#SmartResearcher Workshops: 21 Jul - 26 Aug
Contact information
The Library invites postgraduate students, emerging researchers and academic staff to participate in the #SmartResearcher Workshops taking place during July-August 2026. The programme is designed to support researchers across the full research lifecycle, from navigating library resources, conducting literature reviews to managing references. Whether you are starting your postgraduate journey or refining advanced research practices, the #SmartResearcher Workshops aim to strengthen your research and its visibility and impact. The sessions vary in length depending on the subject matter, but cover a wide range of subjects related to the postgraduate research journey. If you attend three or more of the webinars, you are eligible for a certificate of attendance. Please e-mail Dr. Lynn Kleinveldt to request a certificate. The certificates are issued at the end of every semester. Please note that staff who register via SUN-e-HR, will receive the link to the webinar on the day of the event. If you experience any problems while registering via SUN-e-HR, please contact Mandy Oliver, at [email protected]. |
How to conduct a literature review In this webinar, participants will learn what a literature review is and the different types of literature reviews. They will learn best practices for conducting a literature review by working with their topic, structuring the literature review and how to critically analyse literature. Date: 21 July 2026 Time: 11:00 – 13:00 |
Introduction to EndNote for reference management EndNote 21 offers various services, including reference management, organising and annotation of PDF documents and collaboration. In this session, we will show you how to download and install EndNote, how to set up your account and how to add citations to your research paper or thesis/dissertation. Date: 22 July 2026 Time: 11:00 – 13:00 Researchers and staff register here |
Library induction for postgraduate students and academic staff In this introductory session, participants will be provided with an overview of the core services on offer by Stellenbosch University Library and Information Service. Topics include navigating the Library Website, how to find information through the Library’s numerous databases, what advanced research support services are available and many others. Date: 23 July 2026 Time: 10:00 – 13:00 |
Tools and applications for research This workshop will offer a look at some of the top tools and applications for students, academic staff, and researchers. It will cover a variety of mobile apps for research, productivity, reading, writing, presenting, note-taking, file sharing and other essential tools for studying and publishing on the go. Date: 28 July 2026 Time: 14:00 – 16:00 |
Increasing the visibility of your research output through self-archiving This workshop will teach participants more about the policy and how to comply with it in order to improve access to and visibility of their research outputs. Date: 29 July 2026 Time: 11:00 – 12:30 |
Principles of Data Visualisation This workshop will cover the key principles to keep in mind when you are planning your visualisations, from choosing the best visualisation type for your data to the effective use of colour, narrative, etc. Date: 30 July 2026 Time: 14:00 – 15:30 |
Finding Government Statistics This workshop focuses on the database Statistics SA which is available by means of the Library website. The session includes a demonstration on how to access publications on the database, do cross-tabulation and access time series data with variables over time. The aim is to encourage students and researchers to optimise open data sources and methodologies for research projects. Date: 4 August 2026 Time: 14:00 – 16:00 |
Systematic Reviews Thinking about doing a systematic review? Having its origins in health sciences, a systematic review can be a daunting challenge. Let us help you demystify it and get started with a high-level introduction to the systematic review process. Date: 5 August 2026 Time: 14:00 – 16:00 |
Copyright issues in theses and dissertation writing This presentation provides an overview of the copyright issues which students typically encounter while working on their theses or dissertations. Date: 11 August 2026 Time: 14:00 – 15:00 |
Using a screening tool for systematic and scoping reviews The workshop would introduce participants to an evidence synthesis platform for recording, conducting, and reporting systematic reviews and other evidence synthesis reviews. Attendees will be guided from account setup and project creation through literature import and de-duplication, title/abstract and full-text screening, structured data extraction, and risk-of-bias assessment. Date: 13 August 2026 Time: 14:00 – 16:00 |
Overview of software for effective data analysis and data visualisation An overview of tools and free software for data analysis and data visualisation will be presented. These programmes are helpful for statistical analysis, visualisations, mapping and for the cleaning of data. Date: 18 August 2026 Time: 14:00 – 16:00 |
EndNote: The Advanced Features EndNote offers various services, including reference management, organising and annotation of PDF documents and collaboration. In this session, we will show you how to use the advanced features in EndNote. Date: 20 August 2026 Time: 14:00 – 16:00 |
Tips on how to format your thesis (MS Word) This workshop will help you work around some of the common formatting glitches most postgraduate students experience, whilst getting their document ready for submission. Date: 25 August 2026 Time: 11:00 – 13:00 |
Introduction to Tableau Public and Flourish for data visualisation This workshop will be an introductory course to visualise your data with Tableau Public and Flourish. Both tools are free for students and academics and fairly user-friendly. Date: 26 August 2026 Time: 14:00 – 16:00 |