CUL Research Skills 2020-21
(Wed 7 Oct 2020 - Tue 15 Jun 2021)
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May 2021
| Mon 3 |
Publishing journal articles is a key element of a successful research career. As you are starting on this journey, you may have a lot of questions, for example:
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| Wed 5 |
This session will help prepare you to begin your literature review. You will learn strategies for searching for relevant material, how to troubleshoot common search problems, and how to stay up to date with new publications in your field. |
| Thu 6 |
This session will develop skills that will help you get the most out of your literature review. From a foundation of effective search strategies, you will learn how to critically appraise academic literature, techniques for getting through sources quickly and evaluating their relevance, engaging with key material and beginning to write your literature review itself, as well as ensuring accuracy in your citations and references. |
| Tue 11 |
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 workshop 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. |
| Wed 12 |
Writing for publication - for researchers in Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Medicine
Finished
A course 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 course will demystify the peer-review process, and help you to improve the precision and clarity of your academic writing. |
| Tue 18 |
From fair dealing to sharing your research online it seems that nothing with copyright is ever simple. There are few black and white rules about copyright but there can be serious consequences for getting things wrong! This session will cover the basics of UK copyright law and how these impact researchers such as dealing with third party materials, seeking permissions and how to manage risk. Please note that this session is offered by the Moore Library. To book a place, visit: https://www.training.cam.ac.uk/cul/event/3880459 |
| Thu 20 |
Zotero is a free, open-source reference manager. In this class, we will discuss the benefits of using reference managers and Zotero in particular. In addition to learning the basics of installing and configuring Zotero, you will also learn how to add information about books and articles (and other sources) to Zotero and how to use Zotero to automatically format citations and references in your preferred style. |
| Wed 26 |
Managing your data well is a key responsibility as a researchers and it prevents disasters. You will encounter research data in many forms, ranging from measurements, numbers and images to documents and publications. Whether you create, receive or collect this information, you will need to look after it properly. Managing digital information properly is a complex issue. Doing it correctly from the start could save you a lot of time and hassle when preparing a publication or writing up your thesis. |
| Thu 27 |
Referencing where you got ideas and inspiration from for your research is a core skill for any good researcher. In this session, you will be shown handy tools, such as the reference manager Zotero, that can do a lot of the hard work for you as well as managing your literature and reading throughout your research and beyond. The session will also give some tips on how to avoid being caught out through bad referencing techniques as well as the University of Cambridge's approach to plagiarism. We will use a combination of live demonstrations, discussions and quizzes to help you apply your knowledge and get to grips with your referencing needs! |
| Mon 31 |
Managing your data well is a key responsibility as a researchers and it prevents disasters. You will encounter research data in many forms, ranging from measurements, numbers and images to documents and publications. Whether you create, receive or collect this information, you will need to look after it properly. Managing digital information properly is a complex issue. Doing it correctly from the start could save you a lot of time and hassle when preparing a publication or writing up your thesis. |
June 2021
| Wed 2 |
Google and other search engines are an inefficient way to find relevant academic material for your studies. This session will help you to structure your search to find scholarly resources from the 1000+ academic databases that the university subscribes to, which include monographs, articles, media reports, theses, data and primary resources. You’ll learn how to save time by using these premium resources to guide you to relevant literature rather than relying on the overwhelming, open web. |
| Thu 3 |
Finished your PhD thesis? It’s time to submit. Unsure of your access level options? Confused about any third-party copyright in your thesis? Then this session is for you. The final step after completing your thesis is to deposit an electronic copy into the University’s Repository, Apollo. This training session will cover how to ensure you meet all the requirements for submission, how to decide on the access level for your thesis and finally a demonstration of successfully depositing your work using Symplectic Elements. |
| Tue 15 |
The Office of Scholarly Communication invites you to join three PLOS Scientific Editors for an essential introduction to Peer Review. If you have recently started peer reviewing, or are ready to get involved, this is an unmissable chance to pick up tips and best practices from PLOS, publishers of some of the top journals in the Life and Medical sciences, including one of the world's largest multi-disciplinary peer-reviewed journals. (PLOS Biology, PLOS Medicine, PLOS Computational Biology, PLOS Genetics, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, PLOS Pathogens, and PLOS ONE.) You'll learn:
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