Avoiding Plagiarism a new online course

Purchased by the School of Management and Business, a fantastic new resource - Avoiding Plagiarism, an interactive, online course provided by Epigeum – is now available for use by all Aberystwyth University students.

The course is broken down into three units:

What is plagiarism?
The first unit discusses what plagiarism is, some of the terms you might come across, intentional and unintentional plagiarism and the ways in which assessors can detect plagiarism.

Referencing
Unit 2 covers the importance of referencing, referencing systems used and the difference between references and citations.

Avoiding Plagiarism.
Unit 3 outlines way in which plagiarism can be avoided. (Epigeum, 2014)

The course is quite comprehensive and provides a number of practice scenarios, a summary and a quiz at the end. The pass-mark for the quiz is 75% and there is a certificate for all those who pass!

A link to the course is here: https://plagiarism.epigeum.com/

You need to register and you have to provide your full Aberystwyth email address. A confirmation link will then be sent through to you and you are good to go from that point on.

EPIGEUM (2014), Avoiding Plagiarism [Online]. Available from: https://plagiarism.epigeum.com/courses/plagiarism/index.php?course_id=7&user_id=57292&s=0ptcs59dl6lu1r69aeuu3c9u06 [Accessed: 04/11/2015]

EU Careers event notification

Are you an undergraduate or postgraduate student interested in an exciting Career which will challenge you as well as enable you to grow and learn in a strongly multicultural environment? or even just first class work experience within the European Institutions.

If so then you may be just the person the institutions of the European Union are looking for! Contrary to popular belief, these Institutions don't hire only lawyers, linguists and economists! They are looking for students from across all disciplines. Not only that, they are currently suffering from a lack of appropriate candidates, so don't hesitate to come along to this event.

Even if you think you don't have the language skills, don't let that stop you! You may have exactly the profile they are looking for!

This event will be of interest to both students who are early on in their degree and may wish to start preparing early or students who are further on in their studies and may want to obtain concrete information on the pursuit of, as well as personal testimonies from people with experience with, European Careers.

Speakers:
Charles Whitmore, EPSO Ambassador to Cardiff University and
Ex student/s of Welsh Universities who have undertaken a traineeship at the Commission in DG REGIO.

Topic:  Pursuing a Career or work experience within the European Union Institutions

Date: Tuesday, 18th November
Time:  3:30pm to 5:30pm
Venue: Thomas Parry Library, Llanbadarn Centre

Any queries, please contact:
Dr Marco Odello: mmo@aber.ac.uk
Lillian Stevenson: lis@aber.ac.uk
Charles Whitmore: eucareers.cardiffuniversity@gmail.com

If you wish to attend, please register at: correspondence.european@wales.gsi.gov.uk

International Open Access Week, 20th – 26th October 2014

International Open Access Week, 20th – 26th October 2014, offers an opportunity for the academic and research community to learn more about the potential benefits of Open Access (OA) – free, online access to results of scholarly research, and the right to use and re-use those results.

OA has the power to transform the way research and scientific inquiry is conducted; with research
funders and Funding Councils alike, recently launching OA policies.

However, the implementation of OA is not without its issues. The AU OA working group, an Information  Services and Department of Research, Business and Innovation collaboration, invites AU academics and  researchers to a series of events scheduled across OA week.

These events include:

* Q & A session with HEFCE HE Policy Advisor Ben Johnson, and representatives from the
publishing community, PLOS, JISC Monographs, Biomed Central and Wiley - Arts Centre Cinema, morning of Friday 24 October, 9.30 a.m.

* PURE refresher training sessions, 12pm Wednesday 22nd and Thursday 23rd October, Hugh Owen
Training Room. Spaces bookable via CDSAP webpages.

* “Who owns what and what can they do with it? Copyright and your research publications
workshop” (Tuesday 21 October, 1-2 pm) with AU Data Protection and Copyright Manager, Dr Jonathan Davies.  Please send us  or bring along licences/copyright agreements which you have been asked to sign when publishing articles.  Send licences (or screenshots of licences) and any questions to openaccess@aber.ac.uk

 

 

Steve Smith

Aberystwyth University LibTeachMeet

The Information Literacy site features a report on the stimulating LibTeachMeet event that took place at Aberystwyth University earlier this month. Ffion Bell, our graduate trainee, bid for the funding and organised the event during her placement in Academic Services. Find out more about what went on...

Plagiarism Versus Good Academic Practice

Below you can view the video of a talk given to undergraduates by Karl Drinkwater on 10th October 2013. It covers the basics of what plagiarism is and how to avoid it by adopting good academic practice.

FAME Workshop

Thomas Parry Library Training Room

Wednesday 27th November 2013

1.30 – 2.30 pm

“FAME contains comprehensive financial information on active and inactive UK and Irish companies. The expert searching options on FAME give you access to over 300 search criteria, Boolean logic and other functional options resulting in a flexible information solution for researching UK and Irish companies and industries. “

https://fame.bvdinfo.com/home.serv?product=fameneo&loginfromcontext=ipaddress

• Invitation open to all interested staff and students.  
• Training provided by Christina Nobbs from Bureau Van Dijk (FAME supplier)
• Examples of how FAME is being used in other Universities
• Please come along with specific questions/queries.

Collaborative research event with the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies & Bangor University

Purpose: A half day event for researchers from Aberystwyth University and Bangor University with an interest in law, criminology and international relations.

Venue: Aberystwyth University; E3 Centre for Legal Practice, Hugh Owen Building

Date: Wednesday afternoon 17th April.

Programme of activities

Time    Activity
12.45    Refreshments on arrival – Law Conference Room

1.15      Richard Ireland, Senior Lecture Law & Criminology and Bill Hines, Honorary Fellow and  former Law Librarian at Aberystwyth– spotlight on some lesser known library treasures and research resources held in the Library of Aberystwyth University.

2.00-3.00  Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) showcasing their services and resources for researchers, to include:

• The development of the Eagle-I portal on IALS website to guide researchers on quality information on the internet
• Foreign, international and comparative law sources at IALS Library: a guide to our collections, both print and electronic
• The Electronic Law Library at IALS: an outline of the many databases on offer onsite and offsite
• Benefits for researchers of using IALS
• BAILII: the British and Irish Legal Information Institute

3.00-3.15   IALS registering staff and students to use their library in Russell Square, London and their electronic resources.

3.15   Tour of the Law Library and library resources at Aberystwyth University (Lillian Stevenson, Academic Services Manager/Law Librarian) for our Bangor University visitors.

PS: We have received feedback for this event.

Drop-in sessions with subject librarians

"I thought Primo was rubbish, but it turned out I was just using it wrongly..."

This academic year the subject librarians have been running drop-in sessions and taking information skills support out of the library and into departments. These drop-in sessions are regular times when you can come along with any questions about library resources, conducting literature reviews, referencing, using Primo etc. No booking required! Just drop in. The sessions run weekly until the end of term unless indicated otherwise, and some of them are new, so do have a look at the table below.

Stressed by that first academic assignment?

Come to:

Step in, Step up to success, and stress less!

• Win a massage, free swims, a session with a personal trainer or a book token
• Enjoy a free snack and pick up a book menu
• Share your study hints and tips, and the challenges too
• Get relaxation hints and tips from Rachel Hubbard
• Be at the launch of More Books!

and bring your questions for:
• Heather Dyer and Elin ap Morgan, University Writing Fellows
• John Morgan, Student Support
• Jo Hyatt & Carolyn Parry, Careers
• Your Subject Librarians

13:00 – 16:00 on Wednesday 7th November
Hugh Owen Library

The Primo Roadshow

Bringing the library to you!
Feel free to drop by with questions about Primo or finding resources on the following dates (more will be added later).

• Thursday 28 June, 1pm – 2pm,  Room 017/018 Department of Information Studies, Llanbadarn Campus
• Thursday 19th April, 1pm-2pm, Room 017/018 Department of Information Studies, Llanbadarn Campus
• Thursday 8th March, 2-4pm, foyer of Penbryn 5 (Department of Psychology / School of Education Lifelong Learning), Penglais Campus
• Friday 9th March, 10am-1pm, foyer of Penbryn 5 (Department of Psychology / School of Education Lifelong Learning), Penglais Campus
• Tuesday 13th March, 10am-12pm, foyer of Department of Information Studies, Llanbadarn Campus
• Wednesday 14th March, 10am-1pm, foyer of Penbryn 5 (Department of Psychology / School of Education Lifelong Learning), Penglais Campus
• Thursday 15th March, 10:30am-1:30pm, foyer of the William Davies Labs (IBERS), Gogerddan Campus, Penrhyncoch

The Virtual Training Suite

The Virtual Training Suite is a set of free Internet tutorials to help you develop Internet research skills for your university course. All of the tutorials are written and reviewed by a national team of lecturers and librarians from universities across the UK. The interactive, teach-yourself tutorials take around an hour to complete - you simply work through the material in your own time at your own pace. By the end of them you should have a good idea of how to find the best sites on the Web that are appropriate for university work, and you will understand how critical thinking can improve the quality of your online research. There are 60 tutorials in total, covering every subject, so don’t miss out on this resource!

National Library of Wales welcome sessions

Aberystwyth residents are lucky to have the National Library of Wales on our doorstep. The National Library has an amazing collection of resources and at the moment it is offering daily welcome sessions aimed at introducing the library and facilities to any new readers (along with sessions on other topics, all free). You can register for the sessions online and there is information about getting a reader's ticket here.

Resource updates from ProQuest: Thursday 9th June

ProQuest’s Rebecca Price is visiting Information Services on the morning of Thursday 9th June to provide three update sessions on the new ProQuest platform and the ProQuest resources to which we subscribe.

Work smarter – study skills for students in BlackBoard

Undergraduates looking to refresh their study skills can now enrol on a non-credit bearing BlackBoard module and choose classes from the Undergraduate Study Practices programme.

Internet Searching Talk

How do search engines work? How can you improve your searches and assess the relevance of the results? Do you want to pick up some basic tips on using search engines?

There is an open talk covering these topics on Wednesday 8th December, 2-3pm, in room 0.01 of the Edward Llwyd Building.

Plagiarism and good academic practice

Note: this is now out-of-date. Please see the updated talk here.

Below you can view the video of a fifteen-minute talk given to Psychology Department undergraduates by Karl Drinkwater on Thursday 30th September 2010. It covers the basics of what plagiarism is and how to avoid it by adopting good academic practice. Subtitles have been added. For more information about plagiarism and good academic practice, see these pages; and here for SafeAssign information.

New Technology and Innovation Day 15th April 2010

Information Services will be offering members of staff a chance to attend a day to demonstrate new developments in ICT at Aberystwyth. The technologies shown could well help you work and/or deliver your teaching more effectively. More information. CDSAP Online Course Booking.

Mind the GAP

"Mind the GAP - avoid pitfalls with Good Academic Practice"

• Good study skills lead to better marks and make you more organised and less stressed.
• Good referencing and reading widely help to avoid plagiarism.
• Using high-quality sources of information improves the quality of your work.

New skills courses at lunchtime

Short skills courses in Hugh Owen Library, 13:10-14:00 on Wednesdays, are available as follows:

• Find everything on your reading list (February 18th)
• Keep up to date in your subject of study (February 25th)
• Evaluate online information for your academic work (March 4th)
• Use software to create easy bibliographies (March 11th)
• Word for essays and dissertations (March 18th)

Course descriptions and online booking.

Introduction to Information Services

Introduction to Information Services for newly appointed staff and research postgraduates

Date : Monday 12th January 2009
Venue : Hugh Owen Library Training Room

A series of short sessions aimed at AU staff and research postgraduates.

For more information, click here.