Description: As a researcher it is essential to be able to find the relevant scientific information and to have a publication strategy. The purpose of this course is to give you skills to search, gather, evaluate and organize the information you need as a researcher in an effective way. The course can be recommended to students starting their PhDs. There will be a certain amount of reading before the course as well as exercises during and after the course. The course does not focus on methods for medical information searching. See the course for medical information searching here. In order to obtain the ECTS, the exercises must be completed and handed in after the course. It will take you 2-3 hours to prepare the home exercises. The course will cover the following topics:
Search strategies:
Methods to make structured search strategies in different information resources will be introduced. Quality information resources will be presented emphasizing what they can be used for. You will have to work hands-on with search strategies for your own PhD-project in a workshop form.
Publication strategy:
Why is it increasingly important to have a publication strategy? In answering this question, the course will focus on two important factors. Firstly, the implications of the Danish Bibliometric Research Indicator will be presented and how it will affect you as a researcher at Aalborg University. Secondly, with the increasing focus on impact and citations in the scientific community, it is crucial for researchers to be aware of where to publish, both in open access and traditional subscription-based journals. Research evaluation:
The course will focus on how you can use citations in your search for and evaluation of scientific literature. The three major multidisciplinary citation databases Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar will be demonstrated. The databases differ in coverage and strengths/weaknesses. Different evaluation metrics such as journal impact and h-index will be introduced.
Class exercises:
As preparation for the class exercises during the course you must read an article (do not spend a lot of time reading it). You can download the article from under this description. During the course, in small groups you must work with the article and:
- Create a proper title for the article
- Choose relevant keywords for the article
- Suggest a journal or more journals where you would like to publish the article
- Find the Impact Factor for the journals you have chosen
- Check if the journals appear on the authoritative BFI list
Home exercises:
You start the exercises during the course, and finish them at home. You will work with creating a systematic search strategy that you can use in subject specific subscription-based databases, and also with creating a publication strategy for your project. You will get feedback on the exercises.
Introduction to RefWorks:
Please bring your own computer.
You will be introduced to the reference handling program RefWorks - a program that can facilitate the managing of references in your research project. RefWorks will be demonstrated and tried out. RefWorks can be integrated with your MS Word program with an Add-in called Write-N-Cite. Please install Write-N-Cite before the course – there is a manual for installing it here. Remember it is only an introduction to RefWorks you get. If you want the full RefWorks course you must sign up for the RefWorks courses at the library.
If you have any problems with the installation please contact refworks@aub.aau.dk. There will be no time for installation of Write-N-Cite during the course.
If you do not want the RefWorks introduction you can work with your home exercises assisted by one of the lecturers.
Organizer: Bente Lope, librarian, M.L.I.Sc., email: bl@aub.aau.dk
Lecturers: Bente Lope and Helle Brink
ECTS: 1
Time: 23 September, 2014 (08:30-15:30)
Place: Aalborg University
Zip code: 9220
City: Aalborg
Number of seats: 20
Deadline: 9 September, 2014
- Teacher: Helle Brink