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.

Monday 3rd February 2025 09:30-12:30
EndNote is a desktop-based reference management tool for Windows and Mac users, which helps you build libraries of references and insert them into your Word document as in-text citations or footnotes and automatically generate bibliographies. This classroom-based introduction to EndNote is open to all University of Oxford students, researchers and staff and teaches you how to use the software so that you can effectively manage your references. Please note we also run an online EndNote workshop. Please check the iSkills course listing for availability. The workshop will cover:
- What EndNote can do for you
- Adding references to EndNote from a range of sources
- Managing your references in an EndNote library
- Adding in-text citations and/or footnotes to your essays and papers
- Creating bibliographies
Format: Classroom-based. Presentation with practical exercises.
Location: Thames Suite, IT Services, 7-19 Banbury Road, Oxon, OX2 6NN
Monday 3rd February 2025 13:00-14:00
iSkills: Using Scopus for your research
A key database for those researching the social sciences, medical sciences and physical and life sciences, Scopus encompasses more than 94 million records from 5000 publishers. This interactive session will cover basic and advanced searching, highlighting features unique to Scopus and recent updates to the database. Attendees will be encouraged to practice the tips explained during the session. This will be useful for those new to databases and a good refresher for experienced users. By the end of the session you will be able to:
- construct simple and complex searches
- navigate filters
- understand effective search query techniques
- save and export results
- extract further information from your results
Format: Online presentations with live demonstrations and hand-on activities.
Location: Microsoft Teams
Monday 3rd February 2025 14:00-15:00
Are you looking to learn about the ways in which to transmit scientific ideas and make your research accessible to a non-specialist audience through a variety of mediums? This session will serve as an introduction to science communication and how it can be successfully incorporated into our roles. By the end of this session you will be able to:
- define science communication and provide a list of examples;
- explain why science communication is important for both our CPD and the public;
- list ways in which we can all get involved in science communication.
Format: Teacher-led presentation with opportunities for questions
Location: Beeson Room, Cairns Library, John Radcliffe Hospital, OX3 9DU
Tuesday 4th February 2025 10:00-11:45
iSkills: Preparing for your literature review in the Social Sciences
Get ready to understand the stages of your literature review search process by using your own research questions to build a successful search and apply it to a range of library resources. By the end of the session you will be able to:
- Build a successful search strategy
- Use a range of bibliographic databases and search tools in the Social Sciences
- Source highly cited papers relevant to your research
- Set up alerts for newly-published papers on your topic
Format: Online teacher-led presentations and live demonstrations (with opportunities for questions via the chat function and follow up one-to-one help).
Location: Microsoft Teams
Tuesday 4th February 2025 13:00-14:00
iSkills: Research metrics and citation analysis tools: Part 1 journal metrics
In this session we will cover how to locate and interpret journal level metrics such as the Journal Impact Factor (JIF). We will examine the tools you can use to locate journal level metrics, such as Journal Citation Reports and Scopus Sources. We will also consider the uses, limitations and pitfalls inherent in these metrics and how they can be used responsibly. By the end of the session, you will be familiar with:
- The major journal metrics and how these are calculated
- Accessing journal citation data using Journal Citation Reports and Scopus Sources
- Using JIF, CiteScore and SJR journal metrics to rank journals
- The limitations of different metrics, including how journal metrics may be skewed or distorted
Format: Classroom-based. Presentation with practical exercises.
Location: Radcliffe Science Library, Seminar Room, Parks Road, OX2 3QP
Tuesday 4th February 2025 15:00-16:30
iSkills: Keeping up to date with research
An online introduction to using alerts to keep up to date with new research and save you time. A combination of presenter-led instruction and the opportunity for participants to set up email alerts to receive notifications for publications in their field of research. We invite you to send any questions you have in advance to usered@bodleian.ox.ac.uk for the instructors to cover in the session. There will also be opportunities to ask questions in the class. The workshop will cover:
- How email alerts can help you
- Setting up alerts on your favourite databases and other platforms for new content in your field
- Managing your alerts
Format: Online presenter-led instruction with opportunity for participants to set up email alerts.
Location: Microsoft Teams
Wednesday 5th February 2025 10:00-11:30
iSkills for Medicine: Introduction to EndNote
Do you need help managing your references? Do you need help citing references in your documents? This online session will introduce you to EndNote, a subscription software programme which can help you to store, organise and retrieve your references and PDFs, as well as cite references in documents and create bibliographies quickly and easily. On completing the workshop you will be able to:
- Understand the main features and benefits of EndNote
- Set up an EndNote account
- Import references from different sources into EndNote
- Organise your references in EndNote
- Insert citations into documents
- Create a bibliography/reference list
Format: Online presentation and demonstration with time for questions.
Location: Microsoft Teams
Wednesday 5th February 2025 13:30-16:30
A practical session 180-minute workshop where participants will work on searches for their review across multiple databases. Librarians from the Bodleian Health Care Libraries will be on hand to demonstrate online tools for facilitating the process and give practical advice on refining individual search strategies. By the end of this classroom-based session you will be able to:
- Improve a search strategy that you are working on
- Adapt the search across multiple databases
- Use tools such as Yale MeSH Analyzer, Polyglot and the SR Accelerator to improve your searches
- Describe alternative methods for identifying references, including citation tracking
- De-duplicate results from multiple database searches
- Start screening results for inclusion in your review
- Report your search methods according to PRISMA-Search
Format: Classroom-based. Time for participants to work on their own searches with advice from a librarian. Explore tools that streamline the review process following a presentation with demonstrations.
Location: Radcliffe Science Library, Seminar Room, Parks Road, OX2 3QP
Wednesday 5th February 2025 14:00-16:30
iSkills: Using AI to find, analyse, and share information sources
Curious about using AI to find research papers? Not sure how to properly reference GenAI and avoid plagiarism? This beginner-friendly workshop introduces three GenAI tools (ChatGPT, Elicit, and Perplexity), showing how they can support information discovery and analysis. Designed for those new to AI, this practical session will allow you to independently experiment with these tools and participate in group discussions to explore their strengths, limitations, and suitability for different tasks. By the end of this session, you will be able to:
- Explain what AI means and some key terms
- Differentiate between several categories of AI tools
- Describe how some GenAI tools can be used to discover information, including their strengths, limitations, and best practices
- Critique GenAI tools and their outputs at an introductory level using evaluative criteria
- State the University’s policies on AI, and avoid plagiarism by creating citations for AI-generated content
Format: Classroom-based. Presentation with practical exercises, group discussions, and an opportunity for questions and answers at the end of the session.
Location: Thames Suite, IT Services, 7-19 Banbury Road, Oxon, OX2 6NN
Thursday 6th February 2025 10:00-11:00
Open Scholarship: REF open access policy briefing
Do you want to make sure your work is ‘REFable’ per the new REF open access requirements? In this focused online briefing, we will:
- step you through the changes and new requirements
- provide links to further REF information and guidance
- let you know where to find help at Oxford
- answer as many questions as we can
Format: Online presentation and demonstration with plenty of time for questions.
Location: Microsoft Teams
Thursday 6th January 2025 10:30-11:30
iSkills for Medicine: Introduction to RefWorks
In this online workshop you will be shown the functionality of RefWorks. RefWorks is a subscription software programme used to manage references and create bibliographies that University of Oxford members can use for free during their time at the university and as alumni. The workshop will cover:
- Understanding the main features and benefits of RefWorks
- Setting up a RefWorks account
- Organising your references in RefWorks
- Inserting citations into documents
- Creating a bibliography/reference list
Format: Online presentation and demonstration with time for questions.
Location: Microsoft Teams
Thursday 6th January 2025 14:00-16:30
Open Scholarship: Foundations of Copyright for Teaching
This workshop will cover the basics of copyright as they apply to lecturers and tutors at the University of Oxford. It will explain the different types of copyright work that are used or generated in teaching and the rights and responsibilities for teaching staff and students. By attending this session you will have the opportunity to:
- Identify copyright works and usages in teaching contexts
- Compare different types of licence available for teaching – proprietary and open
- Follow the requirements of the CLA licence
- Apply risk management principles to the use of copyright exceptions for teaching
Format: Online presentation with opportunities for questions and answers, as well as opportunities to share experiences.
Location: Microsoft Teams
Thursday 6th February 2025 15:00-17:00
iSkills for Medicine: Searching systematically
This session will cover some more advanced techniques for finding medical literature to answer a research question. We will recap some basics, then demonstrate searching in several medical databases, including using subject headings (MeSH) and the differences between different platforms.
After the main 90-minute workshop, one of the Bodleian Health Care Libraries Outreach Librarians will be available for another 30 minutes to answer questions about your own searches, so feel free to bring along what you are working on.
By the end of this session, you will be able to:
- Explain what subject headings are, and how to use them
- Search for words that appear near to other words
- Take a search from one database into another
- Save a search and document it
Format: Teacher-led presentation with opportunities for questions. The last 30 minutes are an opportunity to ask any questions you have about your own searches.
Location: Radcliffe Science Library, Seminar Room, Parks Road, OX2 3QP