Information Skills Workshops

Our information skills workshops start up again in the Diamond this week! Book here
 
Whether it's finding & evaluating information for your assignment, referencing correctly & avoiding plagiarism, or finding what's in the news from our online newspapers databases  - we have a workshop for you.

Information Skills Advisory Service – drop-in at the IC!

Do you require information skills support?  Would you like to speak one-to-one with a Liaison Librarian? The Information Skills Advisory Service, located on Level 1 of the Information Commons, can answer your questions about literature searching, referencing and other information skills.  There is no need to book an appointment; University of Sheffield members can drop-in between 13:00 & 17:00, Monday to Friday (during term time). For more information about skills support, please see our web page: Information Skills

Plagiarism and referencing

“Plagiarism (either intentional or unintentional) is the using of ideas or work of another person (including experts and fellow or former students) and submitting them as your own. It is considered dishonest and unprofessional. Plagiarism may take the form of cutting and pasting, taking or closely paraphrasing ideas, passages, sections, sentences, paragraphs, drawings, graphs and other graphical material from books, articles, internet sites or any other source and submitting them for assessment without appropriate acknowledgement.” University of Sheffield, 2013

Plagiarism is an important issue that all students are expected to take seriously; failure to do so can have huge implications and could even lead to expulsion. It is important to remember that plagiarism is still an offence whether it was intended or not, and that ignorance is no excuse.

Online tutorials and further information

·         To help you dodge the pitfalls, the library provides a Plagiarism tutorial

·         Additional advice is also provided by The Academic Skills Hub (TASH): Avoiding plagiarism

·         Student services offer information regarding plagiarism in assessments

·         Knowing how to reference correctly can help you to avoid plagiarism. Use our online Referencing tutorials to learn how to reference correctly in the style used by your department.

Information Skills Workshop on plagiarism & referencing

Information skills workshops are delivered in The Diamond. Workshops are open to taught course students from all departments. In the Plagiarism & Referencing workshop you will explore what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. You will consider the purpose of referencing and ways to ensure correct, consistent referencing.

For further information, and to book your place on a workshop, please see: Information Skills Workshops

Referencing

Correct referencing is not only an essential component of academic writing, but will also help you to avoid plagiarism. Learn how to reference correctly in the style used by your department. Use our referencing tutorials available from the Information Skills Resource.

Reference management

Reference management software can be used to collect, store and manage bibliographic references. You can then include the references in academic writing and automatically reformat them for different referencing styles.

Take a look at the Library’s Reference management webpages to find out how you can get started with using reference management software that is supported by the Library. The Quick links on the right will take you to further sources of information, including guides to getting started with EndNote Online and EndNote Desktop.

For training materials and further support for EndNote Online and EndNote Desktop, please see the Library's Information Skills Resource

The Library also offers introductory courses on EndNote Online for postgraduate research students as part of the Doctoral Development Programme

Referencing

Correct referencing is not only an essential component of academic writing, but will also help you to avoid plagiarism. Learn how to reference correctly in the style used by your department. Use our referencing tutorials available from the Information Skills Resource.

Searching for researching your first independent project: hands-on workshop

Do you need to find literature for your first independent research project? Not sure where to start? Tried searching but retrieving too many or too few results? Then come along to a hands-on Searching for Researching workshop at 301: Student Skills and Development Centre.

Run by the University Library, this workshop will show you how to find the best resources for your first research project. You will learn about different information sources and how to create an effective search strategy to produce a manageable set of relevant results. You will also consider evaluating information, referencing and plagiarism – making sure you use your own ideas and reference the work of others properly. There are 3 places still available on the workshop on Tuesday 17^th at 10am.

Book your place: http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/301/services/workshops/searching

 

Trial to Cite Them Right

Trial access to Cite Them Right is now available to University of Sheffield staff and students until 2 March 2015.

Cite Them Right is a referencing resource which aims to help you reference many different sources (e.g. book, journal article, web page), and understand how to avoid plagiarism.

Access is available from here by connecting to the Cite Them Right website. The resource can only be accessed from on campus.

We welcome your comments on this trial resource.

Referencing

Correct referencing is not only an essential component of academic writing, but will also help you to avoid plagiarism. Learn how to reference correctly in the style used by your department. Use our referencing tutorials available from the Information Skills Resource.

Information Skills Advisory Service

Do you require help with literature searching for your assignments?

Would you like some advice on referencing?

Would you like to speak one-to-one with a subject Librarian?

If so, then the Information Skills Advisory Service is here to help you!  The service is located on Level 1 of the Information Commons – just ask at the Information Desk. There is no need to book an appointment – drop in between 13:00 & 17:00, Monday to Friday (during term time).  However, please be aware that there may be a queue for the service during busy periods.

Referencing

Reference correctly in the style used by your department. Use our referencing tutorials available from the Information Skills Resource.

Referencing

Reference correctly in the style used by your department. Use our referencing tutorials available from the Information Skills Resource.

Other useful links can be found here: http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/useful/refs

Plagiarism

“Plagiarism (either intentional or unintentional) is the using of ideas or work of another person (including experts and fellow or former students) and submitting them as your own. It is considered dishonest and unprofessional. Plagiarism may take the form of cutting and pasting, taking or closely paraphrasing ideas, passages, sections, sentences, paragraphs, drawings, graphs and other graphical material from books, articles, internet sites or any other source and submitting them for assessment without appropriate acknowledgement.” (University of Sheffield, 2013)

Plagiarism is an important topic that all students are expected to take seriously.

Consult the library’s Information Skills Tutorial on plagiarism to learn how to avoid it.

Student services also offer information regarding plagiarism in assessments.

Tell us what you think!

It was really good to meet some of your student reps at recent student-staff committees I've attended, and it's very helpful for us to hear your feedback and answer your questions. Examples of queries which have come up recently include ebooks and how to use them, where to find guidance on referencing, and how you can let us know about books you'd like us to buy for the library.

Check out our new information literacy pages, use our information skills tutorials for guidance on referencing and avoiding plagiarism and use our online recommendation form to tell us about books you'd like to see in the library.

We want to hear from you, whether that's to tell us things we might improve on or to let us know other ways we might help support you in your course work. If there's nobody from the library at your student-staff meetings - invite us!

Brenda
Liaison Librarian

Need help with your dissertation?

The Library can help with advice on referencing, finding literature, data and other materials.

Have a look at our online tutorials about StarPlus, writing a literature review and referencing.

If you'd like some individual help face to face, contact the library subject specialist for your department. Alternatively, pop into the IC skills suite on level 1. Staff are normally available between 9-5 Monday-Friday. Ask at the information desk for directions.