Academic Writing: research, literature and managing information

Online tools supporting the writing process

Dr Vanessa Camilleri,Faculty of ICT, University of Malta

23/02/2017

GDS5002 Feminist Research Methods

source: http://bit.ly/2lyVKKb

Outline• The Literature Review : A research journey

• Online Search• Online Research Management Tools

• Networking & Connections

How can scholars gain maximum

potential from the digital tools available?

Literature Review: a journey

Harvard School of Education: http://guides.library.harvard.edu/literaturereview

Searching Online

• Where to start from: • how to look for information?• how to detect and filter the crap from the

valid information?• how can online search contribute to our

growth in the subject area we’re interested in?

Search Engines• UoM Library (Hydi)• Science Direct• Google Scholar• Researchgate• Mendeley• Scopus

V. Camilleri, Doctoral Seminar

V. Camilleri, Doctoral Seminar

http://scholar.google.com/

http://www.sciencedirect.com/

https://www.researchgate.net/

http://www.mendeley.com/

http://www.mendeley.com/

https://doaj.org/

https://doaj.org/

But who is the digital scholar?

What digital footprints do scholars leave? How can we follow them?

Impacts for digital scholarship include the quantity of peer-reviewed online information sources, the growth of social, peer academic networks, and the variety and range of content to draw upon for research that has broadened to include drafts of publications, conference presentations, blog posts, video and audio (Weller, 2011)

source: http://bit.ly/2m4jzYc

Managing your Tools• Using Refworks• Using Academia.edu• Using Google Scholar• Using ResearchGate• Using Mendeley Desktop • Using Zotero• Using Orcid

http://www.um.edu.mt/library/online_resources2/refworks

http://www.academia.edu/

http://www.academia.edu/

http://www.academia.edu/

http://www.scholar.google.com/

https://www.researchgate.net/

https://www.researchgate.net/

https://www.researchgate.net/

http://www.mendeley.com/

http://www.mendeley.com/

http://www.mendeley.com/

http://www.mendeley.com/

https://www.zotero.org/

https://www.scopus.com

Making Connections

• Why share research? • Peer review • Idea Generation• Amplification of ideas• Networking

https://orcid.org

Sharing Research• How?

• Online• Research Groups• Blogs

• Face-to-Face• Seminars / Public talks• Summer Schools

http://www.linkedin.com/

The Social Media Scholar

Beyond these specific scholarly platforms, we have seen an increase in social networking use, academic blogging or microblogging (e.g. Twitter), and online sharing of images, videos, and audio for both data and research distribution

source: http://bit.ly/2lDtabb

Blogs

Conclusion

• Online tools help researchers: • Manage online information• Store publications• Disseminate personal publications• Gather feedback • Network

Conclusion

• Research that is not propagated most often loses value.

• Use of technology helps make your research more effective!

Links:• University of Malta Library: http://www.um.edu.mt/library

• Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com/

• ScienceDirect: http://www.sciencedirect.com/

• Academia.edu: http://www.academia.edu/

• ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net

• Zotero: http://www.zotero.org/ (downloadable)

• Mendeley: http://www.mendeley.com/ (downloadable)

• LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/ (for groups, etc.)

• Directory of Open Access Journals: https://doaj.org

Thank you.

Contact:

email: vanessa.camilleri@um.edu.mt

Blog: http://seriouslyvirtual.wordpress.com/

LinkedIn: mt.linkedin.com/in/vanessacamilleri/

Twitter: @veecam

Skype: vcami01

SecondLife: enaV Follet