have learned from reading quickly and efficiently and often produce sections that you can drop straight into your work. This session will introduce you to the theory of good note making, discuss different note making techniques and offer advice for deciding which approach best suits your practices.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this session, you should be able to:

• Explain the importance of strategic reading
• Identify strategic reading approaches that fit your needs
• Explain the difference between note taking and note making
• Explain the link between reading, note making and academic writing

Please note: This session will be offered again in Easter term, date to be confirmed.

Publishing in journal articles is a key element of a successful researcher career, and something you should expect to do over the course of your PhD, but knowing where to start can be a daunting prospect. When do you know when you're ready to publish in a journal? How can you even be sure whether this is the right outlet for your work? What does the publication process entail and what do you need to know about peer review? This session is designed to take you through the entire process from initial idea right up to sharing your finished publication. 

Please note: This session will also be offered in Easter term, with a date to be confirmed.

This session will cover the basics of UK copyright law and how this impacts what you can use in your work and how you can share the results of your own research. It will introduce concepts such as third-party copyright, fair dealing and rights retention. It will provide guidance on how to seek permission to reuse content from the copyright holder in your thesis and your publications. Finally, it will explain what Creative Commons licences are and how they can be used to protect and share your work.

Assessment of research has long focused on metrics as a numeric measure of research quality. Yet these metrics are flawed and often not used for their intended purpose.

In this session, we will look at guidelines for using metrics responsibly, including the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) and university guidance. We will explain how common metrics, like the H index and Journal Impact Factor, are used and discuss limitations of their use. Finally, we will consider real life examples of where you can use metrics responsibly. This will include examples such as tidying up your online profiles, choosing a journal or recruitment.

By the end of this session, you will be aware of the problems of common research metrics and feel confident in using metrics responsibly.

This online session is aimed to introduce researchers to research data management.

We will go through the 4 key areas of research management 1. Organising 2. Storage and Backup 3. Sharing 4. Archiving.

We will also cover topics such as working with sensitive data and have an introduction to Data Management plans. The session is tailored to those working in AHSS and there will be Q&A at the end for any specific questions.

Please note: This session will be offered, either online or in person, in Michaelmas, Lent and Easter terms.

This online session is aimed to introduce researchers to research data management. We will go through the 4 key areas of research management: 1. Organising 2. Storage and Backup 3. Sharing 4. Archiving

We will also cover topics such as working with sensitive data and have an introduction to Data Management plans. The session is tailored to those working in STEMM and there will be Q&A at the end for any specific questions.

You've passed your viva. If your examiners requested any corrections, those have been submitted and approved.

You now need to deposit a physical copy and an electronic copy of your thesis to the Library. In this session, we will focus on depositing the electronic copy of your thesis, for inclusion in Apollo, the University's Repository.

We will cover:

• What to include in your electronic copy
• What not to include in your electronic copy
• The access levels that are available and guidance on which to choose
• Third party copyright considerations
• Sensitive information considerations
• Funder requirements

We will finish with a live demonstration of depositing a thesis using Symplectic Elements