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.  

Online Resources

Click on the images below to watch the recording of the Introduction to ClinicalKey demonstration session or to view the slides

(This is an e-learning programme)

The Critically Appraising the Evidence Base programme has been designed to enable the healthcare workforce (clinical and non-clinical) to build confidence in the critical appraisal process when applying and evaluating research.

By the end of the programme, learners will be able to:

• describe the following terms; critical appraisal, bias, internal validity and external validity
• distinguish between different types of study designs and their strengths and limitations
• assess the appropriateness of methods used to conduct a randomised controlled trial, systematic review, diagnostic study and qualitative study
• interpret commonly reported results found in clinical papers
• identify different types of critical appraisal tools and their strengths and limitations

Applicable to health and care staff at all levels, this elearning may be ‘dipped into’ for reference or completed as a whole to obtain a certificate.

About the e-learning sessions

This elearning programme includes 8 sessions.

1. Introduction to Critical Appraisal
2. Introduction to Health Inequalities
3. Introduction to Critical Appraisal of Randomised Controlled Trials
4. Introduction to Interpreting Results for Critical Appraisal
5. Introduction to Critical Appraisal of Systematic Reviews
6. Introduction to Critical Appraisal of Qualitative Studies
7. Introduction to Critical Appraisal of Diagnostic Studies
8. Introduction to Critical Appraisal Tools

The sessions are short, with each topic taking approximately 30 minutes to complete.

Each session includes reference links to further resources should learners choose to check their understanding throughout the programme.

Accessing the programme

To access the programme, you will need an elfh account. Click here to create an account. To enrol on to the Critical Appraisal programme, log in to the elfh Hub, select My Account > Enrolment and select the programme. You can then access the programme immediately in the My e-Learning section.

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Session Summary

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 outcomes:

• To know how to communicate complex information in formats accessible to broad audiences
• To learn how use visual representations to communicate data clearly
• To learn how to highlight data patterns and trends.

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.  

Online resources:

An online training guide for Endnote is available here.

There are also training videos for Endnote here.

Session summary:

In this session we will look at formulating a search strategy to find good evidence, how to access the Library Hub with Open Athens for your search and how to use the Library Hub effectively. This workshop will help you carry out a basic search of the health literature - essential for keeping updated in all aspects of health care.

Session outcomes:

• Understand the concepts involved in planning a basic search strategy

• Have an introductory view of the library Hub

• Learn how to search the Hub effectively

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:

Literature searching top tips

Session summary

This session will help you to understand the principles of designing a systematically structured evidence/literature search and the databases available to you via your NHS OpenAthens. It will help you conduct your own evidence/literature search and show how a PRISMA flowchart succinctly records the de-duplication, screening and exclusion processes applied as you purposely reduce the number of records returned by your search.

Session outcomes

• Define the search question
• Structure a search using planning framework, e.g. PICO
• Understand search terminology, e.g. Boolean operators and truncation
• Map search concepts to database thesaurus terms
• Utilise proximity searching when appropriate
• How a PRISMA flowchart systematically records the de-duplication, screening and exclusion processes

Session 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 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

This session is scheduled upon request. Please email the library for more information.

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.