Explore the 2024 On Track Programme

Writing your Master's dissertation? Want to know how to find literature or data, manage your references, structure and write your dissertation effectively, and more? Join us for a programme of free workshops that will help boost your research skills!

The 2024 On Track programme will run from 10 June to 21 June. These sessions will cover everything you need for your Masters project, from the basics of using Library resources and structuring essays, all the way to practical tips for publishing your work and advice for pursuing a PhD. You can explore what's on offer and book onto workshops through the Library website or CareerHub, but keep reading on to learn how to get the most out of these sessions. 

Who is On Track for?

On Track sessions are open to everyone from undergraduates to research students, but most of the sessions have been designed with postgraduate taught students, completing their final projects, in mind. There is lots of support available from boosting your information literacy and academic writing skills to maths and stats and data analysis advice - whatever you're struggling with, you are not alone.

What will you learn?

With a wide range of sessions on offer, there is something for everyone, regardless of which department you're from or what your final project looks like. The main thing we want you to learn from Skills at Library training is how to be a good information consumer who knows how share and engage with sources ethically. The Library sessions are focused on how to find and use information in an academic context, but a lot of what you will learn applies to personal life as well. Similarly, the sessions offered by other academic support teams focus on academic skills such as writing and analysing data, but with strong links to transferable skills that will serve you long after you graduate from Essex.

The Skills at Library workshop series covers:

• Where to find course-specific resources and how to access your reading lists and Subject Guide.
• How to organise your research by creating a search strategy
• Using advanced search techniques to make your searches more efficient and lead you to the most relevant information.
• Advanced search tips for Google and Google Scholar
• The ethics behind how you use information
• How to avoid academic offenses
• Checking source quality using techniques like the TRAAP test and SIFT method
• How to reference sources
• Ensuring the information you produce and share is inclusive and accessible

Additionally, you will find support for:

• Academic writing skills such as improving writing flow and coherence
• How to paraphrase and summarise
• Structuring your dissertation
• Running and interpreting various statistical tests
• How to make the most of Office tools like Excel and Word
• Referencing with EndNote
• Practical tips for proofreading
• How to use AI ethically and an introduction to prompt engineering

Programme Overview

How to attend:

All the workshops can be found on the Library website or CareerHub. Click on a session link for more information on how to join. The Library sessions will run twice across the two week period, once online and once in-person, so if you can't make a session you're interested in, make sure to check the calendar for more occurrences of it!