Information Literacy: Courses for PGR students, academic staff and research associates

Finding information for your literature review and beyond - Theory

This session enables you to turning ideas into an effective search strategy and statement. It outlines the current information landscape and takes you through the stages involved in deciding upon and developing an appropriate search strategy, as well as enabling you to create a search statement that you can put into practice immediately after the session. Participants will develop their knowledge and intellectual abilities, so that you will be able to seek and find research material in an effective and efficient manner using the resources available to you at Loughborough University but also in the future too.

Finding information for your literature review and beyond - Practice

This session allows participants to put the theory of literature searching into practice in a computer lab. You will be able to test the search strategies and statements that have been developed in ‘Finding resources for your literature review and beyond – Theory', as well as trying out citation searching techniques to further develop your knowledge of your research topic. Expert staff will be on hand to facilitate the session and provide guidance on resources and strategies. You will also learn the key skill of critically assessing the results that you can find to further develop your search strategy.

Copyright and your thesis

This course explains how and why PGRs must comply with UK Copyright law when writing and submitting their thesis. It will also highlight the importance of retaining your own copyright when publishing your research outputs.

Plagiarism and Citation for PGRs

This course allows participants to discuss what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it, including correct citation and good academic practice.

Keeping alert to new information

You've done your literature search, but how can you keep your research up-to-date? This job is made easier by the use of current awareness services. This session provides an overview of a wide range of electronic current awareness services that enable you to keep up-to-date with newly published information

Managing your references the easy way with RefWorks and friends for PGRs

This session will discuss the advantages of using bibliographic software for managing references. It will outline the basic functionality within RefWorks. It will also highlight the features of different products allowing you to select the most appropriate one for your needs.

Advanced RefWorks

This course will highlight how to change citation and bibliography styles, share accounts and use the more advanced features of Write ‘n' Cite. More detailed information about the formatting a paper option will be given, together with use of switches to amend in-text citations. Participants are encouraged to come to the session with practical queries with which we can help them or copies of their work on which they can practise.

Creating and measuring your bibliometric impact for PGRs

This session will highlight the importance of developing an appropriate and effective publishing strategy. It will demonstrate tools and databases that provide journal and bibliometric data and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of both the tools and the statistics. It will help you to develop appropriate publication strategies for raising your profile within your own research area.

Collaboration: Tools to help you share and communicate your research

This session will outline tools that can help make your life easier. Particular areas of focus will be on free collaborative tools that aid joint development of documents, projects and networking.

Finding research information for academic staff and RAs

This session will update staff on the range of new information sources and services available from their desktops. It will enable them to refresh and refine their information finding skills, as well as identifying sources to help them keep up-to-date with developments in their research field.

Measuring and Improving your research impact with bibliometrics and friends - Academic staff and RAs

Research active staff are frequently being called upon to demonstrate the impact of their research - whether for promotion, appraisal, funding applications, or research assessment.   One way of measuring the impact of your research is through citation analysis, or bibliometrics.   The Library provides access to a widening range of tools that can be used for this purpose.   This session will demystify the topic, so that you can use these tools to your advantage.  It will not only enable you to evaluate your current research impact, but demonstrate how you can improve its impact in the future. 

RefWorks for academic staff and RAs

This session will outline the benefits of RefWorks as well as how to import and manage references in RefWorks using folders and descriptors. The construction of bibliographies using Write n' Cite will also be covered, as will how to change citation and bibliographic styles.