Workshop Registration

Citation Research

Wondering which journals are the best to publish in? Preparing your dossier? Starting a grant proposal? Want to see how own works have been considered by your peers? This workshop is intended to help you better understand the core databases, web sites and tools available to you for advanced citation research. The first part of the session provides you with an opportunity to learn and discuss the changing landscape of citation research and resources. The last 30-minutes will allow you time for hands-on work in the various citation databases or time to investigate some of the tools available to help you manipulate citation data from different sources.

Creating Posters Using PowerPoint

Getting ready to do a poster at an upcoming conference? Learn pointers about using PowerPoint to create the poster as one giant slide, and send it to a large-scale printer.

EndNote: Basics

An introduction to using EndNote. Learn to import citations, customize your account, and format your bibliographies and in-text citations. We'll also discuss using EndNote in conjunction with EndNoteWeb, a web-based version of EndNote available for free to current University of Minnesota students, faculty, and staff. Find a self-paced online version of this course at http://www.lib.umn.edu/research/instruction/modules/index.html.

Engineering: Find Better Information Faster

A quick tour of the resources available for finding the best information for your engineering research. We'll demonstrate how to find journal articles and conference papers using Engineering Village and Web of Science, show how to access reference books online using Knovel, and discuss best practices in patents and standards searching.

Extreme Googling: Collaboration Tools

Google offers much more than a search engine. We will introduce to you free, online tools from Google to help you work collaboratively, stay current, get organized and be more productive in your personal and professional online lives. Tools covered will include: Google Docs, iGoogle, Google Notebook, Google Reader, Google Groups, Google Calendar, and Google Sites. Note: Searching Google will NOT be covered in this class. If you are interested in search tips, please attend Extreme Googling: Tips and Tricks for Expert Searching or Google IS a Research Tool.

Formatting Your Dissertation or Thesis in Word 2007

Focus on your research instead of your formatting! In this workshop, you'll learn how to use Microsoft Word features effectively and efficiently. We'll cover inserting images and charts, getting your page numbers in the right place, generating tables of contents and figures; and more. Please note that this workshop covers the basic formatting you'll need to comply with Graduate School guidelines. Participants should have basic experience using MS Word. Note this version of the workshop specifically uses Office 2007; an instruction manual is available for Word 2003. We will be using a template and not be working with individual dissertations. Class materials can be found on the Moodle page, at: https://moodle.umn.edu/course/view.php?id=5102 This class is also available online: http://www.lib.umn.edu/research/instruction/modules/index.html

Getting Published: How to Publish Your Science Research Article

This workshop, intended for graduate students and newer faculty in the sciences, will help you identify appropriate journals to which to submit your article and discuss how to manage your rights when signing a contract with a publisher. Join your colleagues to share your ideas and discuss the issues you face as an emerging academic author.

Google for Researchers

With Google, you already search the web, share photos/movies/music, map directions and discover new things...but there are some tools you may have missed. This web search engine is on a mission to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible." So let's explore the new tools and technology that pair Google-efficient tools with library-quality results to weave together a rich information web that goes beyond just the World Wide Web. We'll look at tools such as, Google Docs, RSS Reader, Google Scholar, and iGoogle Research Gadgets that will help you access, evaluate, and share information in an easy collaborative environment.

Google IS a Research Tool

Learn how to use Google to your advantage! Our advanced tips and tricks will help you get the most out of your Google searching. Today Google offers researchers access to the broadest array of information available today. White papers, preprints, books, open access journals abound. Google Scholar offers alternative citation resources. Google Books offers a wonderful opportunity to do full-text searching in the largest repository of online books ever created. However, using Google can be challenging. This workshop focuses on practical tips and ideas guaranteed to make your web searching more effective and more efficient!

Grant & Fellowship Information in the Social Sciences

Grant Funding - Search Tools and Resources

Learn how to use IRIS, SPIN, and Community of Science and the Foundation Directory to search for grant opportunities. Setting up e-mail updates on specific subjects will also be covered, as well as how to find internal U of M funding sources. Resources for the course are listed on the Web site of the Office of the VP for Research, http://www.collaborate.umn.edu/explore/searching.html

Grant Funding for Graduate Students

Find out more about funding opportunities available to graduate students. Learn how to use IRIS, SPIN, and Community of Science and the Foundation Directory to search for grant opportunities. Setting up e-mail updates on specific subjects will also be covered, as well as how to find internal U of M funding sources. Resources for the course are listed on the Web site of the Office of the VP for Research, http://www.collaborate.umn.edu/explore/searching.html.

How do I Know I Found Everything?

Working on a new research project, a thesis or dissertation? Need to be comprehensive in your literature search? Explore ways to approach the search, and identify useful--and perhaps unusual--resources.

Intro to SciFinder Scholar

Learn how to use SciFinder Scholar to find information on chemical substances and literature from chemistry and a wide variety of related fields including food science, geochemistry, materials science, medicine, and more. We'll cover tips and tricks and the basics of structure drawing.

Introduction to Data Management for Scientists and Engineers

Digital data is growing at an exponential rate, and the work involved in managing that data is rapidly increasing as well. How can we ensure that our research data will still be available in a usable form in 5, 10, or 20 years? We will discuss why having a data management plan is important as well as key considerations and best practices for data management.

My NCBI: How to Use It to Your Advantage

Learn what My NCBI is, and how to use it to save your PubMed searches, create collections and bibliographies, set PubMed preferences (including the University of Minnesota Find-It link), and create filters for your search results! This time-saving and free web tool is particularly handy if you find yourself doing PubMed searches from multiple computers, since you can log into it from anywhere.

RefWorks: Basics

Learn the basics of using RefWorks, the Web-based citation manager that is available to all U of M Faculty, students and staff. Adding references to RefWorks will be covered, as well as exporting them to Word, and selecting a style (MLA, APA, etc) for your bibliography. See http://www.lib.umn.edu/indexes/refworks for more details about RefWorks.
This class is also available online: http://www.lib.umn.edu/research/instruction/modules/index.html

RefWorks: Advanced

For RefWorks users who would like to learn more about linking to full text documents, editing styles, and other specialized tasks. Attendees are encouraged to bring their RefWorks questions to the session. A list of advanced features may be found at http://courses.lib.umn.edu/page.phtml?page_id=2603

Unravel the Library 1: Orientation and Tour of Wilson Library

This basic workshop is designed to highlight services and resources in the Libraries. You will learn how to read a citation, locate books and articles from a citation using MNCAT, the libraries catalog and tour Wilson Library.

Prerequisites: none. This workshop is designed for new students to the University.

There will be certificates available to provide evidence of attendance to your instructor.

NOTE: If fewer than eight students register for a session, the session will be canceled.

If you are having trouble getting into a workshop, keep checking back because spaces do open up. If the workshops listed below do not fit into your schedule please contact Lynne at l-beck@umn.edu to see if we can add a session.

Unravel the Library 2: Finding Scholarly Articles

This workshop will help you save time. You will learn how to find articles in the University Libraries, identify which are scholarly, search article indexes, and use efficient search techniques.

There will be certificates available to provide evidence of attendance to your instructor.

Prerequisites: Unravel the Library 1 is highly encouraged before taking Unravel the Library 2.

NOTE: If fewer than eight students register for a session, the session will be canceled.

Unravel the Library 3: Advanced Searching

You will learn both the art and science of advanced searching techniques. Upon completion, you will be familiar with field searching, truncation, Boolean operators, and constructing a search strategy.

There will be certificates available to provide evidence of attendance to your instructor.

Prerequisites: Unravel 2: Finding Scholarly Articles or basic academic research experience

NOTE: If fewer than eight students register for a session, the session will be canceled.

Web of Science: Research Made Easy

Web of Science searches journal and conference literature from the most highly-cited journals in the world, and in nearly every subject disciplinary. Learn how this tool can help you search, find, evaluate, access and cite research in one streamlined process. This introductory workshop is ideal for undergraduates or graduates beginning their research process who are looking for a deeper method of literature review, one that goes beyond simply skimming the surface.

We will cover search strategies, setting up email alerts, citation management and journal ranking methods, such as h-index, Impact Factor, and Eigenfactor metrics. Subject examples will focus on the sciences, but arts, humanities and social sciences are also covered by this index.

Writing in the Health Sciences: Anatomy of a Research Paper

This class will review the standard structure of a scientific research paper. We will discuss each of the basic components of a research paper: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion (IMRAD), pointing to common mistakes that can be made in writing the different components.

Zotero: Basics

Zotero is a free Firefox extension that helps you collect citations and website information from within your Firefox browser. We'll show you how to install Zotero and use it to capture citations, organize your research, and format bibliographies and in-text citations.
This class is also available online: http://www.lib.umn.edu/research/instruction/modules/index.html