Cambridge University Libraries course timetable
Thursday 19 January
14:00 |
As we start a new term it's a good idea to reflect back on what went well and where there is room to improve. Join the Physical Sciences Research Support Team for a whistle stop review of study skills. We will answer your questions, share our top tips and resources and get you ready for the term ahead. Book your place today. |
14:30 |
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. |
Friday 20 January
12:00 |
A course to take you through conference poster design, with tips and resources to help with the content and presentation in order to ensure you communicate your research effectively. The course will cover where to source good quality, free graphics, how to include references in your poster, and advice about how best to present it at a conference. The session will NOT involve hands-on creation of a poster. UPDATE: Please note that this session is taking place remotely, not in the Medical Library as previously advertised. Please do not go to the Medical Library training room. You will be contacted by the training team with information about how to join the session remotely. Please note: this session may be recorded. By signing up for the session, you register your consent for recording to take place. Please email librarytraining@medschl.cam.ac.uk if you have any questions about this. |
Monday 23 January
11:00 |
This session will help prepare you to begin your literature review. You will learn strategies for searching for relevant material, how to troubleshoot common search problems, and how to stay up to date with new publications in your field. Please note: This session will be offered, either online or in person, in Michaelmas, Lent and Easter terms. |
13:00 |
Developing your literature review: going further with your research (for Biological Sciences)
Finished
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. |
15:00 |
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! |
Tuesday 24 January
11:00 |
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, how to troubleshoot common searching problems, as well as keeping up to date with the latest research. Please note: This session will be offered, either online or in person, in Michaelmas, Lent and Easter terms. |
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. |
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13:00 |
The physical library building and its collections are only the tip of the information iceberg. A wealth of online resources is available during your studies … if only you know where to look! In this session we will highlight some of our most useful online resources including electronic books and journals and the range of databases you can access to help with your search. We will also give you a tour of iDiscover (our library catalogue) and pass on our tops tips and tricks for getting the most out of online sources including how to build a successful search, find what you need and choose the right resources for your work. Get ahead with using the online library and book a place now. |
14:00 |
Before undertaking any piece of primary research it’s important to be aware of as much of the existing literature as possible. A systematic literature review can also be a research end in itself. And it’s not something to be taken lightly. But how can you be sure you’re being as rigorous as necessary? How can you manage the references you find, document the process, and also know when to stop searching? This session assumes attendees have already had prior introductory training in literature searching. It is a prerequisite that you have attended either Introduction to Literature Searching (if you are a University of Cambridge staff member or student) or Getting the Best Results - Improving Your Database Searching (if you are an NHS staff member). Exceptions will be made if you received similar training from another department or university - please contact us if you have any questions about prerequisites. UPDATE: Please note that this session is taking place remotely, not in the Medical Library as previously advertised. Please do not go to the Medical Library training room. You will be contacted by the training team with information about how to join the session remotely. Please note: this session may be recorded. By signing up for the session, you register your consent for recording to take place. Please email librarytraining@medschl.cam.ac.uk if you have any questions about this. |
Wednesday 25 January
11:00 |
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. |
Thursday 26 January
12:00 |
A course designed to take you step-by-step through academic writing and publication, with tips and resources to make writing up as simple as possible. The course will demystify the peer-review process, and help you to improve the precision and clarity of your academic writing. UPDATE: Please note that this session is taking place remotely, not in the Medical Library as previously advertised. Please do not go to the Medical Library training room. You will be contacted by the training team with information about how to join the session remotely. Please note: this session may be recorded. By signing up for the session, you register your consent for recording to take place. Please email librarytraining@medschl.cam.ac.uk if you have any questions about this. |
14:30 |
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. |
Friday 27 January
15:00 |
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. |
Monday 30 January
13:00 |
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. |
14:00 |
Managing your data well is a key responsibility as a researchers 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. |
14:30 |
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. |
15:00 |
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. |
Tuesday 31 January
11:00 |
Managing your research with Endnote
Finished
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 Endnote. Using live demonstrations, discussions, and troubleshooting common referencing issues, the session will give an in-depth look at how Endnote (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. |
13:00 |
Know Moore About: Taking Good Notes
Finished
Taking good notes is a valuable skill, both during your studies and beyond. In this session we will share with you our top tips for taking notes in lectures, from readings and when watching recordings. We will showcase some tried and tested templates you can use to structure your notes as well as a range of digital tools for notes on the go. Finally the session will show how to use your notes in your writing and revision for academic success. Make a note to book your place today. |
14:00 |
A course specifically for University of Cambridge staff and students. Attendees will learn how to search medical/healthcare databases accessed with a Raven login (such as Medline and Embase) effectively and efficiently, to learn how to save searches and references, and to create and maintain a bibliography. This course is delivered at an introductory/refresher level, and assumes you have had no prior training in how to search databases. All attendees are required to have a Raven login. NHS staff wanting to learn similar material should book onto our 'Getting the Best Results - Improving Your Database Searching' course instead. UPDATE: This session is taking place in the Medical Library's training room, not online. Please note: this session may be recorded. By signing up for the session, you register your consent for recording to take place. Please email librarytraining@medschl.cam.ac.uk if you have any questions about this. |
Wednesday 1 February
11:30 |
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. |
14:00 |
Drop in for a chat with a member of the Biological Sciences Libraries Team: We can help you with lots of things including:
If we can't answer your question in the session, we'll take your details and investigate it further for you! |
Thursday 2 February
11:00 |
Managing your research with Zotero
Finished
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. |
14:00 |
Medicine: Scopus Q & A
![]() This session is aimed at University of Cambridge staff or students who have already had prior training in database searching and want to learn more about the features of the Scopus database. Those who want to attend an introductory session should book onto the Introduction to Literature Searching course, or the Getting the Best Results - Improving Your Database Searching if they are NHS staff. |