3. U of S Library and Resources
Roberta Campbell-Chudoba
Overview
In each of the Health Professions Education courses, whether you are designing lessons, assessments, programs, or evaluations, applying theory to practice, exploring research approaches, leadership or organizational theory, familiarity with U of S Library offerings will assist you greatly on your journey.
This module connects you to the vast resources offered by the U of S Libraries system, the links organized according to academic needs of a graduate student. After a welcome to the Library, its people and types of supports, categories include wide-ranging graduate skills workshops, a graduate writing guide, research strategy supports, writing skills assistance, and publication information.
Learning Objectives
When you have finished this module, you should be able to:
- Identify the different types of resources and supports available through the University Library.
- Participate in virtual workshops offered by the University Library via your university Zoom account.
- Conduct a library search on a topic of your choice and access at least five different kinds of resources used in scholarly research.
- Compare citation software options featured in training by the University Library to organize, store, and cite your references, and then identify your software preference.
Library Places, Spaces, and People
Six library locations exist across campus to house print material and online digital resources, provide spaces for private study and collaboration, and offer learning services. Digital resources (e-books and e-journals) are available to every student by logging into the library website with your NSID and password.
Librarians, assistants, learning specialists, peer mentors, and writing tutors can help you build effective research, writing, and time management skills through workshops, online resources, and consultations.
Faculty Librarians, assigned by library, colleges and/or subject area, can help you navigate the systems and resources during exploration and narrowing your topics, to your focused research phase.
Help is available in a variety of ways from in person, to an online chat service, to online service desk questions, email or phone. See the Ask Us page for specific contact information and answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the Ask Us chat service.
Begin your exploration of the U of S Library by viewing this library orientation video. Resources outlined in the video are linked throughout this chapter.
Graduate Skills
Library staff and graduate peers can facilitate the transition to graduate studies and your discovery of wise strategies to succeed.
Workshops
Workshop topics such as familiarizing yourself with the library, managing your time, and battling imposter syndrome are available in pre-recorded sessions. See University Library Workshops for past and upcoming offerings, in person or virtually on Zoom.
Technical Tips for Attending Virtual Workshops
Set up Zoom software on your device and then ensure you claim your USask Zoom account at least six hours prior to joining a virtual library workshop.
For assistance using Zoom, see Zoom Tips and Zoom (Web Conferencing) for help with meetings and webinars. Log into any of the articles with your USask NSID and password.
Zoom Tips includes instructions on how to add a Zoom meeting to your virtual calendar.
The video Using the Library from a Distance: Accessing Articles Online (3:28 minutes) explains how to locate articles directly from library.usask.ca for best access.
Graduate Writing Guide
The Writing Guide has a fulsome range of research advice on associated topics, such as:
- explaining your research to diverse audiences,
- writing with integrity and
- creating a writing toolkit.
The Writing Guide is also a hub for accessing online writing workshops and appointments for one-to-one tutoring and virtual “write-ins.” Virtual write-ins can help you progress in your work if you are finding it difficult to concentrate and need a boost to focus your attention.
Research Strategies
Developing your research strategies reaches far beyond finding sources. Library programming includes research and citation software workshops, librarian assistance, and research guides.
Research workshops for graduate students
Workshops led by Faculty Librarians or Peer Mentors address a comprehensive range of research concerns. See the Graduate Research page for options such as managing and sharing your data, open access publishing, and designing poster presentations.
Citations software workshops
As you begin researching and gathering references, we recommend using a citation management tool to organize, save, and cite references.
Introductory and advanced instructional workshops on managing references with EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero or BibTex can help you to choose and work with the citation management software best suited to your style and discipline area.
Compare citation managers based on cost, app availability, and basic features. Search for pre-recorded and live workshops at Citation Software for Grad Students.
Detailed citation style guides have links to the software websites, help guides, download options, and instructions for the following:
- EndNote and EndNote basic
- Mendeley
- Zotero and
- BibTex (used in conjunction with LaTex).
Research guides
Library research guides are organized by categories of subject, student learning, general topics and A-Z databases.
Writing Skills
Chapter 4 – Academic Writing addresses writing and research resources through the University Library and beyond, for academic papers, including APA and style guides and academic integrity.
For targeted support on over 20 different technical elements of writing, see Graduate Writing for workshop descriptions and registration information. Research guides on Building Grammatical Confidence includes suggestions for no-cost online grammar courses and advice for English as an Additional Language (EAL) graduate student writers.
Have you ever worked with a writing tutor to help clarify goals, improve your writing or learn more about the writing process? To connect with a tutor in person at the Writing Centre, online, or to submit a draft via email, see Writing Tutors. Also, see Frequently Asked Questions about tutoring on writing skills and instruction.
Publication
If you are:
- interested in publishing your work for the first time
- wondering how to choose the right journals
- curious about open access journals, or
- wanting to identify and avoid predatory publishers,
visit the Publication section of Graduate Help. Understanding the Publication Cycle explains provides a general guide to the cycle and includes references with tips for writing and academic article.
EADM 990 Required Tasks
The following task must be completed to obtain your EADM 990 credit. Submit your work within Canvas by the date indicated in the Syllabus.
After watching the library orientation video, conduct a library search on a topic of your choice* and gather the following types of resources: 2 books, 2 dissertations, 1 thesis, 3 peer reviewed journal articles, and 2 non-peer reviewed journal articles. (You may also may also need to access ‘grey literature’ during your studies. See What is Grey Literature?). Compile these resources into a list by using their APA reference information.
* To make the library search most purposeful, you can anticipate upcoming learning and research requirements in your HPE program (e.g., in other courses you are currently taking or will be taking soon). You may wish to locate the list of courses and read about requirements and assessments in each syllabus, accessed through the U of S Course and Program Catalogue.
Post your academic resources list to the appropriate Canvas Discussion board.
Optional Activities
Discussion questions:
- What topic from the Transition to Grad School workshop series most appealed to you? How might you use the information from the session(s) to enhance your studies or daily life? Would you recommend a particular session to others? Why?
- What do you anticipate may be an academic challenge during your master’s studies? Do any of the resources linked in this chapter provide suggestions for mitigating the challenge? While listening to your colleagues address this question, what resources might you offer to support them?
- Do you have experience using citation management software? If so, what are the advantages and disadvantages of that software? Would you recommend it?
- Why might you want to publish research done during your HPE program? Are you aware of any advantages professionally with publication? What are potential challenges or risks around publication?
- What is one library program, workshop or service you have discovered that you anticipate will be a definite help in doing research during your program?
Extension activities:
- Claim your USask Zoom account to ensure the best possible access to online workshops, meetings and sessions.
- View the Faculty Librarians page to identify who will best support your subject area research. Save their contact information for future reference.
- Attend or watch at least one workshop of your interest in the Transition to Grad School series and reflect on what you can use from the workshop.
- Visit the Citation Software for Grad Students workshops’ page and choose at least one session to view or attend. Be prepared to share your learning with your 990 colleagues.
Additional Resources & Links
- Additional library services:
- Assignment Planner for a Research Paper (online tool and resources)
- Resource Sharing (to obtain materials not held by USask)
- Distance and Distributed Library Services (register to have materials be delivered to you free of charge in Canada)
- Access and Equity Services in the Library (in collaboration with Access and Equity Services, to provide access and support for all USask students)
- Research Supports provides links to associated services for research, such as:
- ORCID ID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a 16-digit number you can attach to your name as a unique identifier when engaging in research activities, now required of authors by some journals. See ORCID for more information about how you can use ORCID ID to connect, pull together and differentiate your research activities.
- Copyright is part of the library. Access information about using copyrighted material correctly and appropriately.
- Citation Finder Enter journal citation into this form to determine its availability through the library online.
