Bodleian iSkills workshops aim to develop your skills in information discovery and scholarly communications, covering a variety of resources across a wide range of disciplines. They are primarily aimed at University of Oxford students and staff. Some workshops take place face-to-face, whilst others are run online.

The workshops are FREE but online booking is essential. A list of the sessions taking place this term can be found on the iSkills Workshops webpage.

Workshops taking place this week in 5th Week:

Tuesday 7^th November 14:00-15:00

iSkills: Confidential Print and Foreign Office files: Sources for 19th and 20th century studies
The Archives Direct platform (from Adam Matthew Digital) includes British government papers from the 19th and 20th centuries relating to Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, South East Asia, East Asia, Latin America and North America. It’s a crucial resource for the study of politics, international relations, peace and conflict studies, economics and trade, British history and global history. This session will introduce you to The National Archives and their Foreign Office and Confidential Print files, and show you how to search across them to discover sources for your studies and research.
Who is this session for? Students, researchers and librarians wishing to learn how to use digital resources from Adam Matthew Digital.
Format: Online using Microsoft Teams. 

Tuesday 7^th November 15:00-16:00

Open Scholarship: Your thesis, copyright & ORA
Oxford DPhil students are required to deposit a copy of their thesis in the Oxford University Research Archive (ORA). This online session will focus on what ORA is and how to deposit one’s thesis in ORA, and how to access help with this process. It will also cover the relevant rights and permissions required and other issues that DPhil students need to take into account when preparing their thesis for upload to ORA. Topics covered include: what ORA is and what you need to deposit; how to deposit your thesis in ORA; observing relevant rights and permissions; and accessing help with depositing your thesis in ORA.
Who is this session for? All doctoral research students.
Format: Online using Microsoft Teams.

Wednesday 8^th November 10:00-12:00

iSkills: Managing research data and Data Management Planning (DMPs)
This session introduces the University’s research data policy and outlines the practical impact this will have on your work. The services available at Oxford to assist you will be outlined. This session is not only essential during your current studies but will be invaluable if you plan to continue in research as a career. Topics covered include: common dangers and pitfalls of digital data; key principles of RDM and organising your data effectively; producing a data management plan; institutional, funder and publisher requirements; issues around preserving data and cybersecurity; ORA-Data, GitHub and other preservation services; sharing thoughts and insights about the potential of data management in your own field; and accessing Oxford based tools for research data management.
Who is this session for? All DPhil students and research staff.
Format: Classroom-based (Social Science Library).

Wednesday 8^th November 13:30-16:30

Referencing: Zotero
Zotero is a reference management tool that helps you build libraries of references and add citations and bibliographies to word processed documents using your chosen citation style. The learning outcomes for this classroom-based session are to: create a Zotero library and add references to it; edit and organise references in your Zotero library; add in-text citations and/or footnotes to your word-processed document; create bibliographies; understand how to sync your Zotero library across multiple computers; and understand how to share your Zotero library of references.
Who is this session for? Students, researchers and staff needing to manage references and create bibliographies.
Format: Classroom-based (Thames Suite, IT Services). 

Thursday 9^th November 09:30-12:30

iSkills: Scholarly literature for your research
A practical introduction to searching for scholarly materials to support your research, covering a range of tools for finding books, journal articles, conference papers, theses and more. In this session we will cover how to: run effective literature searches; find books and other scholarly items in Oxford Libraries; search for journal articles; search for theses and dissertations from the University of Oxford and around the world; and search for conference papers.
Who is this session for? Postgraduate students, researchers and academics.
Format: Classroom-based (Social Science Library).