The Library of Science PhD course "Find, Manage and Publish Academic Literature", designed for beginning PhD candidates, has been revised and is now called "Find, Manage and Evaluate Academic Literature." Based on participant feedback, the course content has been further refined and better aligned with the needs of early-career researchers.
Content
The updated course places greater emphasis on the use of AI tools for searching and evaluating academic literature. The section on publishing has been removed from this course, as many starting PhD candidates indicated that this topic was not yet directly relevant to their stage of research. It is now covered in a separate course.
Critical evaluation of scientific literature remains a key component of Find, Manage & Evaluate. With the rise of paper mills and AI-generated content, it is becoming increasingly important to assess the reliability and quality of information sources. In addition, the course introduces participants to subject-specific databases and provides comprehensive training in reference management. Together, these skills will help you build a strong foundation for a successful start to your PhD journey.
The course consists of three sessions, complemented by self-study and several assignments. The next edition will start in November.
Publishing course
Are you expecting to publish your research in the near future? If so, we recommend the course "Publishing – Open Access, Copyright & Pitfalls." In this course, you will learn more about open access publishing options, copyright, and other important aspects of the publication process.
Registration
To follow (one of) these courses, go to this webpage and click on “Courses.” There you’ll find step-by-step instructions on how to sign up. Please note: when you have been added to the BrightSpace environment, you still need to register for a specific edition yourself!
Do you have questions or remarks? Do not hesitate to contact us: infobfac [at] ubn.ru.nl (infobfac[at]ubn[dot]ru[dot]nl). We are happy to help.