Take a self-paced module or watch previously recorded workshops on the topics listed below.

Library Research Skills

Would you like to get Co-Curricular (CCR) Credit for the Library Research Skills modules? If so, complete the CCR edition.

This series of seven modules introduces students to foundational search skills that will help in university research assignments and beyond. Each module is a stand-alone resource. They can be completed in any order, all at the same time, or individually as needed. Topics include:

Module 1: Introduction to U of T Libraries – Learn how to access and borrow library materials, find study spaces, and how to get help from library staff.
Module 2: Start Your Research – Learn how to define your curiosity, focus your research project, and cite your sources.
Module 3: Select Your Sources – Learn how to differentiate between different source types and select the best sources for your information needs.
Module 4: Search Tools – Learn how to identify and select appropriate search tools.
Module 5: Search Effectively – Learn how to choose the appropriate keywords for your searches and apply advanced search techniques.
Module 6: Evaluate Your Sources – Learn how to evaluate search results and think critically about the sources you choose to use.
Module 7: Searching with GenAI – Learn how GenAI can be used responsibly in the information retrieval process.

Time commitment: 20 mins per module.

Enroll in the Library Research Skills modules.

Introduction to Data Visualization – Part 1: Theory and Critique

Through a combination of videos, web pages, quizzes, and activities, this self-paced online course will use a data visualization design workflow model to introduce participants to best practices and guidelines for designing effective visualizations and evaluating visualizations. For more information on Data Visualization, including topics covered in the course, and services offered by the libraries, see our Data Visualization Guide.

Enrol in the Introduction to Data Visualization-Part 1 module.

Time commitment: 1 hour, 15 minutes. There is an additional 1 hour, 30 minutes (approx.) of activities

Introduction to Data Visualization – Part 2: Practice with Tableau

Through a combination of videos, web pages, quizzes, and activities, this self-paced online course will introduce participants to a common data visualization tool, Tableau Desktop. Participants will learn to create a variety of visualizations such as a line graph of profits over time by product category, a box plot of iris petal widths by species, and a stacked bar graph of word frequencies in Romeo and Juliet. For more information on Data Visualization, see our Data Visualization Guide.

Enrol in the Introduction to Data Visualization – Part 2 module.

Time commitment: 2 hours. There is an additional 1 hour (approx.) of activities.

Introduction to Infographics

Through a combination of lecture and activities, this self-paced online course will introduce participants to best practices and guidelines for designing effective infographics and evaluating them. Participants will get a chance to go through the entire design process of an infographic, from:

determining the story,
sketching the layout,
choosing appropriate data visualizations,
selecting fonts and colours,
using a common online infographic creation tool called Piktochart, to implement the design and create a finished infographic.

For more information on Data Visualization, including topics covered in the workshop, and services offered by the libraries, see our Data Visualization Guide.

Enrol in the Introduction to Infographics module.

Time commitment: 45 minutes. There is an additional 1 hour and 30 minutes (approx.) of activities.

Working with Messy Data in OpenRefine

Through a combination of videos, web pages, quizzes, and activities, this self-paced online course will provide an introduction to OpenRefine, a powerful open source tool for exploring, cleaning and manipulating “messy” data. Through demonstrations and hands-on activities, using a variety of datasets, participants will learn how to explore and identify patterns in data, normalize data, transform and reshape data, and more.

Enrol in the Working with Messy Data in OpenRefine module.

Time commitment: Approximately 1 hour, 15 minutes. There is an additional 1 hour (approx.) of activities.

Introduction to R

This course is broken down into multiple sequential modules that consist of videos, activity and quizzes. The following topics are covered:

Data types and Data structures
Importing and Exporting data
Exploring Data
Graphs
Creating Variables
Managing Data
Tidyverse
R Markdown

Enrol in the Introduction to R module.

Time commitment: Approximately 2 hours.

Copyright for Teaching and Learning Module

This open course provides U of T faculty, students, and staff with a general overview of copyright through seven short, self-directed instructional modules. These modules are intended to help the U of T community ensure that their professional activities comply with Canadian copyright law.

Enrol in the Copyright for Teaching and Learning module.

Time commitment: 10 minutes per module.

Navigating the COVID-19 Evidence Landscape Module

This module is intended to:
1. Describe different types of information sources and the evidence processing involved in creating them
2. Understand the unique special considerations to be aware of when searching for and using evidence for Covid-19

Enrol in the Navigating the COVID-19 Evidence Landscape module.

Time commitment: 30-45 minutes.

Planning Your Knowledge Synthesis Review

This module prepares you for your knowledge synthesis, covering the development of a research question; determination of review method; determination of whether there is a review on your topic; and the development and registration of your protocol.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

Explain the differences between a narrative review and a knowledge synthesis
Choose a review method that best suits your review goal and timelines
Develop a clear research question for your review
Describe the importance of developing a protocol
Initiate the protocol development process

Enrol in the Planning Your Knowledge Synthesis Review module.

Time commitment: Approximately 60 mins.

Related Resources

Knowledge Syntheses Research Guide

Grey Literature

Many define grey literature by what it is not—essentially, anything that isn't a scholarly journal article may be considered grey literature. For the purposes of knowledge syntheses, this definition mostly works, but this module will delve more deeply into what grey literature is; where to find it; and why to use it.

Learning Objectives

By completing this module, you will be able to:

Define what grey literature is (and what’s it’s not)
Recall the reasons why searching for grey literature is important
Differentiate between the 'types' of grey literature and the 'sources' where we find it
Identify relevant sources of grey literature]

Time commitment: Approximately 20-30 mins.

Enrol in the Grey Literature module.

Related Resources

Comprehensive Searching Guide: What is Grey Literature?

Supplementary Search Techniques

Manual searching is often your last chance to find studies that your database searches missed. This module covers manual searching and manual search techniques; citation searching; backwards citation searching; and reporting your supplementary searches.

Learning Objectives

By completing this module, you will be able to:

Define common methods of supplementary searching, namely manual searching and citation searching
Recall techniques for conducting supplementary searches

Enrol in the Supplementary Search Techniques module

Time commitment: Approximately 20-30 mins.

Related Resources

Tutorial: Reference Tracking with Scopus

Identifying and Reporting Biases

Bias is a term that is used in a variety of contexts across many disciplines. Reporting bias is concerned with the influence of results on the dissemination of research findings. This module outlines various types of reporting biases, including but not limited to: publication bias, time lag bias, language bias, and citation bias.

Learning Objectives

By completing this module, you will be able to:

Define different types of reporting biases

Time commitment: Approximately 20-30 mins.

Enrol in the Identifying and Reporting Biases module.

Reporting and Documenting Your Search

Making sure you accurately report your search process is important for the transparency and reproducibility of your work. This module covers how to document your search both from databases and other sources; how to report your search in your written review, and PRISMA-S reporting standards.

Learning Objectives

By completing this module, you will be able to:

Prepare a search strategy in the proper format to be included in your appendix
Review reporting and documenting standards, like PRISMA-S

Enrol in the Reporting and Documenting Your Search module.

Time commitment: Approximately 20-30 mins.

Paper Mills

In response to escalating concerns about research fraud—and the growing influence of paper mills on the integrity of the scholarly record—this module is intended to elevate awareness and catalyze critical dialogue.

This initiative represents a multi-institutional collaboration across four Canadian universities.

Enrol in the Paper Mills module.

Map & Data Library Recorded Workshops

The Map & Data Library offers a number of workshop recordings, for these workshops and more:

Constellate: A new platform to learn text analysis
Digital Humanities Tools: the Digital Scholar Lab
Introduction to Data Visualization Using Tableau Desktop
Introduction to Infographics
Introduction to NVivo 12 (Windows and Mac Versions)
Network Analysis and Visualization Using Gephi - An Introduction
A Friendly Introduction to Python for Absolute Beginners
Introduction to R
Introduction to Stata
Text Analysis Tasting Menu: A Sampling of Available Tools
Working with Messy Data in OpenRefine

Self-paced modules and recorded workshops

Related services & tools

Gerstein Library self-paced learning modules and videos

OISE Library self-paced research modules

U of T Scarborough Library video tutorials, infographics and modules

More information