AES Book & Journal Clubs

Welcome to the AES Journal Club!

Here, you'll find information about the group, and how you can participate.

• What's a journal club, and how does it work?
• Meeting schedule & readings archive
• Guide for presenters
• Help finding articles

What's a journal club?

During each meeting, a member will provide a brief introduction to a peer-reviewed paper they’ve found that relates to the work of the Academic Engagement & Support team. Following the presentation, the group will discuss the paper and explore its relevance to our efforts at National University. The readings for upcoming meetings will be announced in advance, so everyone can prepare.  

A journal club is, generally, a meeting during which participants discuss research literature relevant to their profession ... not just to promote current awareness, but also to support engagement in evidence-based practice (Fitzgibbons, 2015).

Why should I get involved?

Journal clubs...

• "contribute to building an organisational culture of learning and reflective practice" (Fitzgibbons, 2015);
• provide "a forum to develop critical appraisal skills" (Doney & Stanton, 2003);
• may "lead to new projects that allow us to become even more user-focused in our service offerings" (Hickman & Allen, 2005);
• help members "develop a specific focus for further research and collaboration" (Turner, et al., 2020), and "identify gaps in the literature" that they'd like to explore (Bishop, Riehman-Murphy, & Correll, 2019).

Who can participate?

Anyone in the Academic Engagement & Support department is welcome! Our colleagues come from a wide variety of educational and professional backgrounds and may or may not have engaged in research or close reading before. We're here to learn and be inspired together.

A wide range of backgrounds makes [a] club an excellent networking forum, and gives plenty of opportunities for sharing experience and knowledge (Doney & Stanton, 2003).

When and where will we meet?

We will meet on the first Wednesday of each month. You can find the schedule on this page, including Zoom links.