Searching and Organising Literature for PhD candidates

Course description

This course is offered by Wageningen Graduate Schools and organised by WUR Library.

The course prepares you well for finding literature for your PhD thesis and other research projects in your future professional life. You will learn to develop comprehensive and systematic search strategies to find useful and relevant information in an efficient way. You will also learn how to evaluate the found information, how to cite sources correctly and avoid plagiarism, and how to manage references with EndNote.

The course is divided in three parts and consists of lectures and practical assignments. You will also receive individual instruction related to your own PhD topic. This helps you in setting up searches for finding relevant literature for your own topic. This is a good basis for future searches throughout your PhD and later.

The course is open to all PhD candidates and postdocs, but the primary target group is beginning PhD candidates who have not previously followed an information literacy course during their studies.

After this course you will be able to:

• identify your information needs and information sources for your PhD research or another scientific project;
• formulate a focused research question for a literature search and a strategy to prepare a systematic search;
• construct a systematic search in various databases and platforms and use relevant articles to find additional information;
• evaluate the search results, revise the search if necessary, and determine when to stop searching;
• store and organise information systematically and transparently, keep track of the search process and stay up to date with new information on your topic;
• cite and reference literature correctly to avoid plagiarism.

Note: you have to participate in all three parts of the course and the follow-up in order to receive the certificate.

 

General Information

Target Group:	The course is set up for WUR PhD candidates and postdocs
Group size:	10-24 participants
Course duration:	Three half days
Language:	English
Credit points:	0.6 ECTS
Self-study hours:	0
Name lecturer:	Nicolien Schmaal (course leader) and Information Specialists of WUR Library

 

Programme

Part 1 (09:00-13:00)

Orientate and Prepare:

• Formulate a research question for a systematic literature search;
• Select appropriate information sources, with the aim to orientate on a topic and prepare for a systematic literature search;
• Identify key concepts of the review question and define relevant search terms for each concept;
• Build a search query and run this query in a bibliographic database combining all search terms with Boolean operators.

Part 2 (09:00-13:00)

Search and Evaluate search results:

• Adapt search queries to different databases, making use of functionalities that different databases and platforms offer;
• Evaluate search results, improve search and determine when to stop searching;
• Save searches and set up alerts in bibliographic databases.

Please note: Part 1 and 2 of the course strongly overlap with the information literacy courses in the BSc and MSc programmes at Wageningen University.

Part 3 (09:00-13:00)

Using EndNote for citing and referencing literature

• Citing and referencing literature
• Why use a reference management tool
• EndNote
• Creating and filling libraries
• Organising and managing libraries
• Integration with MS Word
• WUR Library support

Course Follow-up

During the course, you have time to work on setting up systematic searches for your own topic. After the course you will meet with an information specialist to further develop your search strategy.

The information specialist will make an appointment with you for a follow-up meeting.

Fee

1. Reduced fee: PhD candidates of Wageningen University with an approved Training and Supervision Plan (TSP) and postdocs of Wageningen University that are registered at one of the graduate schools of Wageningen (EPS, PE&RC, VLAG, WASS, WIAS, WIMEK)	€ 140,-
2. Full fee: All other PhD candidates / post-docs and staff of Wageningen University	€ 280,-
3. Extended fee: All other participants	€ 560,-

Fee includes study and training material, coffee/tea.

Cancellation condition:

Until 1 month before the start of the course, you can cancel free of charge. After this date you will be charged with the “Full Fee”. 

Exemption of payment:

• When there is a replacement (who you can propose, in this case please inform the course coordinator) you will only be charged with €100.
• For PhD’s and post-docs of Wageningen University: when you have a valid reason (circumstances beyond your control) to cancel, you will be charged the reduced fee. In this case a written statement of the supervisor/superior is required.

Note: When you do not have a valid reason to cancel or do not show up at courses that are free of charge you will be charged with €100.

Information

For more information please contact the Management Support Unit of the Library: tel: +31 (0)317-482005 or email marijn.blok@wur.nl