Your academic success is increasingly dependent on written output, publication and impact – a process which already starts at the PhD phase, where publishing is an expected component of your PhD project. In two 2-hour sessions, you will boost your professional skills and knowledge by: 

• learning how to efficiently create a literature review
• learning how to select the most relevant journals for your research and publication
• gaining insight into the basics of the publication process, and the services the university provides to help you

How advanced is this course? / Is this course for me?

While the course is open to all PhD candidates, it may be most useful for those of you who 

• are currently writing your introductory essay or literature review(s),
• wish to gain insight into general approaches to literature reviews,
• wish to learn the basics of developing a publishing strategy, and/or
• wish to familiarize yourself with the databases and resources available at the University.

Course details

Workshop 1: This workshop focuses on conducting a literature review, including: learning how to systematically create a complete overview of relevant literature, getting the most of your search time (time-saving strategies), simplifying and structuring your research, evaluating sources, and understanding how this contributes to the success of your written work.

At the end of this workshop, you can have a concrete and professionally reviewed search strategy that is tailored to your research topic.

Workshop 2: This workshop focuses on preparing for publication, dealing with topics such as publication ethics and bias, how literature reviews aid the publication process, selecting the right journal, determining impact, peer review, citation metrics, author rights, etc.

At the end of this workshop, you can have a publication strategy that can be used for strategic career planning, impact and discussions with your supervisor.

Literature and workload

All course materials will be provided. In addition to the workshop sessions, participants are expected to invest 4-8 hours of research and practice time. A number of extra materials are provided, to give more guidance or an extra challenge to the students.