Session summary:

This workshop will help you to understand the principles of academic writing, be able to write in a formal style, understand how to plan and write an essay, and know how to overcome the difficulties involved with academic writing. This workshop can be tailored to various levels of study and educational backgrounds, so please indicate your course and level when booking if applicable.

Session outcomes:

• The principles of academic writing
• How to write in a formal style
• How to plan and write an essay
• How to overcome the difficulties involved with academic writing. 

This training session can be delivered to groups and individuals. Please complete the online booking form with your requirements.  

Online training:

A summarised version of the above training course on academic writing is available here.

Resources:

Creme, P. (2008). Writing at university : a guide for students. (3rd edn). Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill.

Kirton, B. (2012). Brilliant academic writing. Harlow: Pearson.

Taylor, D. B. (2014). Writing skills in nursing and healthcare: a guide to completing successful dissertations and theses. London: Sage.

A further list of suggested reading material on academic writing and study skills can be found here.

Session summary:

Learn what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. This is an opportunity to discover how to correctly cite and reference sources of information, and to explore the appropriate use of summarising and paraphrasing skills beyond direct quotations. This session would be particularly relevant for students and anyone planning on returning to study.

Session outcomes:

• to recognise plagiarism pitfalls and know how to avoid them
• to learn how to cite your sources
•  to understand the terms ‘citation’, ‘reference list’, ‘direct quote’ ‘paraphrasing’, ‘summarising’ & ‘bibliography’
• to understand when and where to use direct quotation vs paraphrasing vs summarising

This training session can be delivered to groups and individuals. Please complete the online booking form with your requirements.  

Why use data visualization? 

Data visualization communicates complex information in formats accessible to a broad audience. Using visual representations such as charts, diagrams and infographics removes the noise from the data, while highlighting the patterns and trends. It makes your data user-friendly for diverse audiences. Data visualization helps you tell your story.

This session would suit conference poster designers and people presenting reports.

NB. this is not a statistics training session.

Session summary:

This course is appropriate for people who have experience of searching bibliographic databases such as Medline, Embase and PubMed. EndNote Online enables you to organise references and images in a database, construct your paper with built-in manuscript templates and watch the bibliography and figure list appear as you write.

Session outcomes:

• To receive an introduction to EndNote bibliographic management software
• To understand how to collect and manage an online reference library
• To understand how to share reference folders with other users
• To understand how to use Cite While You Write tool for Word

This training session can be delivered to groups and individuals. Please complete the online booking form with your requirements.  

Resources:

An online training guide for Endnote is available here.

There are also training videos for Endnote here.

Session summary:

An introduction to searching Medline, Embase, Cinahl and other databases effectively using the NHS search interface. This workshop will help you to search the health literature - essential for keeping updated in all aspects of health care.

Session outcomes:

• To be made aware of the National Core Content resources and how to access them
• To understand the concepts involved in planning a basic search strategy
• To be able to carry out simple searches of the healthcare databases
• An introduction to Medline, Embase, Cinahl and other databases
• To be able to save searches and results in various formats
• To understand how to create alerts for searches to keep up to date

This training session can be delivered to groups and individuals. Please complete the online booking form with your requirements.  

E-learning:

An excellent e-learning course in literature searching developed by Health Education England is available to all NHS staff. Access the e-learning here and register with your OpenAthens account.  If you would like the e-learning to be registered on your ESR training record, please access it via MyESR. Instructions on how to do that are available here.

Resources:

Basic literature search guide

Advanced literature search guide

Literature searching top tips

Creating alerts in HDAS

Course summary:

This one-hour Health Literacy Awareness training session will give you a useful introduction to the concept of health literacy and an understanding of how poor health literacy can impact the lives of patients. 

Session outcomes:

• Have increased understanding of what health literacy is
• Have increased awareness of the impact of low health literacy on individuals
• Understand what low health literacy looks and feels like
• Be familiar with tools and techniques that they can use 

E-learning module:

A 35 minute e-learning module to introduce you to the concepts of health literacy is now available. If you would like the e-learning to be registered on your ESR training record, please access it via MyESR. Instructions on how to do that are available here.

Reading list:

A suggestion list set of books and articles on the topic can be found here.

Session summary:

This session will support you through the two key components of conference poster creation:

1. the hands-on technical knowledge required to create a conference poster, and
2. the need to reflect on how best to communicate its relevance, impact and key point(s).

This session would be particularly relevant to anyone wanting to concisely communicate their study findings through a conference poster.

Sessions outcomes:

• Be able to set up a template within which to create your poster(s)
• Understand your organisation’s corporate branding requirements
• Stand out from the crowd - size and design elements
• Be relevant to your audience
• Effectively, and with impact, communicate your key message

Session summary:

This workshop is particularly aimed at those who need to produce reflections for revalidation (e.g. nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, etc.), but anyone is welcome, including those who need to write reflections as part of an academic course or those who are interested in how reflective practice can enable them to be a better practitioner! In this workshop, we will look at the basic principles of reflective writing and why it is useful, how to write reflectively, what the requirements are for reflections in revalidation for various roles and how the Library can support you in your revalidation.

Session outcomes:

• Know the basic principles of reflective writing and why it is useful
• Learn how to write reflectively
  Be aware of the requirements for reflections in revalidation for various roles
• Know how the Library can support you in your revalidation

This training session can be delivered to groups and individuals. Please complete the online booking form with your requirements.  

Online training:

A shortened version of the above training course on Reflective Writing is available here.

Resources:

Nursing & Midwifery Council. The Code: Professional standards of practice and behaviour for nurses, midwives and nursing associates

YouTube video on NMC nursing revalidation

Moon, J. (2007). ‘Four levels of reflective writing’: “Getting the measure of reflection”. Journal of Radiotherapy. 6, 191-200. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1460396907006188

General Pharmaceutical Council. (2015). Framework for continuing professional development. The structure for CPD reflections, p.7-9, as indicated in the presentation. Updated framework, (2018). Revalidation guide for pharmacists.

Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by doing: A Guide to teaching  and learning methods.

Fairley-Murdoch, M. (2017). Revalidation: a journey for nurses and midwives. London: Open University Press.

Further suggestions for wider reading around reflective practice can be found here. 

Session summary:

An introduction to, or reminder of, the resources available via NHS Athens, including a tour of the library's electronic resources, suitable for those new to them or returning. These sessions can be held at a venue of your choosing, in groups or individually, and last under an hour.

Session outcomes:

• To be reminded of or introduced to the resources available via NHS Athens
• To be reminded of or introduced to the Library’s Knowledge Zone website
• To know how to access UpToDate, ClinicalKey, BMJ Best Practice, Royal Marsden and other resources 
• To know our to access range of Library services as needed

This training session can be delivered to groups and individuals. Please complete the online booking form with your requirements.  

Session summary:

UpToDate is a searchable online information resource that synthesises the most recent healthcare information into verifiable, evidence-based recommendations. This workshop will help you to search the database and help support your point of care clinical decisions. UpToDate is also a useful tool for keeping updated in all aspects of health care.

Session outcomes:

• To receive an introduction to UpToDate and Clinical Key
• To understand the background and authorship of both tools
• To understand how to perform searches
  Know to access  practice changing updates and register
• for other updates
• To understand how to register for accounts to access and save materials
• To understand how access and download CPD certificates of time spent reading
• To understand how to access the Apps

This training session can be delivered to groups and individuals. Please complete the online booking form with your requirements.  

A 30 minute video on how to use UpToDate is available here.

Session summary

An abstract is a short summary of a piece of research or other paper. If you're publishing a journal article, writing a thesis or presenting a poster at a conference, you will need to write an abstract for your work. It must be highly informative, effective and reflective of the content of your work. What makes a good abstract? What do you need to include? Find out in this 30-minute session.  

Session outcomes:

• Understand why abstracts are important
• Learn the three types of abstracts
• Critique example abstracts
• Begin to plan your own abstract

Session summary:

This workshop will help you to understand the benefits of getting published, how to choose the right journal, the writing and publication process, as well as giving you tips for language and style and on managing your research profile.

Session outcomes:

• Understanding the benefits of getting published
• Choosing the right journal
• The writing and publication process
• Tips for language and style
• Managing your research profile 

This training session can be delivered to groups and individuals. Please complete the online booking form with your requirements.  

Online training:

A shortened version of the above training course on Writing for publication is available here.

Resources:

Holland, K. (2012). Writing for publication in nursing and healthcare: getting it right. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Wager, E. (2015). Getting research published : an A to Z of publication strategy. (3rd edn). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.