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The Critical Reading course aims to improve students' ability to read critically and evaluate sources, as well as giving helpful tips about productive reading, note taking and providing a checklist of questions to help them with their reading going forward. It is suitable for all students but aimed mostly at undergraduates.

Most people have online profiles and, as a researchers, your online presence offers many rich opportunities. It is helpful to be aware of tools and tips that can help you boost your visibility online, as well as common mistakes to avoid.

In this course, you will:

• begin to develop your online research profile by making yourself visible to others in a way(s) that suits you.
• learn what an ORCID is and how to obtain one.
• learn what your Symplectic Elements account is for and begin to make it work for you
• review your current visibility and consider the next steps

You will receive the URL for the course in the confirmation email after booking.

Copyright law is a complex field with direct relevance for researchers who need to protect their own intellectual work and use work written by others, and most importantly must avoid accidentally infringing copyright. This course provides you with basic knowledge you can apply to your research practice.

The course covers:

• fundamentals of copyright and why it’s important
• what to do if you want to use someone else’s work
• how to protect and share your own work
• how licenses can be used to make it easier to reuse works

You will receive the URL for the course in the confirmation email after booking.

This session will help researchers explore academic literature through discussing key skills such as critical evaluation, structural reading, effective note-taking, and getting started with writing.

Conference posters are a simple, visual, and effective way of sharing your research. Students will explore key design principles for creating an effective conference poster. You will understand design basics, consider readability and layout, and explore presenting your poster.

This online interactive course will give you advice on how to survive your first year at Cambridge. Topics include introductions to note making, referencing, writing essays, and managing your time.

The course is aimed at Part IA students, with a Science focus. However, the course is open to anyone who wishes to use it, and will be useful for any discipline, or as a refresher for those wishing to learn some new tips and tricks.

This course is based on a typical literature review lifecycle. You start by planning your search. You then carry out your search. Once you've found some results, you evaluate what you have found to see if it is relevant to your needs. You manage your results by saving them to a suitable place so you can come back to them. If you are interested in tracking changes in your field, you enact approaches to keep up to date with new research. And as your research evolves, you refine your search to reflect new concepts and new terms. And so the cycle continues.

While you may not be as focused on the longer term tracking of new research in your field, being able to plan, search, evaluate and manage effectively are additional skills which we will cover in this course. The course will be structured around the first four stages described above, with optional additional information about the last two stages for those who are interested.

This course is supplemented by live workshop opportunities throughout the academic year.

You have your research topic and access to millions of resources – but how do you find relevant material? This session will help you turn your research idea into a comprehensive search strategy designed to get maximum results. It will cover creating targeted keywords, filtering results, evaluating materials and recording your methods to save you time throughout your project.

Do something nice for future you and book your place on this session today.

Research posters are a great way to communicate your project to an interested audience, but they are not just an excuse to cram an entire article onto a single sheet of paper! This session will cover what it takes to design and present a research poster including what to include, accessibility concerns, using illustrations to make an impact and presenting both in-person and online.

Book your place today.

Whatever form your research takes you will be using, collecting and generating a large volume of data. It is important to have a plan to manage this information, not just to help you work more efficiently but because many funders demand evidence of a plan before you start your project. This session will introduce you to data management plans, discuss their key components, demonstrate tools which can help you create a plan and guide you through the process of planning for your project.

Get organised and book your place today.

Creating a strong, professional online identity can help to enhance your reputation, grow your network and become part of the wider scholarly conversation. This session will discuss the various tools available to you, how to build a successful online presence and promote yourself and your work for maximum impact.

Book your place and build your online presence today.

Many of us have issues with speaking in public but the ability to design and deliver an effective presentation is a valuable skill. This gentle introduction will focus on the most common mistakes people make and highlight how you can avoid them. It will cover topics such as creating eye-catching and accessible slide decks, capturing the attention of an audience, preparing for the unexpected and overcoming nerves.

Hone your skills and book your place today.

Referencing is an important part of the academic ecosystem. It can showcase the range of sources you have read, allow the reader to follow up on any interesting points and help to avoid the problem of plagiarism. But referencing can also be time consuming. This session will explore reference management tools and how they can support you throughout the entire research process from discovery to write up. Using Zotero as an example, it will cover how to import references from a range of sources, create easy in-text citations and produce a bibliography at the click of a button.

Metrics are part of academic life and are traditionally used for everything from decisions on where to publish to identifying potential collaborators. But is there more to metrics than just the numbers? This session offers an introduction to assessing research using methods such as bibliometrics and Altmetrics. It also discusses the move towards the responsible use of metrics as part of academic assessment.

Learn about which measures really matter and book your place now.

Peer review – the formal assessment process for published academic research – provides a good opportunity for researchers at any stage to get involved in the wider academic conversation. It helps you to develop skills including critical reading, giving appropriate feedback and can help to enhance your own academic writing to improve your chances at publication. This session will outline the different types of peer review, how to get involved in the process, what typical reviews look for and how you can use this activity to enhance your professional reputation.

Improve your skills and book today.

Move beyond iDiscover and discover the world of databases. Using Scopus, this session will guide you through basic and advanced search functions, finding relevant content for your research and setting alerts to keep on top of new material

Register for this session and search smart.

Taking good notes that can be used in a variety of situations is a valuable skill, during your studies and beyond. Done well, good notes can also save you a lot of time. This session will look at the different types of notes you can take, how to take notes from readings, in lectures and from recordings and how to use the resulting resources.

Make a note to book your place today.

Move beyond iDiscover and discover the world of databases. Using Web of Science, this session will guide you through basic and advanced search functions, finding relevant content for your research and setting alerts to keep on top of new material

Register for this session and search smart.

This course is based on a typical literature review lifecycle. You start by planning your search. You then carrying out your search. Once you've found some results, you evaluate what you have found to see if it is relevant to your needs. You manage your results by saving them to a suitable place so you can come back to them. If you are interested in tracking changes in your field, you enact approaches to keep up to date with new research. And as your research evolves, you refine your search to reflect new concepts and new terms. And so the cycle continues.

While you may not be as focused on the longer term tracking of new research in your field, being able to plan, search, evaluate and manage effectively are key skills which we will cover in this course. The course will be structured around these first four stages, with optional additional information about the last two stages for those who are interested.

A course to take you through conference poster design, with tips and resources to help with the content and presentation in order to ensure you communicate your research effectively. The course will cover where to source good quality, free graphics, how to include references in your poster, and advice about how best to present it at a conference. The session will NOT involve hands-on creation of a poster.

UPDATE: Please note that this session is taking place remotely, not in the Medical Library as previously advertised. Please do not go to the Medical Library training room. You will be contacted by the training team with information about how to join the session remotely.

Please note: this session may be recorded. By signing up for the session, you register your consent for recording to take place. Please email librarytraining@medschl.cam.ac.uk if you have any questions about this.

This course will help you understand how to critically evaluate medical research articles, with a particular emphasis on evaluating the reliability, trustworthiness, and applicability of an article in informing evidence-based practice and decision-making in a healthcare context.

We will send you the article in advance, and it is a prerequisite that you read it before attending the session, and bring a copy with you to class.

UPDATE: Please note that some Medical Library sessions are taught in person, and some are taught online. Please ensure you check the venue details before booking a place. If it is an online session you will be contacted by the training team with information about how to join the session remotely.

Please note: this session may be recorded. By signing up for the session, you register your consent for recording to take place. Please email librarytraining@medschl.cam.ac.uk if you have any questions about this.

This session is aimed at NHS and University of Cambridge staff or students who have already had prior training in database searching and want to learn more about the features of Embase and Medline via the Ovid interface. Those who want to attend an introductory session should book onto the Introduction to Literature Searching course, or the Getting the Best Results - Improving Your Database Searching if they are NHS staff.

An introductory session showcasing how to manage your references using EndNote desktop and EndNote online.

UPDATE: Please note that this session is taking place remotely, not in the Medical Library as previously advertised. Please do not go to the Medical Library training room. You will be contacted by the training team with information about how to join the session remotely.

Please note: this session may be recorded. By signing up for the session, you register your consent for recording to take place. Please email librarytraining@medschl.cam.ac.uk if you have any questions about this.

A course specifically for NHS staff. Attendees will learn how to search databases accessed with an Athens login (such as Medline, Embase and Cinahl) effectively and efficiently, to learn how to save searches and references, and to create and maintain a bibliography.

All attendees are required to have an NHS Athens login. University of Cambridge staff and students wanting to learn similar material should book onto the Introduction to Literature Searching (for University) course instead.

UPDATE: Please note that some Medical Library sessions are taught in person, and some are taught online. Please ensure you check the venue details before booking a place. If it is an online session you will be contacted by the training team with information about how to join the session remotely.

Please note: this session may be recorded. By signing up for the session, you register your consent for recording to take place. Please email librarytraining@medschl.cam.ac.uk if you have any questions about this.

A course specifically for University of Cambridge staff and students. Attendees will learn how to search medical/healthcare databases accessed with a Raven login (such as Medline and Embase) effectively and efficiently, to learn how to save searches and references, and to create and maintain a bibliography. This course is delivered at an introductory/refresher level, and assumes you have had no prior training in how to search databases.

All attendees are required to have a Raven login. NHS staff wanting to learn similar material should book onto our 'Getting the Best Results - Improving Your Database Searching' course instead.

UPDATE: This session is taking place in the Medical Library's training room, not online.

Please note: this session may be recorded. By signing up for the session, you register your consent for recording to take place. Please email librarytraining@medschl.cam.ac.uk if you have any questions about this.