Graduate Workshop: The Informed Researcher

Course Description

Impacting fellow researchers and society with your research is a fundamental step for researchers. To be able to take this step, you need to understand the information cycle and become an informed researcher. This means that you can efficiently find, evaluate, select and collect information, organize it and use the right information at the right time during your research process. During this course, intended for 1st year PhD candidates, you will:

• investigate your research field
• learn valuable tips on how to organize your information process efficiently
• make well-considered choices on how to contribute to the scientific world and to society by disseminating your own research results

Time and dates

• 9 april: 13.00-15.00 on campus (X, zaal Rhythm B)
• 16 april: 13.00-14.30 online session
• 23 april: 13.00-15.00 on campus (X, zaal Rhythm B)

Course setup

This is a Blended Learning workshop: a mix of self-studying and 3 classroom sessions.
The course lasts 2 weeks and the time to spend is approximately 16 hours, but this will depend on your previous experience.

The course starts with a 2-hour class session (on campus). Before the start of this session you will be asked to make some preparations. This first class session includes a discussion on impact, and an introduction to the exploration of your research field. After this session you will continue with self-study on the subject of exploration and content searching. In the Brightspace environment you will watch videos, read learning materials and complete assignments. At the end of the first week you hand in an exploration of your research field and a search plan. After this first week, the teacher reflects on the assignments in the second class session (online) and introduces the next part of the course: Organizing and Disseminating. This online session lasts 1,5 hours. In the second week you will be introduced to data management, choosing a reference management tool and putting it into practice, and making an informed choice of a journal to publish in. The course concludes with a 2-hour class session (on campus) in which we will discuss best practices on organizing your information, as well as important things to consider when selecting a journal to publish in.

Registration and assignment of GS credits are through the Graduate School.