Researcher Support

Research Support - Supporting Researchers

One of the ways we support our research staff and students is by sharing relevant weblinks with them.  Indeed, Karen has a Diigo list for this very purpose. You can see Karen's Research Support List here.

Also, if you scroll down the left side of the screen, you'll see her many other lists - there could be useful material there, too.  Feel free to browse.

NB  Why not start your own Diigo account today?  Save favourites "to the cloud", on any device you own.  It's invaluable!

https://www.diigo.com/index

How Can the Library Support Your Creativity?

We try to have the books and music our readers need, and we bring electronic resources to the attention of our community.

We have induction sessions, and sometimes we have library events, like book launches and poetry readings.

Would you like talks on different aspects of our collection?  Or are there other ways we could help?  Just a thought ...

How to Tame Your PhD

A new Kindle book by esteemed research-support lecturer Inger Mewson, one of the biggest up-and-coming names in researcher development.  She blogs as The Thesis Whisperer - a blog that should be on every PhD candidate's recommended reading list.

We don't stock Kindle books in the Whittaker Library, but this book is such a bargain that I'm more than happy to recommend you buy your own.

So - take a look:-

How to Tame Your PhD

You really will be glad you got it!

Birthdays

Australian research support website, The Thesis Whisperer, is two years old today.

There are loads of useful postings about all aspects of doing research, writing it up and submitting it.  Do take a look - it's really helpful!

Best way to take notes for your PhD?

After a PhD chat on Twitter (#PhDchat), Australian research-support expert The Thesis Whisperer wrote a Storify story on this topic.  Read it here.

Thesis Whisperer offers research support

'Whittaker' would like to share with research students and colleagues, the fact that our friend the Thesis Whisperer now has a new, dedicated domain name.  

If you've bookmarked Thesis Whisperer in the past, please update your bookmark to this:-

http://thesiswhisperer.com/

There, that was painless, wasn't it?  Now you won't miss any of TW's valuable support and advice.  'Whittaker' has written blogposts for TW in the past; this reminds him to put pen to paper (digit to desktop) and submit another offering!

Life Beyond the PhD - Cumberland Lodge Conference

Life Beyond the PhD 28^th – 31^st August 2012

www.cumberlandlodge.ac.uk

The 5^th Annual Cumberland Lodge PhD conference is taking place this August.  It's a great event, held in fabulous surroundings on the Windsor Estate.

Personally recommended!

The Informed Researcher

There's a new Vitae booklet out!  They're always full of commonsense suggestions, and you can read one in a coffee-break.

The Informed Researcher

Click on the link above to read it online. 

Karen has just received a few paper copies; if Royal Conservatoire staff or students would like a copy, just let her know. 

Other publications in the series are listed here.

How's your social networking?

'Whittaker' has just had lunch with the Thesis Whisperer, aka Inger Mewburn of RMIT University, Melbourne.  Having tweeted and emailed, and provided a few blogposts about the library side of research for Inger's The Thesis Whisperer research support blog, it was fantastic to have the opportunity to meet up in real life.  (I did my bit for Scotland - Inger now knows what haggis tastes like!)

Apart from having the opportunity to discuss research matters, it was great just to have the chance to network.  The remarkable thing, though, is that twenty years ago we wouldn't have even known each other existed. 

Oh, and I've offered to write another blogpost - on crowdsourcing.  When I've posted the book manuscript and written up my IAML(UK and Ireland) paper, I shall get started on that.  Watch this space!

Research Matters

Vitae Researcher Booklets,  and

Research Information Network
(now www.researchinfonet.org)

I have a load of free leaflets and reports which I’ve offered before, but still there are some left.  Rather than just throw them out, I’ve left them at the library enquiry desk.  If they don’t go from there, I’ll put them in the café-bar next week.  (We have copies catalogued in library stock as well - AND they're available online, see links above.)

Staff or students of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland are welcome to come and take any of the following:-

• The creative researcher
• The balanced researcher
• The engaging researcher
• Social media: a guide for researchers
• E-only scholarly journals
• Reinventing research?  Information practices in the humanities
• If you build it, will they come?  How researchers perceive and use web 2.0
• E-journals, their use, value and impact
• The role of research supervisors in information literacy

Don’t forget to keep an eye on Whittaker Live at http://whittakerlive.blogspot.com over the vacation.  Term might stop – ‘Whittaker’ doesn’t stop blogging about performing arts related weblinks!

The emotional challenges of academic writing

A six-minute clip from the University of Manchester - video or mp3 audio.

"Carol Smart, May 2010, 6:49 minutes.In this clip, Carol Smart talks about the emotional challenges of writing: why is academic writing so difficult and what can we do to overcome these difficulties?"

Useful stuff. 

New Year's Resolutions - how are you doing?

What can we learn from ancient Scottish traditions about doing a PhD? 

KarenMcA continues the #NYE theme with a posting for The Thesis Whisperer (a research support website).

Researcher to Researcher - social media for mutual support

A few weeks ago, Whittaker blogged about #PhDchat, a Twitter-based discussion forum for postgraduate research students.  (Here's the wiki link for PhDchat, too.)

Now, Whittaker learns that there's another such forum, run for research students at Warwick University: find out more about it at Warwick's blog, Researcher Life (http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/researcherlife/), where Charlotte Mathieson posted yesterday about their first live chat session.

And if the support of your peers on your research journey sounds like a good thing, then don't forget about the acclaimed Australian research support blog, TheThesisWhisperer.  ("Whittaker" has contributed to this.)

PhD Life: a blog about the PhD student experience

New from the University of Warwick, this may resonate with doctoral students. Worth a look.

PhD Life - and thanks to the Thesis Whisperer for sharing this with us.

Sometimes I just sits and thinks, and sometimes ...

Where do you find your best inspiration?  Where's it easiest to study?  'Whittaker' (aka Karen McAulay) has been musing for the Australian research support blog, The Thesis Whisperer.

Sometimes I just sits and thinks ...

Why Whittaker Blogs

‘Whittaker’ had a few days of leave carried over from last year’s entitlement, so he’s taking a long weekend. But will ‘his’ readers survive without him? For anyone chancing upon this page, here are a few random but carefully-weighed comments.

So, why does Whittaker blog? To borrow Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s words, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways”:-

• This blog is intended to inform staff and students of the performing arts.
• It aims to flag up useful and interesting websites, forthcoming events, new or rare library acquisitions, services offered by the library, and other sources of information, study, research or career support.
• Thus, this week it has offered readers details of a research symposium; old Scottish musicians and song collectors William Motherwell, William Tytler and Alexander Campbell; an arts and humanities streaming workshop; a Steve Reich 75th birthday competition; British Library Postgraduate Open Days; thoughts about a research query on the Lordship of the Isles; and the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. Nothing if not varied!
• Our staff and students are musicians, actors, community arts animateurs, stage designers, film and television directors, jazz improvisers and ballet dancers, to name but a few.
• ‘Whittaker’ keeps a weather eye for interesting trends coming up on the Twitter scene, but ‘he’ will not be found on Facebook, as ‘he’ doesn’t care to discuss his private life on social media websites.  This is a professional blog.
• Meanwhile, the combination of upcoming cultural and information trends, with intriguing historical facts pertaining to old Scottish song collections, can be attributed to Whittaker’s own dual-qualified background in library & information science and musicology. He does try to seek out drama, film/television and ballet snippets, but depends on his informants to feed him interesting titbits in these spheres.
• The author of Whittaker does also occasionally contribute to other blogs such as TheThesisWhisperer, lurks around Twitter’s #PhDchat on Wednesday evenings, and authors the Jobs.ac.uk Music blog in 'his' spare time, to keep in touch with the world of research and offer support to those following him along the doctoral path.

If you like what you read here, please do comment. Any suggestions are always considered with an open mind.

The Postgraduate Researcher Symposium

Conversations about the Doctoral Experience

1st November 2011

The British Library Conference Centre, London

For details of this most interesting event, visit http://www.postgradsymposium.org.uk/

British Library open days for postgraduates

National Postgraduate Open Days

at the BRITISH LIBRARY

November 2011 - February 2012

The National Postgraduate Open Days are specially tailored days of talks, workshops and networking opportunities at the Library, focusing on your research subject. Each day includes a general introduction to relevant research sources, curator talks and workshops, and details on how to get a Reader Pass. To ensure the days are accessible to research postgraduates from across the UK, students from outside London may apply for a limited number of £30 travel bursaries.


The days are extremely popular, so early booking is advised. The days are free to attend and lunch is provided.


Find out more and book your place online at: http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/acrossuk/highered/heresearchers/natrestraining/trainingdays.html

Researchers: YOU are responsible for your career but who else can help?

Useful jobs.ac.uk careers posting.

Zetoc alerts

Time for a quick reminder!  If you'd like regular updates on new scholarly articles in your area of expertise, then Zetoc is what you need.  Sign up, specify what you want, and you'll be emailed whenever anything interesting comes up.

Sounds simple?  It is!  Click here.