Cambridge University Libraries course timetable

The UL is unique: a national, legal deposit library with an amazing collection of around 8 million items - over two million of which you can browse on our open shelves. If that sounds a bit daunting, why not come on a brief orientation tour to help you find your way around? We’ll even tell you what we keep in the famous Library tower ...

Please note this tour does not cover the University's vast electronic and digital collections: to find out more about using these, please see check for courses on our timetable or ask a member of Library staff for help.

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.

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.

Need to find scientific literature and resources for your Part II dissertation or project? We've got you covered.

In this session, we will introduce you to breaking down your research question, developing your keywords or vocabulary for what you want to search for, before putting it all together using tried and tested techniques to get the best results quickly. We'll show you where to find relevant and reliable resources, how to navigate pesky paywalls and even how to hack Google...legally of course!

If you can't make our live sessions, everything we talk about (and a little bit more) is covered in our self-guided online course.

Want something a bit more advanced? Check out our Going further with your literature searching for your Biological Sciences dissertation or project workshop which will show more detailed searching, demonstrate how the reference manager Zotero can help you at Part II, as well as leaving lots of time for questions and troubleshooting.

The UL is unique: a national, legal deposit library with an amazing collection of around 8 million items - over two million of which you can browse on our open shelves. If that sounds a bit daunting, why not come on a brief orientation tour to help you find your way around? We’ll even tell you what we keep in the famous Library tower ...

Please note this tour does not cover the University's vast electronic and digital collections: to find out more about using these, please see check for courses on our timetable or ask a member of Library staff for help.

This session will help researchers go further with their literature review through exploring key skills such as critical evaluation, structural reading, effective note-taking, and getting started with writing your literature review.

Using a reference manager is one of the best ways to look after all of the reading, notes and research that make up undergraduate study in a biological sciences subject. A really good reference manager can even take some of the pain out of referencing in essays and assignments, making sure you don't miss a thing while working to a deadline.

This session will introduce Zotero, an open source reference manager tool. 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 you manage your work in the first year or two of your degree, ensuring that you don't lose any essential resources and are well equipped with a useful tool for when you start having to do research work for your Part II studies.

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.

Need to find scientific literature and resources for your Part II dissertation or project? We've got you covered.

In this session, we will introduce you to breaking down your research question, developing your keywords or vocabulary for what you want to search for, before putting it all together using tried and tested techniques to get the best results quickly. We'll show you where to find relevant and reliable resources, how to navigate pesky paywalls and even how to hack Google...legally of course!

If you can't make our live sessions, everything we talk about (and a little bit more) is covered in our self-guided online course.

Want something a bit more advanced? Check out our Going further with your literature searching for your Biological Sciences dissertation or project workshop which will show more detailed searching, demonstrate how the reference manager Zotero can help you at Part II, as well as leaving lots of time for questions and troubleshooting.

The UL is unique: a national, legal deposit library with an amazing collection of around 8 million items - over two million of which you can browse on our open shelves. If that sounds a bit daunting, why not come on a brief orientation tour to help you find your way around? We’ll even tell you what we keep in the famous Library tower ...

Please note this tour does not cover the University's vast electronic and digital collections: to find out more about using these, please see check for courses on our timetable or ask a member of Library staff for help.

This session equips participants with foundational skills that they need to build and execute effective search strategies to locate relevant materials for literature reviews, projects, and other related research activities. The session will explore key searching techniques, where to search, how to troubleshoot common searching problems, as well as keeping up to date with the latest research.

This live session builds on skills and knowledge developed through our online Introduction to Literature Searching course and live introductory sessions.

Join us as we move beyond basic searching and give you live demonstrations of some of the more detailed searches you can do using our databases, how you can get more information out, as well as a live exploration of the reference manager Zotero. We will have activities and opportunities for discussion throughout so this session will be truly tailored to your needs. We'll end with an opportunity to ask questions, learn from what other people have done and whatever else comes up.

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 Endnote.

Using live demonstrations, discussions, and troubleshooting common referencing issues, the session will give an in-depth look at how Endnote (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.

Please note: This session will also be offered online in Lent and Easter terms, with dates to be confirmed.

Taking good notes is a valuable skill, both during your studies and beyond. In this session we will share with you our top tips for taking notes in lectures, from readings and when watching recordings. We will showcase some tried and tested templates you can use to structure your notes as well as a range of digital tools for notes on the go. Finally the session will show how to use your notes in your writing and revision for academic success.

Make a note to book your place today.

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, an open source reference manager tool.

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 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.

This live session builds on skills and knowledge developed through our online Introduction to Literature Searching course and live introductory sessions.

Join us as we move beyond basic searching and give you live demonstrations of some of the more detailed searches you can do using our databases, how you can get more information out, as well as a live exploration of the reference manager Zotero. We will have activities and opportunities for discussion throughout so this session will be truly tailored to your needs. We'll end with an opportunity to ask questions, learn from what other people have done and whatever else comes up.

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.

Please note: This session will also be offered, either online or in person, in Lent and Easter terms, with dates to be confirmed.

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 PubMed. 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.

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.

Please note: This session will also be offered online in Lent and Easter terms, with dates to be confirmed.

Data management is a vital part of all research projects. Done well it can save time and stress as well as making the research process more efficient. This session will introduce participants to the basic elements of managing the information they use and create as part of their projects including how information can be backed up, stored and shared.

Book your place today.

This session is aimed at University of Cambridge staff or students who have already had prior training in database searching and want to learn more about the features of the Scopus database. 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.