Digital tools for the modern researcher: postgraduate students at Kherson State University are learning how to use the latest platforms for working with academic literature
On 1 April, a session was held for students pursuing a third-cycle (research) degree as part of the ‘Digital Adaptation’ programme.
The topic of the session – ‘Navigating academic literature and bibliographies: Zotero, Connected Papers and ResearchRabbit in the researcher’s workflow’ – sparked interest among young researchers, as it directly relates to the development of their research skills.
During the session, postgraduate students examined in detail the functionality of three key platforms:
• Zotero: a tool for creating a personal digital library, which allows users not only to save articles and work with PDF files and notes, but also to automate the process of formatting bibliographies.
• Connected Papers: a service for the visual search of academic papers, which helps researchers see the connections between different studies and identify key publications on a chosen topic.
• ResearchRabbit: a platform for advanced literature search and the creation of a network of sources, which significantly simplifies navigation between new and related studies.
Particular emphasis was placed on a practical working scenario: how to combine these digital tools into a single system.
The session marked another step in preparing postgraduate students for successful research and teaching activities and for presenting their own results in an international academic context.