LibGuide: Library Guide to Academic Writing

The course is primarily designed for first-year PhD students to navigate the information literacy aspects of academic writing. In the course, students learn the structure of dissertations and journal articles, identify research questions, and choose the right journals.
They learn to search databases effectively, conduct literature reviews, and gather a range of sources.
Another goal is to learn to cite properly, use citation managers, and utilise selected AI-supported tools.
The course also covers research ethics, open-access, CC licences, and author profiles. The course will be a practical one, individual lectures will be bases for practical application following straight after the theoretical part.
Students will have the opportunity to test and apply the topics themselves and discuss any questions with the lecturer and fellow participants in the class.

A notebook or a tablet is required. Before each session, participants will complete a short pre-task to help them prepare for the coming topic.

Entry requirements for the course: English level B1+ (B1 minimum required)
Requirements for course completion: Active participation in 80% of the course (5 in-class sessions), + completion of tasks and pre-tasks in LMS Moodle.

The course is divided into six structured modules that take participants through the phases of academic writing related to the entire research cycle (Design & Discover, Plan & Fund, Gather & Analyse, Publish & Disseminate). Each of the modules consists of 4 teaching hours.

1. GETTING STARTED or I want to write but I don't know how to start consists of 4 sections that provide students with a basic overview of writing and publishing.

2. EXPLORING or I don't know what to write about or how to do a literature review consists of 4 sections that take the student through the searching and reading stages.

3. CREATING or I write, but I don't know how to cite and how to make my job easier consists of 3 sections that introduce useful tools that should help the student facilitate and speed up the process of writing.

4. CHECKING or I have finished writing and I hope I have not committed plagiarism consists of 3 sections aimed at protecting the student from the unwanted consequences of unethical behaviour in research and development.

5. PUBLISHING or where can I publish my finished work? consists of 3 sections that deal with the stage at which the research paper has been completed, written, and checked and it is time to publish it.

6. PRESENTING MYSELF or how to report and promote publishing activities represents the last stage of the research cycle and its 4 sections focus on the presentation and quality assessment of scientists, their already published work, and institutions.


Available study materials: All the study materials are available in the LMS.