Here we have suggested some resources and literature that can support you in a good kick-off on your research project in addition to introducing some tools that can help you develop your career planning strategies and -mindset.
Things you should know before you start
It is always good to get some tips and tricks from your peers when you are new to something. Here you find some resources that can help you find your way around UiO and some articles that address being a new PhD candidate from different perspectives.
Resources
- PhD comics (bookmark this page right away)
- New at UiO
- Getting around at UiO
- International Staff Mobility Office (ISMO)
- Norwegian courses for employees and researchers of UiO
- University of Oslo Library guidance - get help with literature search, source use, writing help, guidance in research data etc.
- PhD on Track - enabling beginning researchers to easily access information on searching and reviewing scholarly literature, on academic writing, and on sharing and publishing reports and data
- Access to PressReader - the service allows you to read more than 7400 newspapers and magazines from around the world
- PhD Welcome Pack (Uni. of Namur)
Articles
- Surviving your PhD - advice from PhD students for PhD students (Uni. of York)
- Science Careers: A welcome message to new Ph.D. students from your principal investigator
- Science Careers: To navigate a Ph.D., recent graduates offer these five key pieces of advice
- Inside Higher Ed: 5 Ways to Make the Most of Your Doctoral Studies
- Science Careers: Let's go to a conference!
- Science Careers: Yay, it's conference time! Navigating the bizarre world of scientific meetings
Read, evaluate and write
Here you find resources and literature that involve strategies for searching, reading and critically reviewing relevant literature, in addition to tools and tips on how to build a well-organized library of references and an introduction to writing academic English.
Resources
- Writing and publishing (University Library)
- PhD on track: Review and write
- For researchers: Find, Manage, Publish, Communicate (University Library)
- Search and write
Referencing - what is it and why does it matter?
- Referencing in Humanities and social sciences
- Referencing in Mathematics and natural sciences
- Referencing in Medicine and health sciences
Courses provided by the University Library
- Critical appraisal of articles
- Methods and tools for better search techniques
- Interdisciplinary tools: Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar
- Zotero referencing program
- PubMed: Efficient searching for journal articles
Articles
Data management
Good research data management is increasingly important to researchers in all disciplines and plays an essential role in Open Science to make the data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR). Therefore, it is important that you get a good understanding of why a data management plan is so important, and the tools and know-how on how to start one.
Good data management practices can also help you save time by reflecting on IF you need to collect new data, and if so, WHAT type(s) of data will be collected and HOW, WHERE and WHEN it will be collected. Another time saving aspect is good data organization and documentation strategies that can help make the collected data more easily retrievable for yourself and others.
Resources
- UiO's policies and guidelines for research data management
- UiO's data management plan template
- Digital Scholarship Center: Research data management
- Prepare your data (DataverseNO)
- Guide to writing "readme" style metadata (Cornell Uni.)
- FAIR principles
- Creative Commons - Share your work
- How to classify data and information at UiO
- Data storage guide at UiO
Examples/tutorials
Introduction to career learning
A PhD education is a jumping board to a broad selection of career paths but many early career researchers struggle to see the full extent of their career opportunities. Here you find some resources that can help you start developing your career planning techniques and a strategic career development mindset.
Resources
- Risky and Resilient? Webinar on Building an Academic Career
- InterSECT Job Simulations
- Science Careers: my Individual Development Plan (myIDP; free tool)
- Map your skills with the Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF) planner
- SMART goals - quick overview (YouTube.com)
- Karriereplanleggeren (only in Norwegian)