RESEARCH BITES 2019 *Summer Spectacular*

*NEW* Research Bites 2019

The programme for the Research Bites 2019 seminars has now been announced. These short, informal seminars will be held in the Library 2nd Floor, L215 (Workshop A) on Wednesdays at 13:00 throughout July and August, and feature topics relevant to researchers at all levels. Whether you want a quick refresher on a single topic or a comprehensive updating of your information and research skills, you will find something for you.

Topics for this year's seminars include:

• Finding key articles and citation analysis
• Ethics and code of practice of publishing in journals
• Research Student Career Essentials
• Understanding Copyright *please note* this is a Monday
• EndNote
• Plan S - the changing landscape of Open Access
• Bibliometrics
• Online Researcher Profiles

You can find the full programme and more details about each topic on the Research Bites 2019 webpage.

Kind Regards
Information Services Team
Library Services

Research Bites Summer Workshops

Research Bites are short, informal seminars on topics relevant to researchers at all levels, run by Library Services. The aim is to deliver useful information, start discussions and answer questions for the benefit of anyone conducting research at Aston University.

Whether you want a quick refresher on a single topic or a comprehensive updating of your information and research skills, you will find something for you.

When: 1pm, Wednesdays in July and August
Where: Library 2nd Floor Workshop A

For the full 2017 programme, see below.

Title	Abstract		Review the content
Advanced Literature Searching	Whatever your current skill level in searching the literature, improve the speed, precision and recall of your searches.	Wednesday 5th July Richard Hopkins	Book Here
Ethics and code of practice of publishing in journals	Publishing the findings of our research is an essential step in sharing our work with academics and practitioners who work in our field. But how can we ensure that the manuscripts we submit meet the ethical standards required by journal editors? This session examines best practice when preparing an article for publication and highlights some of the traps to avoid.	Please note the change of day Friday 7th July Jeanette Lilley	Book Here
EndNote	Are you drowning under piles of articles? Would you like a system which will organise and manage your references for you?  Try Endnote, the University recommended reference management software.  Find out how to utilise the system to store your articles and manage your references wherever you are working in the world.	Wednesday 26th July Clare Langman	Book Here
Measuring Research Impact - Bibliometrics	Bibliometrics are becoming increasingly important as a way to measure the performance and impact of individual researchers as well as academic institutions.  This session will look at how bibliometrics are being used and how they support the REF.	Wednesday 2nd August Nicola Dennis	Book Here
Grey Literature	Have you ever struggled to locate material that was not published in a traditional database or index?  Are you looking to include such information in a systematic review?  Would you like to add value to your research? You may have been looking for grey literature.  It is produced by academia, businesses, industry and all levels of government.  Grey literature is primary literature that can provide a wider and more up-to-date picture of current research. Find out how you can enhance your research, where to find grey literature and how to evaluate it.	Wednesday 9th August Kerstin Treder	Book Here
Open Access and Open Data	Do you have questions about Open Access publishing or Open Data? Would you like to know more about the policies and how to achieve compliance, e.g. for HEFCE, RCUK and the EC? Do you need help to upload publications and/or datasets to our repositories?  Whether you are a new researcher/PhD student to Aston or require a refresher session, specialists in Open Access (Malcolm Horne) and Open Data (Ammar Wahid) will be delivering this ResearchBite to guide you through the complexities and processes.	Wednesday 16th August Malcolm Horne Ammar Wahid	Book Here

Research Bite 2016 - Research Data Management

Bibliometrics - Research Bites 2016

http://libguides.aston.ac.uk/ResearchBites

Research Bite 2016 - Open Access Publishing

Do you publish research?  If “yes”, you need to embrace Open Access (OA) publishing – OA publishing is about making research openly & freely available to all users online, which not only benefits research communities & the general public but also individual researchers & their institution. As important, specific HE funder requirements now have to be met in terms of meeting levels of OA compliance and these increased in April 2016 when HEFCE rolled-out their REF benchmarking criteria.   At this session you can learn about HEFCE’s, RCUK’s, Aston’s own and other OA publishing policies, the various obligations they contain and how using PURE, Aston’s research repository, means you & we can achieve OA compliance

http://libguides.aston.ac.uk/ResearchBites

Research Bites 2016 - Cite it! Sort it! EndNote it!

 

http://libguides.aston.ac.uk/ResearchBites

Research Bites 2016 - Systematic Literature Reviews

Research Bites 2016

To register and look at the full programme please visit http://libguides.aston.ac.uk/ResearchBites

Have you booked your place on the Research Bite seminars?

Research Bites 2015

The Library is two weeks in to the Research Bites series and the sessions  are going well.  Attendees have visited us from across the University including PhD Students, Teaching Fellows and Researchers. Research Bites are aimed at PhD and Early Career Researchers but everyone can find something useful in the programme.   A full programme is available from the Library website and reminders are posted in Aston Aspects every week. 

So far we have looked at Refined Literature Searching focussing on the search facilities available in the key research databases in the University including Proquest, Scopus and Web of Science.   Highlights include looking at improving recall and precision of searches, the use of controlled vocabulary, proximity searching and cited reference searching.  The attendees talked a little about their experiences and the group tried to resolve some of the problems they had encountered.  The discussions are not recorded but the presentation is available to listen and view now 

The second Research Bite looked at finding and using Grey Literature.  The focus was on the benefits and challenges you face when using this type of literature in research.  This was the first time that we covered this topic in our programme.  Although, the seminar did have fewer attendees and the discussion wasn't as vibrant it has caused us to think about incorporating the information in to our web LibGuides.   The presentation is available to listen and view now.

We look forward to seeing you at our next Research Bite on Wednesday which will look at EndNote and how you can use this software to find, collate and organise your references for your PhD or research paper and insert them automatically using Cite while you Write.

If you have comments about the programme or suggestions for seminars in the future please comment below.

 

Research Bites 2015 announced!

The programme for the ResearchBites 2015 has now been announced. These short, informal seminars will be held in the Library 2nd Floor Workshop A on Wednesdays at 1pm throughout July and August, and feature topics relevant to researchers at all levels. Whether you want a quick refresher on a single topic or a comprehensive updating of your information and research skills, you will find something for you.    

Topics for this year's seminars include: 

• Refined Literature Searching
• Finding Grey Literature
• Ruling your References: Ruling EndNote
• Staying Legal - your PhD & copyright law
• Research Data Management: responsibilities, practice and support
• Raising your Research Profile -
• How influential is your research?
• Open Access Publishing

You can find the full programme and more details about each topic on the Research Bites 2015 webpage.

Watch all the Research Bites 2014 on Aston Replay

Research Bites 2014 were a success! The short, informal seminars held on Wednesdays throughout July and August featured topics relevant to researchers at all levels. Every seminar was captured by Aston Replay and they are all now available to watch online.

Follow the links below to access the Aston Replay recordings, PowerPoint slides (annotated in many cases) and further information (including how each seminar maps to vitae's Researcher Development Framework) for each of the topics:

• Level Up: enhance your literature searching
• Measuring Research Impact
• Distinguish yourself: get an ORCiD
• Open Access publishing – an important growth area at Aston
• Safeguarding Research Data
• Get more citations: strategies for increasing the visibility of your work
• What’s new? Getting the most from SCOPUS and Web of Science
• Cite it! Sort it! EndNote it!

If you have any feedback on these seminars or further questions about any of these topics, contact your Information Specialist.  

Research Bites 2014 announced!

The programme for the Research Bites 2014 seminars has now been announced. These short, informal seminars will be held in the Library 2nd Floor Workshop A on Wednesdays at 1pm throughout July and August, and feature topics relevant to researchers at all levels. Whether you want a quick refresher on a single topic or a comprehensive updating of your information and research skills, you will find something for you.

Topics for this year's seminars include:

• Distinguish yourself: get an ORCiD
• Open Access publishing – an important growth area at Aston
• Get more citations: strategies for increasing the visibility of your work
• Cite it! Sort it! EndNote it!
• Level Up: enhance your literature searching
• Safeguarding Research Data

You can find the full programme and more details about each topic on the Research Bites 2014 webpage.

Catch up on Research Bites 2013

Research Bites 2013 was a success!  The short, informal seminars held on Wednesdays throughout July and August featured topics relevant to researchers at all levels. Every seminar was captured by Aston Replay and they are all now available to watch online. 

Topics for this year's seminars included:

• Fine-tune your literature searches
• Measuring Research Impact: yours and others’
• Using Endnote to organise your references
• What can Open Access publishing do for you? 
• Managing your Research Data 

You can find more details about the topics and a link to the Aston Replay recording for each in the full programme on the Research Bites 2013 webpage.
If you would like to download the PowerPoint slides for any of the topics, you can also access the Aston Replay recordings, PowerPoint slides and further information via Library Matters on Blackboard > Info for Research > Research Bites 2013.

If you missed your opportunity to recieve a copy of vitae's publication, The informed researcher: Because interacting with information is at the very heart of your research, which features a self-assessment tool for information literacy and maps these skills against the Researcher Development Framework, you can download a copy instead.

Research Bites 2013 announced!

The programme for the Research Bites 2013 seminars has now been announced. These short, informal seminars will be held in MB146 on Wednesdays at 1pm throughout July and August, and feature topics relevant to researchers at all levels. Whether you want a quick refresher on a single topic or a comprehensive updating of your information and research skills, you will find something for you.

Topics for this year's seminars include:

• Fine-tune your literature searches
• Measuring Research Impact: yours and others’
• Using Endnote to organise your references
• What can Open Access publishing do for you? 
• Managing your Research Data 

You will also receive a copy of vitae's publication, The informed researcher: Because interacting with information is at the very heart of your research, which features a self-assessment tool for information literacy and maps these skills against the Researcher Development Framework.

You can find the full programme and more details about each topic on the Research Bites 2013 webpage.

Research Bites 2012 announced!

The programme for the Research Bites 2012 seminars has now been announced.  These short, informal seminars are held on Wednesdays at 1pm throughout July and August, and feature topics relevant to researchers at all levels.  Whether you want a quick refresher on a single topic or a comprehensive updating of your information and research skills, you will find something for you.

Topics for this year's seminars include:

• Which are the best journals to publish in?
• Making EndNote work for you
• Don’t mind your own business: business intelligence & market research
• Copyright and intellectual property

You can find the full programme and more details about each topic on the Research Bites 2012 webpage.

Libraries Supporting Research

Research Libraries UK (RLUK) has recently published Re-skilling for Research, a major report on the changing needs of researchers and the effect on the Information Specialist role within libraries. The information needs of researchers are always changing and this report will be a useful tool to ensure that libraries can stay ahead of the demands placed on them.

This short extract from the 112-page reports highlights the importance of on-going dialogue between researchers and libraries:

"Libraries, and their staff (including [Information Specialists]) who have a responsibility to support and provide services for researchers, face a huge challenge that could be turned into a huge opportunity. ... Libraries will need to respond to this challenge by developing a unique role in consultation with their institution for the part they will play in the support of meeting researchers' information and related needs."

At Aston University Library & Information Services, we are always looking for ways to maintain this dialogue with researchers.  The activities we are already involved with include: at School and subject group levels, Information Specialists attend School Research Committees and staff meetings; individual researchers are always welcome to make an appointment to see their Information Specialist to discuss their needs on a one-to-one basis; in summer 2011, we ran a series of Research Bites, which were very well received; and AURA makes Aston's research freely and easily available to everyone and is managed by the Repository Officer (Erica Wine).

If you have any comments or suggestions for research support that you would like to receive from your Library & Information Services and your Information Specialist, from suggesting a topic for Research Bites 2012 to a whole new approach, don't hesitate to comment on this post or contact us directly.