Did you know we have a selection of Learning Skills Hub modules that have been specifically created for postgraduate students and researchers?  

Let’s take a look: 

Introduction to postgraduate writing  

Academic writing at postgraduate level requires you to demonstrate a higher level of criticality and to contribute to knowledge development.  This module will help you analyse questions, differentiate between descriptive and critical writing, and explore the features of sound academic work. 

Developing a search strategy 
 
This module will show you ways to turn your research questions/topic into a search strategy that an academic search engine or bibliographic database can understand; it will demonstrate strategies to help you compile a set of search words; discuss ways to refine your search to take account of inclusion and exclusion criteria and explain the need to match your information need to a particular type of information source to ensure you unleash your search strategy in the ‘right’ place. 

Advanced literature searching 

How good are you at finding relevant resources for assignments? This module will help you understand the processes involved and introduce you to some more advanced techniques required, including understanding Boolean searching and using databases. 

Recording your search process 

If your research includes a literature review, you may be asked to include a section about how you carried out your search for literature. This could be by submitting a written explanation, a visual representation such as a table or even both. This module will help you identify what information you need to capture when you record a search, discuss ways to capture your search actions and communicate how you carried out your search.   

Research data management 

This module gives a brief introduction to research data management. After completing this module, you should know what research data is, how to manage it, why we should manage it and how to find help with research data management at CCCU. 

Reference management tools 

When you research a topic in more depth, the number of references you use increases. Reference management tools help keep track of everything you read, organise it and create works cited lists. This module will help you to understand what reference managers can do, know how to identify which reference manager is best for you, how to set up an account with a reference manager and how to start using a reference manager to store and organise your references. 

Advanced referencing 

Referencing at postgraduate level requires absolute perfection in content, style and layout. Work through this module to improve your referencing skills. This module looks at style guides, annotated bibliographies and publishers’ referencing styles and systems.  

You might also want to look at our other modules on referencing.  

Social media for researchers 

This module covers the use of social media by researchers – why researchers should use social media, potential problems with using it and best practice for researchers using social media. 

Introduction to open access and research repositories 

Open access refers to unrestricted, online access to the published findings of research, free at the point of use. In this module, you will find out why it’s important and how it works. 

Introduction to research metrics 

This module examines traditional research metrics before moving on to look at the development of responsible metrics and how and why these should be used.  

Using archives and special collections 

Material in archives and special collections can provide new insights into research. This module will help you understand why archives exist and what they contain, how you can incorporate archival research into your work, and how to find archival materials. 

Deciding where to publish your research 

With so many journals to choose from, it can be tricky to decide which one is the best for your research. In this module, we will look at questions you might need to ask yourself when you’re deciding where to publish and learning about the background to academic publishing and peer review, as well exploring online tools that can help you in your decision-making.   

Other modules

As well as checking out the above modules, please feel free to have a look at any of the other modules on the Learning Skills Hub. Don’t feel like you can’t go ‘back to basics’ just because you’re postgraduate student and/or member of staff. It’s always good to refresh your knowledge, and of course to learn new things. We hope the Learning Skills Hub helps you to do both.

If you’d like to find out more about library support for researchers at CCCU please see our webpages, or contact library.researchsupport@canterbury.ac.uk