Data and research skills: Highlights from bite-sized workshops in AY22/23 semester 2

By Bella Ratmelia, Librarian, Data Services

SMU Libraries concluded the biannual bite-sized workshop series last month! We would like to thank SMU community for their continued support to our workshops.

While most of the workshops were conducted in person, some were held online and recorded. You can now access the recordings (SMU only) and watch them at your convenience using the following links.

If you're interested in learning Python, we have several workshops that may be useful to you:

• Python 101 series with Bella, Data Services Librarian. This series consists of three separate workshops suitable for complete beginners in Python.
  • Python 101: The Basics
  • Python 101: Tinkering with Pandas’ DataFrame
  • Python 101: Visualizing your data in Python
• Data Extraction from WRDS with Python with Lip Hwee, Research Librarian for Business (Finance) & Accountancy. Learn how to use WRDS API and Python to seamlessly retrieve data from WRDS.

If you're keen to expand your knowledge on research data management and effective data cleaning, then these two workshops by Danping, Research Services Librarian, would be a good starting point:

• Introduction to Research Data Management
• Cleaning Data with Open Refine

In addition, Aaron, Data Services Team Lead, and Sumita, Research Librarian for Business, have put together workshops to help you review scholarly literature. These cover the types of literature you'll encounter in your research and some handy tools you can use to make reviewing them much easier:

• Scholarly Literature Review I - A Beginner's Guide
• Scholarly Literature Review II - Mapping and cutting edge tools

If you are struggling to keep up with what is happening in your field and what all the citation metrics mean for your publication, there are some tips, tricks, and tools that can help. Aaron has shared them in the following workshops:

• Current Awareness Tools: Keep Up in Your Field
• Useful Browser Extensions for Academic Research
• Citation Metrics 101: Journal Rankings, Impact Factors, Altmetrics and More

We hope that these recordings will provide you with valuable insights and practical knowledge that you can apply to your research. If you have any feedback or suggestions on how we can improve our workshops, please do not hesitate to send them to library@smu.edu.sg. We look forward to seeing you at our future events!