We know this
time of year can be stressful with deadlines nearing and exam revision to do, on
top of an ever-increasing demand to be social for all those festive activities!
We want to help
ease the burden a little and give you a reason to carry on ploughing through
until the end of term, with our week-long campaign in Catalyst. Keep Calm
and Submit is happening 9th-13th December and you can
read all about whatâs happening in our blog: tinyurl.com/EHUKeepCalmSubmit19
If the
festive fun, study tips and exam revision prep is not enough, why not take some
time to join in our #EHUKeepCalmSubmit competition!
How to enter:
Pick up a competition entry elf from Catalyst â we will be handing them out around the building or you can collect one from the ground floor desk event space
Include #EHUKeepCalmSubmit and make sure to tag us in for your entry to count
So, come out of the freezing cold and join us in Catalyst to take partâŚwe donât mind if your sElfie is a resting Grinch face or happy little elfâŚand you could be in with a chance to win a ÂŁ25 Amazon voucher or UniSkills festive goodie bag prizes! Who wouldnât want to win a prize so close to Christmas?! Terms and conditions apply, see below.
Keep Calm and Submit Competition Terms and Conditions 1. Only EHU Students are eligible to win prizes, EHU staff may enter but are not eligible to win a prize. 2. Eligible competition entries must contain a sElfie photo with one of the competition elves. 3. There is one ÂŁ25.00 Amazon voucher to win and two runners up UniSkills goodie bags. 4. You may enter the competition as many times as you wish, but only one entry will be entered in the final prize draw. 5. Only entries posted between 11am Monday 9th December to 4pm Friday 13th December will be eligible to be entered in the prize draw. 6. The winners will be contacted via their social media account and you must be able to provide your student number as identification to be eligible to win the prize. If no student number can be provided your entry will be null and void and another winner will be drawn. 7. The winners will be picked at random from a prize draw on Tuesday 17th December 2019. 8. The prizes are non-transferable. 9. All winners must be able to collect the prize from the Catalyst Helpdesk and be able to provide evidence/ID that they have won before we will award the prize. 10. Prizes must be collected by 4pm on Friday 20th December 2019. 11. If anyone cannot be contacted or prizes are not collected by Friday 20th December 2019 the entry will become null and void and a re-draw may take place in the new year.
If so, Learning Services would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the best in your future accomplishments, be that further study or starting out on your chosen career path.
Did you know that you can still access library resources after graduation?
Apply for an Alumni membership of the University Library after graduation to access our learning spaces, selected electronic resources and to borrow library stock from any of our sites.
If you have any books of your own taking up space at home donât forget we are collecting for another #PassTheBook textbook giveaway next year. Drop in any unwanted books at Ormskirk, Aintree or Manchester and we will ensure they go to a good home!
If you have any queries please contact us via Ask Us.
Congratulations to you all and enjoy your graduation!
As your first semester comes to an end and deadlines begin to approach, it is a good time to elf yourself by thinking about how you can submit on time and revise for exams! Do not panic as Keep Calm and Submit week is returning Monday 9th – Friday 13th December to offer you help, support, revision ideas and study tips to help you embrace your hectic schedule, rather than run from it! Remember, âtis the season to be jolly, so having a break is also important!
Keep Calm and
Submit All week our knowledgeable Student Advisors will be
available (11am-4pm) on the ground floor event space in Catalyst (Ormskirk), so
why not take a well-earned study break and join them to discover some of their
own great study and revision tips. Do not miss the opportunity to get involved
in creative tasks to help you conquer your assignment and revision nightmares.
Feedback Spinner Understanding feedback is hard, learning from it is sometimes harder. Why not come and have a go at our Feedback Spinner! The Feedback Spinner is designed to help you see some common examples of essay feedback and how we would advise you reflect on it and use it to enhance your abilities. Start the new year off knowing how to embrace the advice youâre given and discover your potential to succeed!
Rejoice in your Referencing We know referencing is snow joke so fear not as we have a checklist to ensure youâre doing it to the best of your ability. Come to Catalyst and have a look at our snowman referencing checklist and see what other tips and tricks we have on offer. You can also refer to your Harvard Referencing guide for some extra help!
Try not to lose your baubles! Light up your holidays this winter by increasing your knowledge with tips and advice on essay and exam prep. Look out for our UniSkills Festive Tree where you can pick up or write your own study tip. Donât worry if you do not have any advice, you can enjoy getting creative by leaving us a colourful bauble to brighten up our tree. Our Student Advisors will be demonstrating their own techniques on keeping calm and prepping for submission dates and/or exams.
Submission Checklist Itâs a busy time of year and youâve no doubt lots of naughty and nice checklists, but you might want to think about adding this next one to your pile. Your Student Advisors have put together an essential submission checklist which could be a lifesaver as you begin to do your final proofreads. Iâm sure you would rather relax knowing youâve done everything possible with regards to your essays, so why not come see us to find out more!
Take an Elfie! Keep an eye out for our Take an Elfie competition for the change to win some festive and financial prizes! To get ahead of the game make sure you are following all our social media accounts: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Read more about the competiton here: tinyurl.com/EHUKeepCalmComp
UniSkills Workshops If you want to get involved some more, why not join a UniSkills workshop, all of which have been designed to help you develop your academic skills and confidence at University and beyond: This is what is running over the next two weeks:
UniSkills Advent Keep your eyes out for 24 great Keep Calm and Submit study tips to get you through this busy period. Youâll find them on our Twitter and Facebook from the 1st to 24th DecemberâŚor just search for #UniSkillsAdvent
Christmas at Catalyst Catalyst is open 24/7 until 8pm on Monday 23rd December (then festive opening hours, as below) and 24/7 opening will resume from 8am on Thursday 2nd January 2020!
Driving home for Christmas? If you are planning on going home over winter, you may be interested in using your local university library as part of the SCONUL Access scheme. This is a reciprocal service supported by most of the higher education libraries in the UK and Ireland. You can also take your wireless device to other universities and by connecting to the Eduroam network with your Edge Hill username and password you will be able to use Wi-Fi and access Edge Hill eResources. Visit our Using Other Libraries webpages for more information and to apply.
With so many amazing winter activities
taking place during Keep Calm and Submit week (and beyond!) be sure to join us inside Catalyst for lots of
tips and techniques to help you sleigh your study fears, begin to snowball in
your academic abilities and simply, Keep
Calm and Submit!
We are very pleased to announce that in the Learning at Work Week Impact Awards 2019 we have won in two categories âShaping Digital Futuresâ and âInnovation in Learning & Developmentâ!
Learning
at Work Week took place in May and provided staff in Catalyst with an
opportunity to not only get to know each other but develop their skills and
express their interests.
During Learning at Work Week 28 creative and informative sessions took place, delivered by both internal and external members of staff. These sessions were predominantly delivered by staff within Catalyst, as it gave staff the opportunity to inform colleagues about their servicesâ developments and an opportunity to share their skills and interests. Sessions included: âCreative Card Makingâ, âRubber Stamp Printingâ, âSign Languageâ, âWriting for the webâ and âPocket Photographyâ
We also added in a range of informative sessions, which allowed staff to learn more about other teams, networking with colleagues and promoting a workplace learning culture. The sessions were very well received with staff commenting on there being âplenty of varietyâ and âsomething for everyoneâ.
Alongside face to face activities we also launched DigiQuest 2.0. This yearâs quest prompted staff to explore and investigate new pieces of digital technology, allowing them to enhance and develop their digital capabilities. Activities included creating an infographic, learning the basics of Excel, analysing their digital footprint, making online quizzes and participating in Twitter chats. The choice of tasks were described as âvariedâ and staff relished the opportunity to try out tools they had never explored previously. The theme for DigiQuest 2.0 was around space exploration, selected to coincide with the theme of Learning at Work Week. The exploration of space links to âShaping the Futureâ as they both revolve around progression, development and progress. Staff enjoyed the âinventiveâ space theme and found the opportunity to achieve digital badges âmotivatingâ. The variety of sessions on offer and focus on innovative staff development therefore meant that staff had the opportunity to take an active hold of their learning with a blended learning offer.
Learning at Work Week has successfully helped establish a positive
learning culture and colleagues are keen to develop their digital skills
further by getting involved in professional development initiatives. It has
shown that learning and staff development works best when embedded in the
culture of the department, so we have recently delivered âLearning at Work Week
– Halloween Spectacularâ to continue the blended learning approach and further
build a culture of learning at work.
You may notice that the H-index in your Pure profile shows a different number to the one on Google Scholar. Here we explain why…
An Edge Hill University Pure profile displaying the academic’s H-Index
What is the h-index?
The H-index is a measure to show a researcher’s productivity and impact. Although convenient as an assessment tool, it has received valid criticism because it favours older, male academics and assumes ‘citations = impact’, when it has been shown that the practice can be manipulated.
As an academic at Edge Hill University, your Pure profile will display your H-index by default (see above image). This though, can show a different number to the H-index displayed in a Google Scholar profile. Here is the same author’s h-index in Google Scholar:
The same person’s h-index displayed in Google Scholar
This shows the total h-index to be 49, so 13 points higher than the number quoted in Pure.
Why the difference?
The reason for the difference is that the figure in Pure is taken from Scopus, not Google Scholar. H-index numbers are lower in Scopus compared with Scholar because there is less content – Scopus has around 43 million items, whereas Scholar has been estimated to include around 300 million â far more than any other database. This doesnât make Scopus an inferior source, it indexes high quality journals admitted on the basis of merit, whereas Scholar uses a powerful algorithm to pull in anything it can find on the web that âlooksâ academic. This includes dissertations, theses, and some poor or even so-called âpredatoryâ journals.
Why use the number from Scopus?
On a practical basis, Scopus is used because both it and Pure are Elsevier products, and as such can exchange data. Google Scholar however, does not share such data with other platforms.
What should I do?
If you don’t want to display your Scopus h-index, you edit the setting and do this. Go to: edit profile > Portal Profile > untick the box.
When editing your Pure profile, you can choose to stop displaying the H-index
For more information please contact Liam Bullingham, Research Support Librarian: liam.bullingham@edgehill.ac.uk
‘I read for pleasure and that is the moment I learn the most‘ – Margaret Attwood (Nobel Prize of Literature, 2019)
Hi, my name is Georgia and I am a Student Advisor for Library & Learning Services in Catalyst. A great Study Happy tip is taking regular breaks and doing something enjoyable!
As a primary teacher in training, we are always encouraged to promote reading for pleasure in schools, but what about when you get past primary school? I loved to read throughout school, but now that I am in university, I find it hard to even think of reading something other than academic literature.
Firstly, the important question! What is reading for pleasure? Well, this is the idea that anyone should be able to pick up a book, and not only read it but enjoy it! You donât have to be an avid reader, just somebody who enjoys letting your mind ease into a world made of words, wit and wonders.
Our assignments require us to read journals, books, eBooks and
ensure that we complete referencing correctly, but sometimes you need a brain
break from studying and what better way to lose the stress of reality by
getting lost in an atmosphere of imagination. In fact, reading not only relaxes
your mind but also develops vocabulary and writing skills, supporting your
academic assignments more than youâd think.
Did
you know that there is an amazing range of fictional literature available in Catalyst? A whole section,
from the first floor of the library to the second, filled to the brim with
stories to expand your reading from âThe Tiger Who Came to Teaâ to âMacbethâ. These
resources are accessible to all
students to loan and I would recommend having a look around and discovering a
book for you. You may be searching for a book for your children, your class or
yourself, and you donât have to be a teaching student to appreciate a good
book!
If youâre
interested in sharing your favourite books with others and being introduced to
new stories, then make sure you get involved in the Edge Hill Book Hunt. This scheme allows students and staff to leave
books around campus for others to find, read and love. All you have to do is
hide a book and then find a book! Make sure you post your found book on twitter
with #EHUBookHunt.
Thank you for reading my blog – Student Advisors Georgia đ
Georgia Maestri-Banks BA Primary English Education with QTS – 3rd Year
The cold, dark nights of winter are finally upon us and despite Halloween being over I, like many students, am still feeling a little on edge… Not because of ghosts or ghouls but something more terrifyingâŚassignment season is well and truly upon us.
Even as a third year the dreaded assignment deadlines looming ever closer tend to fill me with dread and panic. Despite having the best intentions, by starting early and doing plenty of reading, I somehow have days until my deadline and I am yet to start writing.
If youâre like me and seem to get yourself into a bit of a tizz, worry not, as there are a multitude of ways to chase the assignment worries away…
1. GET YOURSELF A HARVARD REFERENCE GUIDE (shouty caps because itâs important!)
This is arguably one of the easiest ways to improve your academic skills and a great one to have under your belt! It massively helps the flow of your assignment to have supporting evidence and references fitting in seamlessly with your own writing, rather than inserted randomly at the end. Iâd recommend printing off a reference guideâŚmine never leaves my bag! Grab your Harvard Reference Guide here!
2. Proofread
I know itâs boring and can be long winded, especially after youâve spent weeks reading and writing on the same subject, all you want to do is submit that assignment and have a well-deserved rest. BUT. Proofreading is a sure way to spot any little mistakes within your writing. I love using a text to voice converter or the read aloud feature in Word. You can also get a friend or family member to read over as a second (fresh!) pair of eyes, this is a good way to help spot those small annoying grammatical errors.
3. Use Google Docs, or a memory stick, not just Word
I discovered this the hard way after a 3500 word assignment deleted itself âš BACK UP YOUR WORK! I now use Google Docs to write my assignments as itâs free, can be used anywhere and all changes are automatically saved onto the cloud, meaning I donât have to worry about deleting Word or losing my pen stick âŚand Iâm not having to hawk my laptop around with me. Google Docs is also super helpful for group projects as it allows everyone in your group to see and edit the work wherever you are making collaborations – 1000x less stressful!
4. Explore your references, references (aka wider reading!)
I find looking at the
reference list of the articles and books I am reading, especially of my core
texts, a great starting to point to help me delve deeper into the subject area.
Not only does this enhance your knowledge with wider reading but it also allows
you to boost your references and showing depth of reading allowing you to
access those higher grades! Also, when reading a source write your reference in
your reference style (e.g. Edge Hill Harvard) right away, so when it comes to
creating your reference list itâs a simple copy, paste and quick check over!
5. Ask for help when you need it
Although weâre at university to learn, and tutors canât write your assignments for you, they are there to help us. If youâre unsure I find emailing the module lead or my personal tutor a great place to start. If you have non-subject specific query, such as how to find the right information, or how to be critical, Catalyst is where you need to be. UniSkills offer a range of workshops and 1-2-1 appointments. Check out our upcoming events and workshops at ehu.ac.uk/workshops. We also offer more casual drop in support sessions every weekday, 11am-2pm, for any quick queries you have â visit the Catalyst Helpdesk for more information.
I hope these tips have helped you feel a bit less spooked about your upcoming assignments…if you want any more help and support please get in touch via Ask Us, visit the Catalyst Helpdesk or you can find us (Student Advisors) all this week on the ground floor of Catalyst for Study Happy week!
Thank you for reading my blog â
Student Advisor Maisie đ
Maisie Masterman BSc Primary Education with QTS – 3rd Year
Normally, to publish an article with a major publisher like Sage, researchers can only make their work open access by depositing it in Pure (‘green open access’). This is because making the work free to read on the journal’s webpages (‘gold open access’) carries a fee called an ‘article processing charge’ (APC) and can cost up to ÂŁ3000.
For the remainder of 2019 though, Sage Publishing is offering Edge Hill authors a ‘zero rate APC’ deal – facilitating free gold open access.
There are a few conditions such as already-published or in-production articles being excempt. If you’re interested in benefitting from the deal, please contact Liam Bullingham, our Research Support Librarian to learn more: liam.bullingham@edgehill.ac.uk
The first term is well and truly underway and, as deadlines approach, it is a good time to think about how you ensure a healthy balance between study, rest and play. But never fear as Study Happy week is returning Monday 4th – Friday 8th November to offer you help, support, ideas and tips to transform your study-life experience!
Study Happy âşď¸ All week our knowledgeable Student Advisors will be available (11am-4pm) on the ground floor event space in Catalyst, so why not take a well-earned study break and join them to discover some of their own great study tips and techniques that can help your studies.
Take One, Leaf One đ Turn over a new leaf this autumn by increasing your healthy study practices. Look out for our inspiration tree where you can pick up a study happy tip, or leaf one of your own. Our Student Advisors will be demonstrating their own techniques for maintaining good study habits throughout the week.
Student Advisor Study Tips Video đ˝ď¸
Mindful Activitiesđ As well as being fun, creativity is a key part of academic study. You can exercise your brain and develop your creative thinking skills by testing out your paperfolding origami skills.
Healthy Body, Happy Mind đ§ While you are feeding your mind with handy academic study tips, donât forget to feed your body too! Pick up some free fruit on offer all week to keep you fuelled up and ready to take on the rest of the term.
Motivational Music đź Listen up! Music is one of the most popular ways to increase happiness whilst studying. Our Student Advisors have picked out their favourite tracks to work to and created an EHU Study Happy Spotify playlist. Come along to Catalyst during Study Happy Week to find out more about the motivational mix of music that has been created for you.
Cosy Competitionâ If the lure of free fruit, fun activities, study-friendly playlists, and academic study skills tips is not enough, why not escape from the temperamental autumn weather by coming inside cosy Catalyst and completing our academic study skills competition? Test your knowledge of spelling, grammar and referencing. All correct entries will be entered in our prize draw for a chance to win up to ÂŁ25 in Amazon vouchers and a UniSkills goodie bag! (T&C apply).
UniSkills Workshops đĽ As always there are lots of UniSkills workshops taking place this week, all of which have been designed to help you develop your academic skills and confidence at University and beyond!
EHU Big Read Student Book Club đ We think reading is good for the soul, and with lots of studies championing the benefits it can bring to your general wellbeing we canât be wrong. If youâve read this yearâs Big Read book, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, why not come along to our special book club and let us know what you thought.
Whether youâre still at the beginning, half way through or finished completely, we want to hear what you think of Harold and his journey! Join us Monday 4th November at 12pm in Willow – book your place now and we’ll even provide free pizzađ
Wellbeing Workshops đ§ The Student Wellbeing team are running a series of workshops throughout the semester to support your own mental wellbeing. Whether you want to worry less, learn some mindfulness techniques, manage your stress or just get stuff done â thereâs a workshop for you.
Manchester, Aintree & Virtual Support đť If you are studying at Manchester or Aintree, you will be able to pick up your free fruit and lots of helpful study tips all week from your Library. Manchester will be offering UniSkills drop ins and workshops, as well as a Study Happy display, and Aintree has a silent study area, a great reading for pleasure selection and will be hosting some educational boardgames and jigsaws throughout Study Happy week.
Donât forget you can also access lots of help, support and guidance online 24 hours a day â a great place to start is your My Library tab in Learning Edge or our UniSkills webpages:ehu.ac.uk/uniskills. Whether youâre just starting your very first assignment and want to learn about planning and structure or are writing your final dissertation and need help with referencing, we can help you to boost your UniSkills!
This term we are also offering UniSkills workshops at Manchester and two virtual UniSkills workshops with unlimited spaces â book now!
With so many amazing autumnal activities taking place during Study Happy week (and beyond!) be sure to join us for lots of tips and techniques to help you conker your study fears, begin to be-leaf in your academic abilities and be Study Happy!
Study Happy Competition Terms and Conditions 1. Only EHU Students are eligible to win prizes, EHU staff may enter but are not eligible to win a prize. 2. Eligible competition entries must contain all five errors highlighted correctly and your student number. 3. There is one ÂŁ25.00 Amazon voucher to win and two runners up UniSkills goodie bags. 4. You may enter the competition as many times as you wish, but only one correct entry will be entered in the final prize draw â entries can be submitted daily 11am-4pm only. 5. The winners will be contacted via their EHU student email. 6. The winners will be picked at random from a prize draw on Monday 11th November 2019. 7. The prizes are non-transferable. 8. All winners must be able to collect the prize from the Catalyst Helpdesk and be able to provide evidence/ID that they have won before we will award the prize. 9. Prizes must be collected by 4pm on Friday 22nd November 2019. 10. If anyone cannot be contacted or prizes are not collected by Friday 22nd November 2019 the entry will become null and void and a re-draw may take place.
Note: This blog post was originally shared on the Research Office blog. Find it here
If you’re a Pure user at EHU, by the time you read this youâll have greater visibility of the open access (OA) status of your research outputs in the Pure back-end.
In the Assessment section of the output record, you will be presented with a colour-coded marker that tells you if REF OA compliance has been met, not met, or if Pure canât determine it from the information supplied. Youâll also be given the dates that inform that OA status.
This information only appears if the output falls within the scope of the REF2021 Open Access Policy (i.e. articles that were accepted since April 2016), but knowing the OA compliance status can help you decide whether you need to request a REF exception for that output.
