All Cambridge University Libraries courses

Effective note making is an essential bridge between reading and writing. When making notes for a long piece of writing, if you paraphrase and interpret as you go along, you will be able to retrieve what you have learned from reading quickly and efficiently and often produce sections that you can drop straight into your work. This session will introduce you to the theory of good note making, discuss different note making techniques and offer advice for deciding which approach best suits your practices.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this session, you should be able to:

• Explain the importance of strategic reading
• Identify strategic reading approaches that fit your needs
• Explain the difference between note taking and note making
• Explain the link between reading, note making and academic writing

Please note: This session will be offered again in Easter term, date to be confirmed.

The Critical Reading course aims to improve students' ability to read critically and evaluate sources, as well as giving helpful tips about productive reading, note taking and providing a checklist of questions to help them with their reading going forward. It is suitable for all students but aimed mostly at undergraduates.

This workshop session aims to address the following:

• What is critical reading?
• Reading productively
• Reading critically
• Effective note-taking techniques

The course will be a mixture of front-led instruction and interactive small group discussions.

This session provides an overview of the extensive e-resources available to Divinity Undergraduates, including e-books, e-journals, databases and the use of Moodle.

This session provides an overview of the extensive e-resources relevant to Theology, Religious Studies and the Philosophy of Religion, including e-books, e-journals, databases and electronic legal deposit materials (journal articles and monographs).

This session provides an introduction to the use of IDiscover (the University Library catalogue), for new Postgraduate students and Academic staff, demonstrating the main functions of the catalogue and showing how to make the most effective use of its capabilities for locating books and journals in print and electronic form.

This session provides an introduction to the use of IDiscover (the University Library catalogue), for new Undergraduate students, demonstrating the main functions of the catalogue and showing how to make the most effective use of its capabilities for locating books and journals in print and electronic form.

These 30 minute small group sessions are an opportunity for you to obtain support for searching databases and using referencing software. General advice and support will be offered, and any specific queries will be addressed.

These 30 minute small group sessions are an opportunity for you to obtain support for searching databases and using referencing software. General advice and support will be offered, and any specific queries will be addressed.

These 30 minute small group sessions are an opportunity for you to obtain support for searching databases and using referencing software. General advice and support will be offered, and any specific queries will be addressed.

These twenty-minute sessions are chance to practice searching medical/scientific databases, use referencing software, and have your questions answered about literature searching for your dissertations.

Introduction to Bibliographic Searching in Theology and Religious Studies will give a brief overview of the issues of searching for publications in general, and follow this up with searching the specialist Theology and Religious studies bibliographic database ATLA and Index Theologicus.

Giving a presentation is something everyone has to do whether it is for your course, for an extracurricular activity or society event, or even in the workplace. In this session we'll take you through planning your presentation, how to make everything look good as well as accessible for a diverse range of audiences, as well as introducing you to techniques to present with confidence. And to help finish things off, we'll also give you some tips on how to deal with situations when it all goes a bit wrong.

This session will help researchers go further with their literature review through exploring key skills such as critical evaluation, structural reading, effective note-taking, and getting started with writing your literature review.

This session equips participants with all the fundamental skills that they need to build and execute effective search strategies to locate relevant materials for literature reviews, projects and other related research activities. The session will explore key searching techniques, where to search, how to troubleshoot common searching problems, as well as keeping up to date with the latest research.

This session will include live demonstrations of scientific databases to demonstrate the key principles covered in action.

This live session is designed to build your skills in reading and assessing research articles for your Part II studies in Biological Sciences. We will cover how to approach reading for different purposes, apply different reading strategies, and critically evaluate articles. We will also spend some time on managing what you’ve read (or not yet read) and writing your literature review, including how to select items to include and reference them properly. There will be activities and discussions throughout the session so you can try your new skills and ask any questions you may have.

This session is for students taking a Biological Sciences route (NST and PBST) for Part II.

Fair attribution for technicians through either co-authorship or direct acknowledgement in research publications is a key component of the ‘visibility’ and ‘recognition’ areas of the Technician Commitment, of which the University of Cambridge was a founding signatory in 2017.

However, there is currently no policy or standard practice for acknowledging the role of technicians, equipment and facilities in the University or the wider sector. Technicians experience a great disparity in their recognition and visibility in scholarly outputs.

This interactive workshop, organised by the Biological Sciences Libraries Team, will introduce you to the scholarly communications process as well as tools such as CRediT and ORCID, and facilitate conversation amongst peers.

Using a reference manager is one of the best ways to look after all of the reading, notes and research that make up undergraduate study in a biological sciences subject. A really good reference manager can even take some of the pain out of referencing in essays and assignments, making sure you don't miss a thing while working to a deadline.

This session will introduce Zotero, an open source reference manager tool. Using live demonstrations, discussions, and troubleshooting common referencing issues, the session will give an in-depth look at how Zotero (and tools like it) can help you manage your work in the first year or two of your degree, ensuring that you don't lose any essential resources and are well equipped with a useful tool for when you start having to do research work for your Part II studies.

In this session we will help you work out why you want to find a particular resource for your work and how having this knowledge will then help you use the best searching approach to finding the thing you need. We will work through looking for things you know exist, things that you haven't found yet, as well as things that just a bit strange.

We will help you translate recommended readings from your lectures as well as showing you all the tips and tricks that librarians use to find things, freeing you up to get on with studying and finishing that piece of work quicker!

This live session is designed to build your skills in reading critically and assessing resources as part of your first year studies. Additional techniques around using effective note-taking, selecting what to read from lectures, as well as building your critical language when writing your first pieces of work will also be covered. There will opportunities for discussion throughout the session so you can ask any questions you may have.

This session is for students taking a Biological Sciences route (Natural Sciences, Psychology & MedVet) at Part IA/IB.

This session introduces participants to the concept of research data, all the forms that it can take as well as negotiating the management of different data depending on their type.

Topics such as effective storage, handling sensitive data, and developing best practice approaches to avoid data loss during a project will be covered. The session will also explore how to create a data management plan (DMP) and the support available, as well as providing an overview of useful tools and services both within the University of Cambridge and beyond.

This live session builds on skills and knowledge developed through our online Introduction to Literature Searching course and live introductory sessions.

Join us as we move beyond basic searching and give you live demonstrations of some of the more detailed searches you can do using our databases, how you can get more information out, as well as a live exploration of the reference manager Zotero. We will have activities and opportunities for discussion throughout so this session will be truly tailored to your needs. We'll end with an opportunity to ask questions, learn from what other people have done and whatever else comes up.

This session will introduce participants to different methods of communicating research before moving on to a discussion around best practice and techniques when preparing a presentation. Participants will be introduced to concepts around good design, accessibility, data presentation, and accessing Creative Commons licensed materials for their work.

The session will conclude with an exploration of good delivery techniques with additional advice on what to do if it all goes wrong.

Designing your first academic poster can be a bit overwhelming with lots of choices to be made: how much information do you include? How do you get your key message across? How do you make it look good?

Join us for our introductory session which will explore these things and more. We'll help you work out what your key message is, give you some advice on what to include (and what to cut out), how to make everything look visually appealing as well as accessible for a diverse range of audiences. We'll even give you some tips on how to present your poster to others.

Need to create a conference poster but are not sure where to start? This session will introduce participants to the fundamentals of designing an effective and engaging poster that is perfect for communicating research ideas. The session will look at good design practice, where to source free high quality graphics, as well as deciding what you should (and maybe shouldn't) include in your final poster.

Need to find scientific literature and resources for your Part II dissertation or project? We've got you covered.

In this session, we will introduce you to breaking down your research question, developing your keywords or vocabulary for what you want to search for, before putting it all together using tried and tested techniques to get the best results quickly. We'll show you where to find relevant and reliable resources, how to navigate pesky paywalls and even how to hack Google...legally of course!

If you can't make our live sessions, everything we talk about (and a little bit more) is covered in our self-guided online course.

Want something a bit more advanced? Check out our Going further with your literature searching for your Biological Sciences dissertation or project workshop which will show more detailed searching, demonstrate how the reference manager Zotero can help you at Part II, as well as leaving lots of time for questions and troubleshooting.

This session discusses the benefits and challenges of maintaining an online presence as a researcher. Part of two sessions on this topic, this first session looks at setting up your academic persona and using academic platforms. Starting with exploring what comes up through a quick Google search all the way through to maintaining profiles on academic sites, we will look at the pros and cons of online engagement. This will include tools such as ORCID, and networking sites such as academia.edu and ResearchGate.

Participants should expect to have the opportunity to critically evaluate the various options presented in this session with the overall aim of being better informed when deciding where to invest their time and efforts when building an academic presence online.

This session discusses the benefits and challenges of maintaining an online presence as a researcher. Part of two sessions on this topic, this second session looks at using social media as a researcher. We will look at the practicalities and pros and cons of online engagement through tools such as Twitter/X, Mastodon, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Participants should expect to have the opportunity to critically evaluate the various options presented in this session with the overall aim of being better informed when deciding where to invest their time and efforts when building an academic presence online.

Using a reference manager is one of the best ways to look after crucial research literature, whether planning for a literature review or simply keeping track of developments in a particular discipline. This session will introduce Zotero, an open source reference manager tool.

Using live demonstrations, discussions, and troubleshooting common referencing issues, the session will give an in-depth look at how Zotero (and tools like it) can help maximise a research project workflow while also ensuring that critical resources and information are not lost at any point in the research process.

This short interactive module introduces you to Cambridge University Libraries and explains how to find resources for your subject. This module has a focus on the Biological Sciences strand of the Natural Sciences Tripos, and is suitable for anyone who is new to Cambridge.

You own your own research right? Well it depends...

This session will explore the sometimes complicated world of copyright and what can happen when publishing work through formal routes such as journals or through more informal routes such as pre-print servers. The session will also introduce concepts such as third party copyright and rights retention, as well as how licensing tools such as Creative Commons can be used to not only help maximise the reach of research but also navigating reusing other people's work.

In November 2021 UNESCO announced a Recommendation on Open Science to be adopted by member states. The Recommendation aims to define shared values and principles for open research and outline proposals to help facilitate the dissemination of research results to a wide audience.

As part of our Research Roundup series we will be holding a virtual brown bag lunchtime discussion on the Recommendation and what it could mean for local practice at Cambridge. Join us via Teams for an informal exploration of the Recommendation and share your thoughts with colleagues.

If you have any specific questions or areas you would like to discuss in the session please email Claire Sewell (ces43@cam.ac.uk) prior to the session.

Resources: UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science. You may also like to watch this webinar recording of a session on recommended actions for publishers to take regarding the Recommendation.

Most people have online profiles and, as a researchers, your online presence offers many rich opportunities. It is helpful to be aware of tools and tips that can help you boost your visibility online, as well as common mistakes to avoid.

In this course, you will:

• begin to develop your online research profile by making yourself visible to others in a way(s) that suits you.
• learn what an ORCID is and how to obtain one.
• learn what your Symplectic Elements account is for and begin to make it work for you
• review your current visibility and consider the next steps

You will receive the URL for the course in the confirmation email after booking.

Narrative CVs provide space for candidates to elaborate on their contributions to the research community that go beyond traditional outputs such as publications. The hope is that, by encouraging candidates to provide evidence for, and selection panels to consider, qualities that promote good research cultures, such as open research practice, we will start to select candidates who demonstrate this in addition to their traditional research contributions. What does this mean for researchers at Cambridge? This session will introduce some of the current formats of narrative CVs being used or considered by funding bodies in the UK and Europe and the implications for researchers, and recruiters and selectors of researchers who might use them. Since the format is still very much under development in the sector, the session will provide an opportunity for participants to discuss and feed back on what they see as the benefits and challenges of narrative CVs. The workshop leaders will feed the outcome of this session into relevant discussions happening nationally around the development and adoption of narrative CVs.

From fair dealing to sharing your research online it seems that nothing with copyright is ever simple. There are few black and white rules about copyright but there can be serious consequences for getting things wrong! This session will cover the basics of UK copyright law and how these impact researchers such as dealing with third party materials, seeking permissions and how to manage risk.

Please note: This session will be offered, either online or in person, in Michaelmas, Lent and Easter terms.

Copyright law is a complex field with direct relevance for researchers who need to protect their own intellectual work and use work written by others, and most importantly must avoid accidentally infringing copyright. This course provides you with basic knowledge you can apply to your research practice.

The course covers:

• fundamentals of copyright and why it’s important
• what to do if you want to use someone else’s work
• how to protect and share your own work
• how licenses can be used to make it easier to reuse works

You will receive the URL for the course in the confirmation email after booking.

"Copyright, Plagiarism, and all that jazz" is an introduction to real world music copyright. Music copyright can be complex and confusing, but by the end of this course, you will have a better idea of its benefits, and what copyright can do for you as a musician, as well as a clearer idea of what you can and can't do with regard to music copyright. The course deals primarily with sheet music, but also looks briefly at rights in audio and visual material, and copyright infringement's close cousin plagiarism. Looking at day to day problems, all of which have arisen at the UL, the session lasts for about an hour.

We also look at HEPML, a game changer for staff and students in what it allows you to copy and use. It provides a musical equivalent to the CLA licence; but what difference does it really make? And how do you use it? Come along to find out more.

This session will help researchers explore academic literature through discussing key skills such as critical evaluation, structural reading, effective note-taking, and getting started with writing.

Ever wondered what lies behind the scenes of the Music Department at the UL? Following a quick tour of the open stacks, Music Department staff will take you to delve into the odd architecture of South Court, say hello to our elephants, meet some of our rarest and tiniest books, and discover why music librarians sometimes need to be good detectives. There’ll also be a guide to finding music, for those who haven’t used our card catalogues before.

This session is designed for anyone who would like to learn more about how to read academic literature. This hour long workshop explores reading techniques, article structures and productive reading, while also providing techniques you can use to tackle your weekly readings.

Learning critical reading skills is a useful way to make better notes from what you have read and can help you to organise and plan what you read. This session will help you to put these skills to good use and become more confident at reading academic literature.

• Nervous or intimidated about visiting the UL for the first time?
• Don’t know where to begin with a Literature search?
• Want to discuss your Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan?

Book a buddy!

Email disability@cam.ac.uk to arrange a session. Tell us what you need help with and we’ll match you with a member of library staff who can show you what you need to know, whether it’s searching the catalogue, using Electronic Legal Deposit, finding open shelf books or something else entirely.

When we asked Master's students what aspect of Cambridge University Libraries they would they have benefited from additional training on, the tips and tricks for using iDiscover (Cambridge’s online catalogue) came out as number one.

This event is aimed at giving new Master’s students some of the tools they need to get the most out of Cambridge University Libraries before starting their courses.

In the first part of this session (around 20 minutes) staff from the University Library’s reference department will give a general introduction to iDiscover, demonstrate some little-known features and give some tips on effective search strategies.

Following on from this there will be some shorter talks from subject specialists in other University Library departments offering advice on working with Rare Books, Music titles, Maps and iDiscover and foreign languages.

Part of the session will be dedicated to answering questions from participants.

The presentations may be recorded to be made available at a later date, but this recording will only include footage of library staff. No video of student participants or their questions will be retained.

Cambridge University Library's Reader Services team are here to help! Book a video or voice call with one of our experienced team members and we can help you to get the most out of our services. These are sessions with staff from the Reader Services team which can be tailored to your needs, whether it's help finding your books or help with a literature search. We'll tell you about how the Library is enabling learning while keeping you safe through the UL's Click and Collect, Scan and Deliver and Book-a-visit services, as well as give you tips on finding resources through iDiscover and on how to access online resources.

When you have booked please email reference@lib.cam.ac.uk with any specific queries you would like to ask, this will help us assign your call to an appropriate member of our team. We will contact you to arrange a call using Microsoft TEAMS.

If you would prefer another date and/or time, please let us know and we can arrange this for you.

The Map Department contains some 1,100,000 maps, both British and foreign, several thousand atlases and other material. This session, based in the Map Room, is designed to give an overview of holdings and guidelines for accessing and using them.

A guided tour through the open stacks and Anderson Room (Music Reading Room) at the University Library. This will provide an overview of the wealth of music materials held here, and how to find them.

• Nervous or intimidated about visiting the UL for the first time?
• Don’t know where to begin with a Literature search?
• Can never find the books you need on the open shelves?
• Want to learn what extra support the UL can offer?

Book a buddy!

Email disability@cam.ac.uk to arrange a session. Tell us what you need help with and we’ll match you with a member of library staff who can show you what you need to know, whether it’s searching the catalogue, using Electronic Legal Deposit, finding open shelf books or something else entirely. You are welcome to attend by yourself or alongside the student that you assist.

The University Library is operating differently during these unprecedented times, but your Reader Services team are still here to assist you. Whether you need specific help, or just want a rundown of our latest services, book a video call with a member of the team today!

Calls are available Monday to Friday from 10.30 - 12.30 and 14.00 - 16.00

To book a call, please email reference@lib.cam.ac.uk with the following information

• Preferred date and time
• A brief description of what you would like to talk about

The University Library holds over 9 million physical items and provides access to millions of online resources. In this session an experienced member of UL staff will show you the basics to get you started.

The tour will include:

• A brief introduction to iDiscover - your main tool for locating resources in the UL and other University of Cambridge Libraries
• A tour of the physical spaces including the Main Reading Room and Open bookstacks
• Demonstrations of how to locate the physical items you need and brief explanations of Electronic Legal Deposit and E-Resource access
• We'll show you where the important things are such as toilets, Tea Room, and comfortable areas to work
• We'll answer any questions you may have
• We'll make sure that by the end of the tour you will know where to go to find help

• Are you a new undergrad who is intimidated by the thought of entering the UL?
• Are you a second or third year who has never set foot in the UL and is embarrassed to admit that you don't know what you're doing?
• Have you been struggling on your own and just need a few tips and tricks to get what you need?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions then this tour is for you!

Finding the UL intimidating and confusing is perfectly normal. It is also normal for undergraduates to only use the UL for the first time in their third year, so you are definitely not alone!

On this tour a friendly member of our Reader Services team will show you around, explain the UL's unique way of shelving books, explain what Electronic Legal Deposit is and answer any questions you may have. Most importantly we will show you where to go if you find you need help.

Don't suffer in silence! Help is here!

The University of Cambridge has over 100 libraries, with the UL alone housing over 9 million items, and this doesn't include the plethora of electronic items available on and off campus.

If you are feeling overwhelmed and aren't really sure how to search for and access the items on your reading list then this session is for you!

We will cover

• Understanding a reference
• Understanding what kind of material is available , both physical and electronic, and how to access them
• A guided tour of some of our search platforms including iDiscover and the A-Z database index
• A few tips on searching beyond your reading list

The course will be led by members of the University Library's Reference Team who will provide friendly instruction and who will be able to answer any questions you may have.

Finished your PhD thesis? It’s time to submit.

Unsure of your access level options? Confused about any third-party copyright in your thesis? Then this session is for you.

The final step after completing your thesis is to deposit an electronic copy into the University’s Repository, Apollo. This training session will cover how to ensure you meet all the requirements for submission, how to decide on the access level for your thesis and finally a demonstration of successfully depositing your work using Symplectic Elements.

The module covers the key things you need to know when depositing your electronic thesis to Apollo

• How to ensure you meet all the requirements for submission
• How to decide on the access level for your thesis
• A demonstration of successfully depositing your work using Symplectic Elements.

You will receive the URL for the course in the confirmation email after booking.

This tour of the Divinity Faculty Library is primarily aimed at members of the University who are not Divinity Faculty members, but any member of the Divinity Faculty is welcome too. Each tour will be led by a member of the Divinity Faculty Library team.

We start with an orientation session at the Divinity Faculty (ca. 30 minutes), followed by a tour of the University Library (ca. 30 minutes) for Divinity Faculty members, led by members of the Divinity Faculty Library staff.

A session with Louisa Vickers-Mills (ProQuest) looking at the new interface for the Early English Books Online (EEBO) database. EEBO contains around 17 million pages digitised from nearly 150,000 works printed in the British Isles and North America, as well as elsewhere in the world in the English language, up to 1700. It covers all subject areas, with particularly good representation for literature, theology, history, politics and the arts.

This session will explain how to use EEBO for your research and which features can help you get the best from the content.

Booking not necessary. If you have any questions or can’t make this date, please contact Dr Emily Dourish (ejm25@cam.ac.uk).

Electronic resources in Theology and Religious Studies will give a brief overview of the various e-resources, which are particularly relevant for undergraduate students.

E-resources in Theology and Religious Studies will give a brief overview of the most relevant online resources for undergraduates.

A drop-in session where members of the e-journals and e-books teams will be on hand to help with any questions you may have about these resources.

Fair attribution for technicians through either co-authorship or direct acknowledgement in research publications is a key component of the ‘visibility’ and ‘recognition’ areas of the Technician Commitment, of which the University of Cambridge was a founding signatory in 2017.

However, there is currently no policy or standard practice for acknowledging the role of technicians, equipment and facilities in the University or the wider sector. Technicians experience a great disparity in their recognition and visibility in scholarly outputs.

This interactive workshop, organised by the Biological Sciences Libraries Team, will introduce you to the scholarly communications process as well as tools such as CRediT and ORCID, and facilitate conversation amongst peers.

Fair attribution for technicians through either co-authorship or direct acknowledgement in research publications is a key component of the ‘visibility’ and ‘recognition’ areas of the Technician Commitment, of which the University of Cambridge was a founding signatory in 2017.

However, there is currently no policy or standard practice for acknowledging the role of technicians, equipment and facilities in the University or the wider sector. Technicians experience a great disparity in their recognition and visibility in scholarly outputs.

This interactive workshop, organised by the Biological Sciences Libraries, will introduce you to the scholarly communications process as well as tools such as CRediT and ORCID, and facilitate conversation amongst peers.

Finding secondary literature to inform and support your research is paramount to any higher-level research. This session focuses on the concepts as well as practical issues, to give participants a more comprehensive understanding of the issues and features of literature searching.

Please bring your own wifi-connected device, so that you can look at some of the platforms.

Please note that this session is for Postdoctoral researchers at the University of Cambridge

Academic publishing is currently undergoing rapid transformation across the scholarly disciplines. Based on the move to openness, researchers are exploring new forms of immediate and rapid dissemination through preprint servers and reaching wider audiences through open access books, journals and repositories. But what should this future look like and how can the University support researchers to get us there? This two-hour workshop will explore some the transformation underway in scholarly communication, taking into account potential issues that may arise such as access to funding, research assessment and career progression. Participants will be asked to discuss and advise on how the University can best support research communities to openly disseminate research.

The UL is unique: a national, legal deposit library with an amazing collection of around 8 million items - over two million of which you can browse on our open shelves. If that sounds a bit daunting, why not come on a brief orientation tour to help you find your way around? We’ll even tell you what we keep in the famous Library tower ...

Please note this tour does not cover the University's vast electronic and digital collections: to find out more about using these, please see check for courses on our timetable or ask a member of Library staff for help.

This session will provide an overview of the support and resources available from the Biological Sciences Libraries Team, as well as other useful services from across the University of Cambridge, for undergraduate students taking their Part II year in a Biological Sciences subject. It will also provide an introduction to the various training opportunities on offer from library staff to help students with research projects and/or dissertations.

Please note that some Part II cohorts will have a timetabled induction so be sure to check your course handbooks or other information before booking a place. These sessions are for Part II students based in departments with reduced or no library staffing during Michaelmas Term.

A recording of the content covered in this induction session will be made available on the dedicated Natural Sciences Tripos LibGuide.

This session will provide an overview of the support and resources available from libraries and other useful departments from across the University of Cambridge for new postgraduates and researchers. It will also provide an introduction to the various training opportunities on offer from library staff on a wide range of useful research themes and skills.

After this session, participants will have a better understanding of what services are out there to help support them in their time at Cambridge and who they can ask for help.

By law, a copy of every UK print publication must be given to the British Library by its publishers, and to five other major libraries, including Cambridge University Library, that request it. Since April 2013 Legal Deposit has included material published digitally and online.

Non-print Legal Deposit material is accessed via designated PCs in the University Library and Affiliated Libraries.

With the amount of material now deposited electronically increasing, the University Library is offering informal training sessions with staff from the Reference Department. Whether you require a general overview or have specific enquiries, these sessions will be of help to you.

A member of staff will be available from 11.30-12.00 every Wednesday. There is no need to book a place; please make yourself known to staff at the enquiry desk in the main Reading Room.

An introduction to the correct handling procedures for modern and medieval manuscripts, with demonstrations of how to use rests, cushions and weights, and how to deal with damaged or fragile materials, using items from the University Library collections.

Interested in using software to manage and organise your references, but not sure where to start? Or confused about the different software options available? Come along and hear about two popular reference management software packages - Zotero and Mendeley - and learn how they work and which of them might suit you best.

This online interactive course will give you advice on how to survive your first year at Cambridge. Topics include introductions to note making, referencing, writing essays, and managing your time.

The course is aimed at Part IA students, with a Science focus. However, the course is open to anyone who wishes to use it, and will be useful for any discipline, or as a refresher for those wishing to learn some new tips and tricks.

Do you feel you often experience 'writer's block' where you can't seem to start or make good progress with your writing? In this session, we will discuss ways of mitigating and getting past writer's block, particularly through seeing blocks as opportunities for writing.

Through discussing certain myths about academic writing and healthy ways of conceptualising the writing process, you will become familiar with techniques for freeing up your writing and making steady progress on your dissertation and other writing projects.

Need help with iDiscover? Call in at the General Enquiries Helpdesk (on the landing above the Entrance Hall) where a member of Library staff will be able to help you search our print and online collections, answer any questions you have, or give you a general overview.

Every Friday between 9.00 and 10.15.

Presentation and Q&A discussion on all matters relating to image copyright. This will be an informal brown-bag session, so feel free to bring your lunch.

In this intensive clinic session, we cover the big take away points from our focused sessions on Developing your Literature Review. Work with an experienced librarian in troubleshooting your literature searching problems when trying to carry out a literature review ranging from generating your initial keywords to working out how to use specialist databases to find scientific literature for your work.

In this intensive clinic session, we cover the big take away points from our focused sessions on Developing your Literature Review. Work with an experienced librarian in troubleshooting your literature searching problems when trying to carry out a literature review ranging from generating your initial keywords to working out how to use specialist databases to find scientific literature for your work.

In this intensive clinic session, we cover the big take away points from our focused sessions on managing your research data effectively and ethically. Work with an experienced librarian to answer any questions you may have such as getting started with your Data Management Plan or what storage options you might need to consider for your work.

In this intensive clinic session, we cover the big take away points from our focused sessions on communicating and presenting your research clearly and effectively. Work with an experienced librarian to unpick topics around good accessibility practice, get advice on what to do if things go wrong, and get feedback on your work so far.

In this intensive clinic session, we cover the big take away points from our focused sessions on designing an effective and impactful conference poster. Work with an experienced librarian in getting started with key tools as well as having the opportunity to discuss design choices, options, and get some feedback on your work so far.

In this intensive clinic session, we cover the big take away points from our focused sessions on managing your online presence as a researcher. Work with an experienced librarian in getting started with key tools such as ORCID as well as discussing the pros and cons of certain platforms such as Twitter in more detail.

In this intensive clinic session, we cover the big take away points from our focused sessions on using the reference manager tool Zotero. Work with an experienced librarian in getting started with the tool as well as troubleshooting common problems.

In this intensive clinic session, we cover the big take away points from our focused sessions on navigating the broad and sometimes complex topic of copyright in the context of your research. Work with an experienced librarian to answer any questions you may have around reusing other people's work, licensing your work for reuse, and working out how to submit your thesis or even publish, all while keeping on the right side of copyright law.

Do you have what it takes to beat the UL? Assemble a team to take on the challenge!

A self-led Library induction with a difference! Solve a series of puzzles which will lead you all over the UL, while teaching yourself to navigate the building and our physical collections. Have fun, learn how to use the UL and you will receive a small prize on completion!

Teams of up to 6 players can participate - if you want to play with your friends you'll need to make sure you all sign up to the same session. All players must be registered users of the University Library.

Please note this is a self-led, treasure hunt style induction. We recommend signing up in a group of at least 3 people. Traditional orientation tours are also available here: traditional orientation tour

Do you have what it takes to beat the UL? Assemble a team to take on the challenge!

A self-led Library induction with a difference! Solve a series of puzzles which will lead you all over the UL, while teaching yourself to navigate the building and our physical collections. Have fun, learn how to use the UL and you will receive a small prize on completion!

Teams of up to 6 players can participate - if you want to play with your friends you'll need to make sure you all sign up to the same session. All players must be registered users of the University Library.

Want to make it even more interesting? Let our staff know on the day if you would like to be timed for a chance to top our Beat the UL leaderboard! You can complete the challenge as many times as you like, but only your first attempt will be timed!

An introduction to the use of the specialist Theology and Religious studies bibliographic database ATLA for undergraduates, providing information on how to make the most effective use of this resource; of particular relevance to those preparing or working on a dissertation and wanting to acquire wider bibliographic information on a specific topic.

An introduction to the many resources available through the University Library's Chinese department.

This session aims to address the following:

• How to define and refine your research question
• Building up your search skills
• Learning what databases to use and when
• Getting Google to work for you
• Evaluating your sources
• Referencing what you find

This course is based on a typical literature review lifecycle. You start by planning your search. You then carry out your search. Once you've found some results, you evaluate what you have found to see if it is relevant to your needs. You manage your results by saving them to a suitable place so you can come back to them. If you are interested in tracking changes in your field, you enact approaches to keep up to date with new research. And as your research evolves, you refine your search to reflect new concepts and new terms. And so the cycle continues.

While you may not be as focused on the longer term tracking of new research in your field, being able to plan, search, evaluate and manage effectively are additional skills which we will cover in this course. The course will be structured around the first four stages described above, with optional additional information about the last two stages for those who are interested.

This course is supplemented by live workshop opportunities throughout the academic year.

The Internet has been available since the early 1990s and has been a repository for almost all human thought. It is, however, a highly ephemeral resource with websites in regular change and frequent deletion. A web archive attempts to capture, preserve, and give access to archived websites at regular intervals. This session will introduce web archives and their potential for academic research at all levels.

An opportunity to visit the main University Library (UL) with other LLM students. The tour will include an overview of the UL's law collections, a visit to the Rare Books Room and information about searching for Official Publications and historical material.

Welcome to the Squire Law Library! This introductory tour is led by the Librarian, David Wills, and Enquiry Desk staff member, Lizz Edwards-Waller. The tour will include information about borrowing, copying and scanning material, a visit to the dedicated PhD work areas within the library, an overview of the library catalogue and an introduction to the extensive law collections available to you.

A thirty minute introduction to the UL, aimed at those using our facilities and collections over the summer vacation period. An experienced member of staff will meet you in the Entrance Hall then lead you on a twenty minute tour of the UL,taking in the Locker Room, Open Bookstacks, Reading Room and West Room. Ten minutes are reserved after the tour for a question and answer session.

Do you have what it takes to beat the UL? Assemble a team to take on the challenge!

A self-led Library induction with a difference! Solve a series of puzzles which will lead you all over the UL, while teaching yourself to navigate the building and our physical collections. It's the most fun you'll ever have on a library induction!

Teams of up to 6 players can participate - if you want to play with your colleagues you'll need to make sure you all sign up to the same session.

Let's make it interesting! Let our staff know on the day if you would like to be timed for a chance to top our Beat the UL staff leaderboard! A little friendly competition can't hurt...

This course is based on a typical literature review lifecycle. You start by planning your search. You then carrying out your search. Once you've found some results, you evaluate what you have found to see if it is relevant to your needs. You manage your results by saving them to a suitable place so you can come back to them. If you are interested in tracking changes in your field, you enact approaches to keep up to date with new research. And as your research evolves, you refine your search to reflect new concepts and new terms. And so the cycle continues.

While you may not be as focused on the longer term tracking of new research in your field, being able to plan, search, evaluate and manage effectively are key skills which we will cover in this course. The course will be structured around these first four stages, with optional additional information about the last two stages for those who are interested.

This session equips participants with all the fundamental skills that they need to build and execute effective search strategies to locate and critically evaluate relevant materials for literature reviews, projects and other related research activities. The structure of the session will move through the processes of basic keyword generation, constructing search strings, understanding which resources to search, developing critical evaluation skills to assess quality and relevance of found items, as well as some tips on how to keep up-to-date with new research developments.

This session is tailored to those researching and studying within the Department of Psychology and will demonstrate specific resources such as PsycInfo.

This session will be delivered using Zoom so please ensure you have it installed ahead of the session. A joining link will be sent out as part of the booking confirmation process.

If you require any help before the session, such as accessibility support, please email the Deputy Librarian for Biological Sciences, George Cronin (gmp36@cam.ac.uk), for further assistance.

This session focuses on finding literature in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. The session will help you build a list of literature for your research topic (sometimes referred to as secondary literature) by introducing key resources for finding materials, illustrating a range of techniques for searching, and discussing how to stay up to date with research in your field.

By the end of this session, you should be able to: • Plan a strategy for finding literature on your research topic. • Discover a range of resources available for your literature search. • Make the most of the resources available using a range of techniques and tools. • Stay up to date with research in your field. • Build a list of relevant literature related to your research topic.

If you are a STEMM researcher, you may find our Literature Searching for Researchers (STEMM) course useful https://www.training.cam.ac.uk/cul/course/cul-rs-search-stemm

Other related courses in our Research Skills programme include Managing your References with Zotero and Managing your Research with Endnote. The Engaging with your literature: critical reading and managing literature-based research (Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences) course from the Researcher Development team may also be useful.

This session equips participants with foundational skills that they need to build and execute effective search strategies to locate relevant materials for literature reviews, projects, and other related research activities. The session will explore key searching techniques, where to search, and how to troubleshoot common searching problems, as well as keeping up to date with the latest research.

This session discusses the benefits and challenges of maintaining an online presence as a researcher. Starting with exploring what comes up through a quick Google search all the way through to maintaining profiles on academic sites, this session will look at the pros and cons of online engagement. Popular platforms such as Twitter and YouTube will be discussed, as will tools such as ORCID, and networking sites such as academia.edu and ResearchGate.

Participants should expect to have the opportunity to critically evaluate the various options presented in this session with the overall aim of being better informed when deciding where to invest their time and efforts when building an academic presence online.

This session will introduce you to Zotero (https://www.zotero.org/), a free tool to manage bibliographies and bibliographic databases.

Using a reference manager is one of the best ways to look after crucial research literature, whether planning for a literature review or simply keeping track of developments in a particular discipline. This session will introduce Zotero.

Using live demonstrations, discussions, and troubleshooting common referencing issues, the session will give an in-depth look at how Zotero (and tools like it) can help maximise a research project workflow while also ensuring that critical resources and information are not lost at any point in the research process.

Please note: This session will be offered, either online or in person, in Michaelmas, Lent and Easter terms.

Managing your data well is a key responsibility as a researcher and it prevents disasters. You will encounter research data in many forms, ranging from measurements, numbers and images to documents and publications.

Whether you create, receive or collect this information, you will need to look after it properly.

Managing digital information properly is a complex issue. Doing it correctly from the start could save you a lot of time and hassle when preparing a publication or writing up your thesis.

Managing your data well is a key responsibility as a researcher and it prevents disasters. You will encounter research data in many forms, ranging from measurements, numbers and images to documents and publications.

Whether you create, receive or collect this information, you will need to look after it properly.

Managing digital information properly is a complex issue. Doing it correctly from the start could save you a lot of time and hassle when preparing a publication or writing up your thesis.