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.
Tuesday 21 January
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.
Who is this session for? Students, staff and researchers from MSD and OUH.
Format: Online using Microsoft Teams.
Wednesday 22 January
13:30-16:30 Referencing: Choosing and using software for referencing
Formatting your in-text citations, footnotes and bibliography correctly for your thesis or publication is crucial. Reference management tools make this easier and save you time. This classroom-based session comprises a 30-minute presentation, which gives an overview of reference management tools. The rest of the session is dedicated to practical exercises, giving you the opportunity to try out three tools (RefWorks, EndNote and Zotero), so that you can work out which one is best for you. Library staff will be there to help and guide you, and answer any questions you might have. You can leave at any point once you have tried out the tools you want, and do not have to stay until the end. At the end of the session you will be able to:
- Understand how reference management works
- Understand the advantages and disadvantages of a range of reference management tools
- Add, edit and organise references using a number of different tools
- Add references to documents and create bibliographies using a number of different tools
- Make an informed decision about which reference management tool works best for you
Format: Classroom-based (Thames Suite, IT Services).
14:00-16:00 Introduction to online resources for historians: show and tell
A general online introduction to the vast range of electronic resources which are available for all historical periods of British and Western European history. Learning outcomes are to:
- gain an overview of some of the key online resources for Medieval, Early Modern and Modern British and Western European History
- know how to access subscription resources
- gain awareness of key examples of useful resources such as bibliographic databases, reference sources, primary sources, maps, audio-visual resources, and data sources.
Format: Online using Microsoft Teams.
15:00-16:30 iSkills for Medicine: Introduction to EndNote
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. 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.
Who is this session for? Students, staff and researchers from MSD and OUH.
Format: Online using Microsoft Teams.
Thursday 23 January
14:30-16:00 Open Scholarship: Logistics of Open Scholarship
The second in a duo of courses (attendees should attend the Fundamentals course or complete the eLearning module Digital Induction to Open Access prior to Logistics) that will cover the logistics of researching, publishing, and locating open scholarship resources and tools at the University of Oxford. Subjects include:
- what is the Oxford University Research Archive
- depositing work into ORA via Symplectic Elements
- depositing data into ORA-data; applying for one of Oxford’s APC block grants
- registering or connecting your ORCID
- how to be included in the rights retention pilot
- locating and checking funder policies
Format: Online using Microsoft Teams.
Friday 24 January
09:00-10:00 iSkills for Medicine: Literature Searching – Getting Started
Puzzled by PICO? Daunted by databases? Baffled by Boolean? This one-hour introductory class will offer top tips and advice on how to find literature to answer a research question. No prior experience necessary! Together, we will break down a question into the PICO format, put together a structured search, and try it out in PubMed.
Who is this session for? Students, staff and researchers from MSD and OUH.
Format: Classroom-based (Cairns Library).
In this 60-minute online workshop you will be introduced to the methodologies and principles underpinning the conduct of literature searches for systematic reviews, scoping reviews and other evidence reviews. The session will cover
- formulating a focused research question
- preparing a protocol; developing a search strategy to address that research question
- choosing appropriate databases and search engines
- searching for grey literature and ongoing studies
- storing and managing references
- documenting and reporting your search
Who is this session for? Students, staff and researchers from MSD and OUH.
Format: Online using Microsoft Teams.