Research Skills Workshops

This workshop explores the advantages of reference management tools. Beyond quickly generating citations, reference managers allow one to construct a library of references, notes, digital objects, internet links, and files in one place for efficient retrieval. While there are many reference mangers to choose from, this workshop focuses on Zotero.

Learning outcomes

• Identify the benefits of reference managers.
• Build your own library using Zotero.
• Use reference managers for proper citation practices.

This workshop analyzes racial bias in reference lists and notes, what has come to be known as the "politics of citations". Library catalogues and databases generally do not provide metadata on race, gender, and ethnicity, how is it possible to discover multiple perspectives? Learn about how academic libraries are organized and strategies to develop more inclusive citation practices.

Learning outcomes

• Review the role of citations in academic research.
• Articulate how the "politics of citations" influences scholarship.
• Develop strategies for finding sources that reflect multiple perspectives.

The Canadian Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy, released early in 2021, introduced new requirements for researchers applying for grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

This workshop covers these new requirements, teaches you about the most important elements of a data management plan, and discusses data sharing and archiving. This workshop also introduces a new Western-customized assistant for writing Data Management Plans that will help you choose the most appropriate, locally supported technologies.

Learning outcomes

• Use data management language to strengthen grant applications.
• Create a basic data management plan.
• Access tools and supports for data management at Western.

Western Libraries provides access to Borealis, a publicly accessible, secure Canadian data repository system using Dataverse software for sharing and archiving data. This workshop provides an overview of the benefits and uses of Borealis, including the options for releasing and sharing data openly or privately with precision at the file level.

Learning outcomes

• Use provided tools to create an archive and get a DOI.
• Add, share, and restrict files.
• Create metadata and publish data and documents.

This workshop introduces some of the basics of handling data for research projects, including planning a data project, file organization, documentation, and setting up data for analysis in Excel. We will also learn some tips for using Excel more easily.

Learning outcomes

• Use standard Excel features to organize and manipulate data.
• Organize spreadsheet data to reduce future errors and ease later analysis.

Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) is a popular package for analyzing data. This workshop demonstrates the basics of using SPSS, including using SPSS for data entry, reading in different types of data, getting summary statistics, creating, and modifying variables, creating graphs, and running simple analyses.

Learning outcomes

• Use SPSS to get descriptive statistics and run simple analyses.
• Create, edit, and modify variables.
• Interpret quantitative output.

NVivo is a tool for organizing, managing, and analyzing qualitative data. This workshop provides an overview of NVivo's capabilities and demonstrates how to use it to get started on a qualitative research project. Learn about the capabilities of this popular analysis package, how to set up a project, and import different kinds of data and start coding.

Learning outcomes

• Create a NVivo project and import different types of data. 
• Organize and classify files and cases.
• Code data and create notes and memos.
• Run queries, create charts, and plan a content analysis.

This workshop explores how research questions can be answered using data resources, such as secondary data collected from agencies such as Statistics Canada. Learn about the differences between microdata and statistics and how to locate and download statistical or summary data.

Learning outcomes

• Identify Western's data collections.
• Differentiate between data and statistics.
• Develop an understanding of data as a research resource.

This workshop provides an overview of licensed data sources that Western Libraries provides access to, as well as, open / free data sources. International data sources, Canadian data, including Statistics Canada data, and collections of opinion polls are part of our offerings. Guidance on where to find data is part of the overview.

Learning outcomes

• Identify Western's data collections.
• Differentiate between data and statistics.
• Describe how data sources are used in research.

Statistics Canada Data products are valuable resources for research and teaching. Western provides access to a range of data files and products with differing levels of confidentiality and geography. These files and products are used to teach data literacy, statistical methods, and to combine population, health, income, and economic data with researcher collected sources.

In this workshop, participants will learn about the range of products and access methods available to them at Western. Specific access methods include the Statistics Canada public data site, the Data Liberation Initiative (DLI) program, the Research Data Centre (RDC) program, and the Real Time Remote Access (RTRA) program.

Learning outcomes

• Identify open data sources and data that has been made available as public.
• Identify when public data meets researcher needs.
• Recognize what confidential data is and when a researcher would need to investigate access.
• Articulate when and how to apply for access to confidential (master) Statistics Canada Data.

Story Maps are a great way to combine your maps with narrative text, images, and multimedia content to create compelling, user-friendly web apps. In this workshop, you will follow along with a demonstration of building a StoryMap from the planning to the publishing stage. StoryMaps are a great way to feature your research project, share data, and project descriptions, photos, videos, audio, and maps in an interactive and digital platform that can be embedded on department webpages or shared as stand-alone URLs.

Learning outcomes

• Recognize the uses and benefits of StoryMaps for research and teaching.
• Design a StoryMap.
• Navigate the ArcGIS Online platform.

Learn how to build and author your first spatially enabled survey. Whether you are using it for field data collection, data entry, or public engagement, the Survey123 software allows you to customize, publish, and link to other ArcGIS Online applications.

Learning outcomes

• Recognize the uses and benefits of Survey123 for your research and teaching.
• Design a geo-enabled survey in Survey123.
• Navigate the ArcGIS Online platform.

Learn how to turn static spreadsheets and datasets into interactive data dashboards. These data visualization tools can be used to highlight research in an explorable web-based platform. This workshop walks through how to create a dashboard using research data from the Northern Tornadoes Project. Participants are introduced to the ArcGIS Online platform and the Dashboards application.

Learning outcomes

• Recognize the uses and benefits of Dashboards for research and teaching.
• Design a data dashboard.
• Navigate the ArcGIS Online platform.

Open Educational Resources (OERs) are materials like textbooks, streaming media, and simulations that are free of cost and access barriers for learners. They are also editable and adaptable, meaning that they can be customized to suit your course content. This workshop covers how to find high-quality OERs that will work for you and your students.

Learning outcomes

• Identify key OER resources and repositories.
• Use targeted OER search strategies and techniques.
• Evaluate OER resources for suitability and relevance.

Some open access journals charge article processing charges (APCs) or other fees to cover the costs of things like editing, peer review, and hosting services. These fees range from anywhere between a few hundred to a thousand dollars, which is why it is important to identify the support available to you at Western. Learn about your options for paying APCs, other ways of publishing without a fee, and the benefits of making your work available in institutional repositories.

Learning outcomes

• Recognize available open access fee supports at Western University.
• Interpret APC fee structures across a variety of journals.
• Identify when you can submit your work to an institutional repository.

Publishing scholarly work is a key expectation for researchers. In this workshop, learn how to navigate the peer review process, identify journals and other high-quality venues for your work, and avoid predatory publishers. This workshop also discusses the differences between closed access and open access publishing.

Learning outcomes

• Explain various peer review processes.
• Differentiate between closed access and open access publishing.
• Navigate journal websites to find submission requirements and journal policies.

As a member of Western University, you have free access to Pressbooks, a platform for publishing e-books such as Open Educational Resources (OERs), traditional textbooks, exhibits, and open access books. This workshop introduces the Pressbooks platform and explains how you can use it to meet your project goals. There is time for attendees to access and explore the platform themselves.

Learning outcomes

• Create a Pressbooks account.
• Use the Pressbooks editor.
• Create an e-book with Pressbooks.

This workshop explains the role book reviews play in academic publishing, research, and teaching. Hundreds of thousands of books are published every year, but only a small portion receive critical reviews. Thanks to the Internet, more books are being reviewed beyond magazines and journals. Learn about the importance of book reviews and how they shape scholarship and what we read.

Learning outcomes

• Identify the role book reviews play in academic publishing.
• Incorporate book reviews into your research and teaching.
• Develop strategies for locating and evaluating book reviews.

This workshop teaches you how to successfully conduct an academic literature search. Learn how scholars disseminate their work, where to find their publications, and how to critically interrogate their conclusions.

Learning outcomes

• Design a focused research question with precise keywords.
• Conduct a literature search using library ctalogues and databases. 
• Evaluate scholarly resources and the process of peer review. 

This workshop looks at digitized primary sources. Finding these materials takes practice and requires multiple strategies in a range of repositories, many of which are searchable online today. Learn strategies for finding digitized primary sources and be inspired to do further research in libraries and archives. 

Learning outcomes

• Identify the types of primary sources availale in digital formats.
• Establish strategies to locate digitized primary sources using library resources.
• Develop strategies to locate digitized primary sources using the internet.

This workshop surveys how researchers use newspapers, which offer varying perspectives on current affairs at the local level and on a global scale. While finding these sources can be tricky as some are only available in print form or on microfilm, many are searchable in both open access and subscription databases. Learn how to search for both contemporary and historical newspapers in libraries, archives, and online.

Learning outcomes

• Identifying the potential and limitations of newsparpers as primary sources. 
• Incorporate newspapers into your teaching and research. 
• Develop strategies for finding and evaluating newspapers. 

This workshop provides tips on how to navigate collections of art images, which include galleries, libraries, archives, and museums. Art images are widely available online today, but many of them are low quality and lack detailed descriptions. Learn how to locate original pieces of artwork and high-quality reproductions, their potential for research and teaching, and how to use them legally according to Canadian copyright law.

Learning outcomes

• Locate free or licensed online and physical collections of art.
• Explain copyright and licensing issues associated with art images.
• Cite art images according to proper bibliographic standards.

This workshop offers an overview of sources of musical knowledge, including recordings, manuscripts, scores, and more. Locating these types of sources has its own unique challenges, which is why focussed search strategies are useful. Learn about different platforms to help you locate research materials on specific musicians and musical genres and pieces.

Learning outcomes

• Develop search strategies to locate music sources.
• Explain copyright and licensing concerns associated with music sources.
• Cite music sources according to proper bibliographic standards.

We may live in an information society, but so much of what we see, read, and hear is dominated by socially privileged perspectives. This workshop teaches you to recognize the implicit biases built into social media, search engines, generative AI algorithms, and even into academic research. We explore how white, male, English-speaking, hetero, and cisgender identities are considered the default by the tools we use every day and the consequences of these biases. This workshop is part 1 of our series on knowledge justice. 

Learning outcomes

• Identify examples of knowledge injustice in digital media,algorithms, and scholarship.
• Critically reflect on how social identities influence social media feeds and academic search results and can result in an "echo chamber".
• Discuss the impacts that knowledge injustices have on our university education.

These are several inherent biases in social media, search engines, generative AI algorithms, and even academic research. In this workshop, we explore four strategies that work around these biases and help us practice knowlege justice. We practice critical self-reflection, work to identify whether we are in an information "echo chamber", and discuss using inclusive terminology to find those voices and perspectives missing from our feeds and reference lists. This workshop is part 2 of our series on knowledge justice. 

Learning outcomes

• Consider where out ideas come from and how they are shaped by biased or limited perspectives. 
• Identify strategies that help us practice knowledge justice, including self-reflection, identifying missing and diverse voices, using inclusive keywords, and strategic searching.

How should we approach the dark side of the internet, where individuals are purposefully trying to mislead, influence, and harm other people? How much do we know about the people whose posts we "like" online and how critical have we been about our reference lists? In this workshop, we practice act checking sources, working to identify the bias of their creators and how they are misinformed or causing harm. We also consider how to build a collection of diverse, inclusive sources, also known as citation justice. This workshop is part 3 of our series on knowledge justice. 

Learning outcomes

• Analyze sources for bias and impact and consider creator positionality and reputation.
• Evaluate sources for breadth, perspective, and epistemology, and ensure they are not harmful, culturally appropriated, or false.

This workshop analyzes racial bias in reference lists notes, what has come to be known as the "politics of citations". Since library catalogues and databases generally do not provide metadata on race, gender, and ethnicity, how is it possible to discover multiple perspectives? Learn about how academic libraries are organized and strategies to develop more inclusive citation practices. 

Learning outcomes

• Review the role of citations in academic research. 
• Articulate how the politics of citations influences scholarship. 
• Develop strategies for finding sources that reflect multiple perspectives.