Ecclesiastical History Sources for Postgraduates sessions

We are pleased to announce two sessions of interest to Postgraduates studying ecclesiastical history:

Ecclesiastical History for postgraduates: Introduction to using the Special Collections at the Weston Library

Thurs 30 Jan, 11am-1pm, Horton Room, Weston Library (make sure you store your bags in £1 lockers first)

This session will provide a practical introduction to using special collections at the Bodleian Libraries. We will outline the nature of the main Bodleian collections and explain how to find research material using online and printed finding aids. (This will include practical exercises for which a laptop will be useful.) We will end with the practicalities of ordering and handling manuscripts and how to cite them in your work.

Presenter: Matthew Holford (Tolkien Curator of Medieval Manuscripts) and Mike Webb (Early Modern Curator)

Please note that there is limited availability. Email Isabel.holowaty@bodleian.ox.ac.uk if you are interested.

Ecclesiastical History for postgraduates: Digital resources

Thurs 13 Feb, 11am-1pm, Horton Room, Weston Library (make sure you store your bags in £1 lockers first)

A two hour seminar during which key online resources relating to church history, covering largely Christianity from medieval to early 20th century, will be demonstrated. The resources include bibliographical and reference tools, digital source materials and how to keep up-to-date with new publications. Presenters: Isabel Holowaty (History Librarian) and Hilla Wait (Theology & Philosophy Librarian)

Please note that there is limited availability. Email Isabel.holowaty@bodleian.ox.ac.uk if you are interested.

 

Trinity Term Training – Help for your Thesis

We have an extra-busy term of information skills training, aimed at helping second years prepare to research their Theses over the Long Vacation.

Everything kicks off on Thursday of 1st week, with the annual Thesis Fair held at Exam Schools from 2-4pm. Bringing together academics, librarians, archival experts and subject specialists, the Thesis Fair is the ideal opportunity to take stock and make connections before you begin your research – more details can be found on the Thesis Fair Libguide Page There’s something for everyone!

Bodleian iSkills logoThe Fair should get you ready for a hugely varied iSkills programme through the rest of term – ranging from courses on Online Sources for Historians and US History (2nd week), a new course on Resources for Modern Global History, and News Sources from 17th-20th Centuries (3rd week), African and Commonwealth Sources, and Medieval Studies (4th week), and an Introduction to UK Parliamentary and Government Materials (6th week).

History Faculty Library Staff will also be running their popular Research Skills for your Thesis workshop on Wednesday of 5th week, showcasing their tips and tricks for getting the most out of your searching – with opportunities to try out searches for your own topic and brainstorm research ideas. A companion session on Wednesday of 6th week, Researching Archives, will outline how the nature of different archives and their administration influences the discovery and use of themm, as well as introducing some key finding aids and key archival collections in the Weston Library and in the UK.

Full details and booking information for these and many more courses to help you with your thesis can be found on the Information Skills Libguide.

Thesis help for 2nd year Historians

Panicking CatIs the thought of researching and writing your Thesis over the summer giving you sleepless nights? Don’t know where to begin with defining your subject, finding your sources, or finding primary source material?

DON’T PANIC!

Don't Panic

We have History-specific events for you in Trinity Term to help you out!

Thesis Fair, 26 April, 2-4pm at Exam Schools

This highly popular event has Librarians, Academics, Information Skills advisors, Subject Specialists and lots more – covering many different subjects and aspects of your Thesis prep. Come and talk to dedicated specialists and find out what there is on offer in Oxford and further afield!
If you are in a college beginning letters B-N, please come at 2pm; all other colleges should try to come at 3mp – but if you can’t make it during your time slot, just come when you can.

Research Skills for your Thesis, 2-4pm, History Faculty Lecture Theatre, George St.
This 2-hour session is designed to equip history graduates with key information skills in order to make best use of electronic information and discovery resources. A range of databases, e-journals and web portals will be explored as well as advanced features in SOLO and tools for literature searches. Time for hands on practice will be included. 
Book now (SSO required)

There is also a full iSkills timetable running this term – details and booking links can be found on the iSkills Libguide.

Information Skills Sessions in Trinity Term

Carl Spitzweg, the BookwormOxford Libraries have an extraordinary range of resources available to help with your research – but it can feel impossible to know where to begin! To help you out, we run User Education sessions to try to give you a head start with our collections. Here are a few which might be of use to Historians:

Bodleian iSkills: Open Access Oxford – what’s happening? (Held monthly – click here for upcoming dates)

Bodleian iSkills: Your thesis, copyright and ORA (Mon 30 April 14.00-15.00)

Bodleian iSkills: Online resources for Historians (Tue 1 May 14.00-15.15)

Bodleian iSkills: Sources for US History (Tue 1 May 15.30-17.00)

Bodleian iSkills: Information sources for African Studies (Wed 2 May 10.00-11.30)

Bodleian iSkills: Archives and modern papers for Social Sciences and History (Wednesday 9 May 14.00-16.00)

Bodleian iSkills: UK parliamentary and government materials – an introduction (Wed 16 May 10.00-11.30)

Bodleian iSkills: Sources for Medievalists (Wed 6 June 09.30-11.45)

The full list of iSkills classes can be found on the iSkills LibGuide.

Bodleian iSkills logo

Graduate Research Fair 2017 Thursday 2nd November

History Research Fair for Graduates

Thurs 2 Nov. 2-4pm, North School, Examination Schools

All new graduates are strongly advised to attend; current graduates are also invited.

All periods will be represented, including the archives from the John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera and the Conservative Party Archive. The stalls cover British & European history, US history, Latin American history, African and Commonwealth history and East Asia, South Asia and Middle East history. The librarian from the Map Department can introduce you to the historical map collections held in the Bodleian Library but also explain how you can create your own maps. We will also have experts for Legal History, Official Papers, History of Science & Medicine as well as Visual Sources and Printed Ephemera. Talk to college librarians and archivists to discover their rich collections of rare books and archives which might be on your doorstep.

We have guest appearances from the History Research Librarian, the Information Skills Librarian, Senate House Library and the librarian from the Institute of Historical Research Library. Representatives of the Bibliography of British and Irish History and Gale Cengage will be present to give you advice about online repositories. If you are interested in Oxfordshire local history, then Oxfordshire History Centre stall will be an important stop. Brookes University Archivists will be visiting, and staff from the Dictionary of National Biography and Houses of Parliament Online. ORA (Oxford Research Archive) staff can advise you on depositing your thesis in Oxford’s online institutional repository. The Top 10 Tips stall will give you an opportunity to meet a current graduate who can share with you their advice.

A wide variety of subject areas which students can explore at their leisure throughout the afternoon!

Students at the History Research Fair

InfoSkills workshops in 3rd week for 2nd year Undergraduate Historians

Bodleian iSkills logoIn Week 3 of Trinity Term, the HFL and Bodleian Libraries will be running the following sessions, many of which are relevant for 2nd year UGs working towards their thesis. Please follow links to book online:

Research Skills for your Thesis [reserved for 2nd year UGs]
This 2-hour session is designed to equip students working on their dissertation with the key information skills in order to make best use of electronic information and discovery  resources. A range of databases, e-journals and web portals will be explored as well as advanced features in SOLO and tools for literature searches. Hands-on practise time will be offered.
Week 3: Wednesday 11th May, 2-4pm
Presenters: R D’Arcy-Brown, B Jenkins

> Book a Place (SSO required) [currently fully booked, but definitely worth signing up to the waiting list.]

1-1 with History Librarian
Thurs. 12 May, 11.30-12.30pm – Sign me up
If you would like a one-to-one session to get help any aspect of library resources and tools (SOLO, databases, ejournals, etc.) and generally get advice and tips for locating sources for British and Western European history, then sign up for a 1-1 session with Isabel Holowaty.

Bodleian iSkills: Online resources for Historians (Tuesday 10th May 09:30-10:45) – Book a place
A general introduction to the vast range of electronic resources which are available for all historical periods of British and W European history: bibliographical databases, biographical / reference research aids, ebooks and ejournals, web portals, and collections of online primary source materials.
Who is this session for? Students, researchers and anyone interested in this topic.
Presenter: Isabel Holowaty
Venue: Radcliffe Science Library, Parks Road

Bodleian iSkills: Sources for US History (Tuesday 10th May 11:00-12:30) – Book a place
Introduction to key information sources for the study of colonial America and US history. The session will provide an overview of the primary sources available in Oxford and online (such as early printed books, US newspapers and US government papers), as well as guidance on locating material for your research.
Who is this session for? Students, researchers and anyone interested in this topic.
Presenter: Jane Rawson
Venue: Radcliffe Science Library, Parks Road

Bodleian iSkills: Newspapers and other online news sources from the 17th to 21st century (Wednesday 11th May 10:30-12:00) – Book a place
Newspapers are a valuable resource for researching not only news, but also many other aspects of society. In this session we will introduce key historical and contemporary sources of news and how to make best use of them.
Who is the session for? Students, researchers and anyone else who is interested.
Presenters: Isabel Holowaty, Angela Carritt
Venue: Radcliffe Science Library, Parks Road

Bodleian iSkills: Getting started in Oxford Libraries (Thursday 12th May 09:30-12:30; repeated 2nd June) (also repeated Week 6) – Book a place
An introduction to Oxford Libraries including guidance on which libraries to use; accessing e-journals and other online resources; SOLO and other finding aids and making the most of Library services.
Who is this session for? Anyone who would like an introduction to Oxford Libraries.
Presenters: Angela Carritt & Cathy Scutt.
Venue: Social Science Library, IT Room Ground Floor

Referencing: Zotero (Friday 13th May 9:15-12:15) – Book a place
Zotero is a reference management package that enables you to build libraries of references and add citations and bibliographies to word processed documents. This introduction covers the main features of Zotero.
Presenter: Erika Delbecque
Venue: IT Services, 13 Banbury Road

Keep up with Bodleian Libraries training opportunities: Why not follow them on Twitter or visit the Bodleian iSkills blog

Training Opportunities in Hilary Term

The History Faculty Library and the Bodleian Libraries have a packed timetable of training sessions in Hilary Term to help Researchers and Undergraduates make the most of Library Resources in Oxford. Aside from highlighting some of the key resources available locally, these sessions will also provide opportunities for refreshing and upgrading information searching skills. There will be chances to explore databases, e-journals and web portals, along with advanced searching in SOLO and the benefits of using reference managing databases such as RefWorks to help you with your citations during dissertation research. Staff will be on hand to provide step-by-step demonstrations as well as hands-on time in most sessions.

Skills toolkit-bannerHighlights include:

  • Research Skills Toolkit
    Need to brush up on your IT and information skills for research?  Why not come to a Research Skills Toolkit? These free 2-hour workshops introduce key software and online tools for your research, hone your searching and information skills and introduce you to subject specialists. Topics on offer include:

    • Finding articles, papers, conferences and theses
    • Keeping up to date and current awareness
    • Using Endnote to manage your references
    • Manipulating images using Gimp
    • Managing your thesis with word
    • Analyzising data with Excel pivot tables
    • Podcasting with Audacity
    • Plagiarism and how to avoid it
    • Your thesis, copyright and ORA
    • Finding highly cited journals and measuring research impact
  • RefWorks Referencing Software for Historians
  • RefWorks Referencing Software for HumanitiesBodleian iSkills logo
    RefWorks is an online tool which allows you to manage your citations/references, insert them into your work as footnotes or intext citations, automatically generate bibliographies and easily switch between citation styles.
    Other referencing software courses are available – please see the iSkills workshop timetable for further details.
  • Getting started with Oxford’s Libraries
    An introduction to Oxford Libraries including guidance on which libraries to use; accessing e-journals and other online resources; SOLO and other finding aids and making the most of Library services.
  • Getting Information to come to you
    Keeping up to date with new research is important but time consuming! This session will show you how to set up automatic alerts so that you are notified about new articles and other publications and when key web sites are updated. Participants will have the opportunity to set up RSS feed readers and/or email notifications during the session.
  • Researchers will also benefit from briefings on Act on Acceptance open accessas part of moves towards Open Access – more information can be found here.
  • Expert, personalised help can be accessed in the form of bookable Isabel Holowatyone-to-one sessions with the History Librarian, Isabel Holowaty. These are running throughout Hilary Term; dates and sign-ups can be found here.

This is just a brief taster of the wide range of courses available to our readers at any stage of their studies. Further details can be found on the iSkills Libguide pages, and History-specific courses can be found on the Training pages of the History Faculty Library website.

Library staff look forward to welcoming you and introducing you to the wide range of resources on offer in Oxford.

HFL Undergraduate Training

Trinity Term training opportunities for 2nd year historians: book your places now!

Do you have right research and information skills for your undergraduate thesis? Let the libraries help you on your way!

Second year undergraduate historians currently working towards their theses are encouraged to attend the following training sessions for Trinity Term. They will provide you with valuable information and support which will stand you in good stead for your research, now and in the future.

The programme on offer aims to help you with locating and utilising a variety of source materials, whilst equipping you with knowledge on some of the key research tools available. Workshops are available run by History Faculty Library staff as well as by our other colleagues in the Bodleian iSkills strand; the schedule includes training on subjects such as:

Aside from highlighting some of the key resources available locally, these sessions will also provide opportunities for refreshing and upgrading information searching skills. There will be chances to explore databases, e-journals and web portals, along with advanced searching in SOLO and the benefits of using reference managing databases such as RefWorks to help you with your citations during dissertation research. Staff will be on hand to provide step-by-step demonstrations as well as hands-on time in most sessions.

Further details and booking information can be found via the HFL website.

HFL Undergraduate Training

Can’t come to a course?

The handouts and slides of sessions will be made available on HFL WebLearn > Guides & presentations.

Need specialist help?

Isabel Holowaty, Bodleian History Librarian is happy to discuss what sources and literature searching tools are best suited to anybody studying British and Western European history. Email her at isabel.holowaty@bodleian.ox.ac.uk to arrange a one-to-one session.

If you are studying history outside Britain and Western Europe, you can find your subject specialist here.

Do you have the right language skills for your chosen subject? 

The Language Centre has a lot to offer for historians wishing to upgrade their language skills or simply to start learning a language. More on this.

ArcGIS for Historians Training Session Wed 11th Feb

Places are still available on the following training course:

This practical session provides an introduction to the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in historical research and analysis. It will focus on making historical maps of study areas, using symbology (colour coding etc.) to encode historical statistics and other information and extracting geographical data from scans of historic maps. Book a place (SSO required)

ArcMap ScreenshotConvenor: Michael Athanson, Deputy Map Librarian, Bodleian Library
Venue: IT Training Room, Radcliffe Science Library

Hilary Term Training and Workshops

Start the New Year with new skills!

The Hilary Term programme of Information Skills courses for this term is now available to view on our website.

The programme includes courses on:

  • RefWorks
  • Research Skills ToolKit
  • ArcGIS
  • Social media for Historians
  • Bodleian iSkills sessions on
    • Reference Management
    • Digital Images
    • Online resources for historians
    • Open Access Oxford
    • Copyright

      All researchers and academics can attend Bodleian iSkills workshops. Further details about upcoming sessions and online booking are available at ox.libguides.com/workshops.

For full details of all the training events talking place this term and to book places please go to http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/history/training/PGtraining