Category Archives: Graduate Search Clinic

Research and Skills Training Sessions in the Social Sciences : Week 5

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We have two interesting training sessions for  DPhil students next week. Booking can be found here: http://researchtraining.socsci.ox.ac.uk/training/270-socscilibrariestraining.

Tue 10th Nov -10:00 to12:00 – UK parliamentary and government materials – an introduction

SSL IT Room, Ground Floor

General overview of the main sources for finding and accessing historical UK parliamentary material, pre 1800 and post 1800. Sources for government publications both in print and in electronic format. Key topics: Parliamentary papers pre 1800, post 1800; Parliamentary proceedings – Hansard, Journals of the House of Commons and Lords; Legislation; Government and departmental papers

keyboard closeup morguefile

Wed 11th Nov – 14:00 to 15:30 – Research impact – citation analysis tools

IT Services, 13 Banbury Road

An introduction to citation tracking and bibliometrics, using a range of impact factor tools to find top journals and conferences, count citations and measure the impact of publications and researchers. We explain their strengths and weaknesses, and how to access them. We cover: Journal Citation Reports, SCImago Journal Rank, Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, Essential Science Indicators, ORCID, and more.

Research and Skills Training Sessions in the Social Sciences : Week 4

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We’ve got two interesting library training opportunities for DPhil students this week. Booking can be found here: http://researchtraining.socsci.ox.ac.uk/training/270-socscilibrariestraining. Details of the sessions below:

Tue 3rd Nov – 14:00 – 16:00 – Moving from research question to literature review in the Social Sciences

SSL IT Room Ground Floor

This 2 hour workshop will be invaluable for researchers hoping to find suitable literature for their literature review. A well constructed set of search terms and an understanding of online search engines are prerequisites for undertaking a comprehensive literature review. This workshop will allow researchers to use their own research questions to build a search and apply it to a range of databases. Techniques for structuring a search will be explained, an overview of key online resources for the social sciences will be given , major search tools will be explored, and strategies for approaching large results sets and sourcing papers will be discussed. This practical workshop will involve paper exercises and online activities using attendees own research topic

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Fri 6th Nov – 09:30 – 12:15 – Referencing: Mendeley

 IT services, 13 Banbury Road

Mendeley is a reference management package that helps you build libraries of references and then add citations and bibliographies to word processed documents. This introduction covers the main features of Mendeley.

Research and skills Training Sessions in the Social Sciences : Week 3

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We’ve got a lot of great library training opportunities for DPhil students this week. Booking can be found here: http://researchtraining.socsci.ox.ac.uk/training/270-socscilibrariestraining. Details of the sessions below:

Mon 26th Oct 14:00 to 17:00   – Referencing: Choosing and using software

IT Services, 13 Banbury Road,

Formatting your in text citations, footnotes and bibliography correctly for your thesis or publication is a chore. Reference management software makes it easier and saves you time. This introductory session gives an overview of how reference management works, explores the pros and cons of a wide range of reference management packages and gives you the opportunity to try out five different packages so that you can work out which one is best for you. The packages included are RefWorks, EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley and ColWiz.

Wed 28th Oct – 14:00 to 17:00 – Referencing: RefWorks for Sciences & Social Sciences

IT Services, 13 Banbury Road     

RefWorks is an online tool which allows you to manage your references, insert them into your work, automatically generate bibliographies and easily switch between citation styles. At this introductory workshop you will set up and learn to use RefWorks on your own laptop. The session is open to all but the section on importing references will focus on Science/Social Science examples.

Thurs 29th Oct – 9:15 to 12:15 – Finding Stuff – Scholarly Literature for Your Research

IT Services, 13 Banbury Road     

A practical introduction to searching for scholarly materials to support your research, covering a range of tools for finding monographs, journal articles, conference papers, theses and more. Key topics: Effective literature searching; Finding monographs and other scholarly items in Oxford Libraries using SOLO; Searching for journal articles using subject databases; Searching for journal articles using scholarly search engines; Searching for theses and dissertations from around the World using Proquest and eTHos; Searching for theses from Oxford University using SOLO and ORA; Searching for conference papers: Proquest, OCLC and more

Learn

Fri 30th Oct – 9:30 to 11:00 – Getting Information to come to you

IT Services, 13 Banbury Road    

This session will show you how to set up alerts to journals, databases and websites, so that you receive notifications when new content is added. Participants will have the opportunity to set up RSS feed readers and/or email notifications during the session.

Fri 30th Oct, 11:15 to 12:30 – Resources for Research: get managing your data off to a good start with this introduction to MANTRA

IT Services, 13 Banbury Road     

Research data management is an integral part of doing research during the DPhil and beyond and all researchers need to reflect on how it effects their work.

MANTRA is an acclaimed online independent learning course which provides guidelines for good practice in research data management. It is designed for DPhil students and early career researchers who are starting a research project. http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/mantra/

This one hour workshop will introduce MANTRA and give a brief overview of the content with the opportunity to begin the online course in a supportive environment and as part of a ‘class’ rather than entirely independently.

Research and Skills Training Sessions in the Social Sciences: Social Science Data Archives and Statistical Databases

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Friday 23rd October 10:30 to 12:30

IT Services Banbury Road

“The course aims to provide an overview of available macro and micro data sources for social scientists including national data archives, subscription services, economic and business data, and offers some pointers for further searching. During this 90 minute workshop we will:

• give an overview of the landscape of data sources for social scientists and what kind of data is available

• provide advice on how to obtain macro and micro data via the UK Data Service (previously called Economic and Social Data Service – ESDS)

• review qualitative data resources

• use additional data services such as the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), Eurostat and the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative’s online interactive databank and global Multidimensional Poverty Index

• explore some of the specialist sources for business and economic data subscribed to by Oxford University

• look at untapped value of such resources for informing research design and methodological innovation

This workshop will be most beneficial to those researchers planning to use secondary data sources (quantitative, qualitative and mixed) as part of their research or who wish to learn more about data archives.

This session is open to all social science DPhil students

booking information can be found here http://researchtraining.socsci.ox.ac.uk/training/270-socscilibrariestraining

 

Graduate Search Clinic: Using Google for Academic Research

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There is only one Graduate Search Clinic this term. Make sure to book a place!

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Using Google for Academic Research

20th May, 15.00 – 16.00
SSL IT Training Room, Ground Floor, Manor Road Building
Book a place on this session

Google is often dismissed as being irrelevant to the academic literature search. However, changes to the nature of the dissemination of scholarly research and official information in recent years mean that a wealth of relevant information can be accessed via standard Internet search engines such as Google. Too often however such information is lost amongst thousands of irrelevant, spurious and misleading results.

Based on an understanding of how the Google search engine works this 1 hour practical workshop will show you the basic techniques to quickly filter out high quality academic material from Google searches. Given the recent concerns about the privacy costs of a ‘free’ search within search engines such as Google, alternative search engines will also be explored and compared, including DuckDuckGo.

Google doodle
Google Doodle for National Libraries Week 2005

Graduate Search Clinics in Week 7

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There are two Graduate Search Clinics happening next week.

safety deposit
Image courtesy of Stuart Conner

Discovering and Depositing Social Science research data

Thursday 5 March 12.30 – 13.30
SSL IT Training Room

This 1 hour session provides an opportunity for doctoral students to learn about the deposit and discovery elements of the ORA-Data service. By the end of the session you will:

  • know how to locate and cite data
  • understand how the description of your own data can help to increase its visibility and add to your research profile
  • provide feedback on the usability of ORA-Data’s deposit mechanism
  • briefly compare it with similar resources at other institution

Book online

Confidential
Image courtesy of Michael Kenny

Working with sensitive or confidential research data
Thursday 5 March 14.00 – 15.00

A workshop outlining some of the key principles to bear in mind when working with restricted research data. It is aimed at those who have completed the introductory sessions of Research data management and data archive. This session will also be of use to those creating data they consider sensitive or accessing similar data held in an archive. Examples of scenarios drawn from the research of participants are particularly welcome. Subjects to be covered include:

Creating data

  • Using Informed consent agreements
  • Maximising usage potential of data
  • Types of data – numbers text and beyond
  • Strategies to protect data; embargoes, vetting and restrictions
  • Accessing archived data
  • Understanding access conditions
  • Importance of metadata
  • Trends in data access – greater detail v harder access

The role of support services at Oxford will also be outlined and in particular the new role of the Bodleian Social Science Data Librarian. Feedback will also be invited on whether you feel the needs of your own research are being addressed in the developing data support infrastructure.

Book online

These are the last Graduate Search Clinics of this term but there will be more running in Trinity. For details, check our website.

Graduate Search Clinic: Social Science Data Archives and statistical databases

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When: 3.00-4.00 February 24
Venue: SSL IT Training Room, Ground Floor, Manor Road Building

The course aims to provide a thorough overview of available macro and micro data sources for social scientists including national data archives, subscription services, economic and business data, and offers some pointers for further searching.

This workshop will be most beneficial to those researchers planning to use secondary data sources (quantitative, qualitative and mixed) as part of their research or who wish to learn more about data archives.

Book your place here!
(Please open link in a different browser if it doesn’t work using Internet Explorer)

Graduate Search Clinics in Week 5

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Next week there are three Graduate Search Clinics on offer!

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Your DPhil, Your Librarian and You (Rescheduled from 20 January)
Monday 16 February
12.00 – 13.00
Seminar Room B – Manor Road Building

This 1 hour session will give an overview of the myriad of support offered to researchers by the Bodleian Social Science Libraries. This will take the form of bite size excerpts from future workshops providing the opportunity for researchers to make informed decisions about which workshops to attend and what questions they may wish to ask their librarian.

Attendees will discover the wealth of valuable resources available to them both in the form of print and online collections and in the network of expert subject librarians and curators. At the end of the workshop researchers will have gained a clearer idea of the research tools they will benefit from exploring further.

Researchers at any stage of their research are welcome to attend.

Book here!

Keeping Current in Your Research
Monday 16 February
14.00 – 15.00
SSL IT Training Room
Manor Road Building

Keep an eye out for pertinent new research; spot links with research emerging in other disciplines; and follow the big names in your field. Keeping current in your research field is vital to succeeding in your DPhil.  It can be challenging to filter the vast range of information resources.  These top tools will help you monitor the latest developments in your research field without information overload.  The session involves practical exercises and you will be given ‘how to guides’ to take away.

By the end of this 90 minute workshop you will know how to:

  • Use Feedly to find and track RSS feeds
  • Set up and manage new article alerts in databases
  • Use citation tracking in databases
  • Find theses and conference papers
  • Use social media to keep up to date with researchers and research trends

Book here!

Resources for Research: References and Reference Management for Social Scientists
Tuesday 17 February
14.00 – 17.00
SSL IT Training Room
Manor Road Building

Managing references is a crucial part of the research process and will help with the literature review, managing sources and writing up, as well as formally situating your work within a field of research. In this 3 hour workshop students will have the opportunity to consider appropriate referencing of sources, citation styles, and gain hands-on experience of reference management software.

Bring their own research questions/topics with you for the practical exercises. This workshop will be most beneficial to those researchers planning and/or undertaking an extensive literature review.

Book here!

For more information on all the Graduate Search Clinics running this term, visit our website.

Turning a research question into an effective search strategy into a comprehensive literature review

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Thursday 12 February 10:00 -2:00
Venue: SSL IT Training Room, Ground Floor, Manor Road Building

 

This 2 hour workshop will be invaluable for researchers hoping to find suitable literature for their literature review. A well constructed set of search terms and an understanding of online search engines are prerequisites for undertaking a comprehensive literature review. This workshop will allow researchers to use their own research questions to build a search and apply it to a range of databases. Techniques for structuring a search will be explained, an overview of key online resources for the social sciences will be given, major search tools will be explored, and strategies for approaching large results sets and sourcing papers will be discussed. This practical workshop will involve paper exercises and online activities using attendees own research topics.

 

Book a place here!
(If you have problems with opening this link Internet Explorer please try a different browser.)

Graduate Search Clinic: New to Oxford? Get started with a gentle introduction to what all the Social Science libraries have to offer

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The next session in our series of Graduate Search Clinics gives you a run down of all the resources and tools the Social Science libraries have to offer.

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New to Oxford? Get started with a gentle introduction to all the social sciences libraries have to offer

Tuesday 3 February
14.00 – 16.00
SSL IT Training Room

Book here!

This 2 hour workshop will introduce new researchers to Oxford Libraries. A basic overview of the library catalogue and the online library resources will be provided via practical exercises in a computer room. Social Sciences literature databases will be explored and online tools specifically for researchers will be introduced. There will also be the opportunity for an optional guided tour of the Social Science Library on Manor Road with information also provided about the other Social Sciences Libraries within Oxford. The workshop will be useful for those not recently familiar with UK Higher Education Libraries.

For more information on Graduate Search Clinics running this term, visit our website.