Recently in Workshops Category

I'll be teaching an EndNote Basics Class next week at Walter Library.

The class is Tuesday, November 3 from 1:30-2:30 in Room 310

You can register here

In the class I'll cover the basics of using EndNote (importing citations, linking to full text, formatting in-text citations and bibliographies, etc.) We'll be using EndNote X3, so if you're interested to see what this newest version has to offer this class would be a great opportunity to learn more.

If you can 't make it to the workshop, I've also put together an online version.

We're offering a new workshop at Walter Library next week, RefWorks: Advanced.

If you've taken our RefWorks:Basics class or are self-taught on using the online citation manager then this class might be for you.

We let the class decide what gets covered in the class...to get an idea of the types of topics that we'll demonstrate visit the RefWorks: Advanced website.

If you're only interested in one of the suggested topics then you might not want to come to the full workshop...just email me and I can answer your question directly.

But if the topics look intriguing please register for the class here.

Here's all the info

RefWorks: Advanced
Tuesday, October 27
1:00-2:00
Walter Library 310

We're offering a lot library workshops next week...here's info on those workshops that still have open spaces:

Unravel 3

I wrote about the Unravel Program in an earlier post this week. Unravel 3 covers more advanced search tips...useful to those who are in the beginning stages of a literature review.

Unravel 3: Advanced Searching
Monday, October 19
10:00-11:15
Walter 310

Getting Published: How to Publish Your Science Research Article

This workshop is aimed at graduate students and beginning faculty who are just entering the publication world. This workshop demonstrates ways of finding the best journal for your article and will give you a primer on retaining your rights as an author.

Getting Published
Monday, October 19
1:30-2:30
Walter 310

Grant Funding - Search Tools and Resources

This image is from AMagill via Flickr. CC.

Looking for funding for your big research project? Librarians will show you the ins and outs of major grant databases--allowing you to find relevant grants quickly.

Grant Funding
Tuesday, October 20
3:00-4:15
Walter 310

You can register for all of these workshops here.

Unravel the Libraries is introductory series of workshops that introduces the basics of research to University of Minnesota students. You can learn skills like brainstorming keywords, locating relevant databases, and evaluating search results.

This class may be especially useful if you're returning to research after a hiatus in your studies or if you're starting research at an American university for the first time. Also if you're an instructor or TA for a class of undergraduates, you may want to make them aware of this resource as well.

Unravel 2 and 3 will probably be the most useful. If you're interested in learning more you visit these websites, Unravel 2 and Unravel 3, to get a more complete description and register for a class (I'll be teaching an Unravel 2 session at Walter Library on Wednesday, October 28 from 3:00-4:15).

Unravel 2 is also available completely online if the workshops don't work with your schedule.

We've got a lot of workshops coming up next week. Workshops to help you maximize your searching as well as workshops to help you organize your research. Keep reading to learn more details.

Monday, October 12

Web of Science: Research Made Easy
1:30-2:30 (Walter 310)

Geology/Astronomy/Physics Librarian Lisa Johnston will show you the ins and outs of searching this powerful science database. A great workshop if you've got a research project that you're working on!

Tuesday, October 13

Zotero Basics
11:15-12:15 (Walter 310)

Engineering Librarian Jan Fransen and I will teach you the basics of using Zotero, a *free* citation manager Firefox plug-in. Zotero makes capturing citations extremely easy and convenient.

Wednesday, October 14

EndNote Basics
1:30-2:30 (Walter 310)

I'll be teaching this class. I'll show the basics of using EndNote...capturing and storing citations. Formatting bibliographies and in-text citations. We'll be using version X3...so if you're interested to see what's new in EndNote feel free to sign up.

Introduction to SciFinder Scholar
3:30-4:30 (Walter 310)

Chemistry and Materials Science Librarian Meghan Lafferty will provide a guided tour of this great resource for chemical substances and literature from chemistry and a wide variety of related fields including food science, geochemistry, materials science, medicine. She'll show you tips and tricks to make the most of your searching.

To register for any of these courses visit our website. Seats are limited!

Next Tuesday Chemistry Librarian, Meghan Lafferty, and I will be teaching an Introduction to Citation Managers workshop at Walter Library (it's from 11:15-12:15 on October 6, in Room 310).

This workshop is a great introduction to three different tools that can help you organize your research and work more efficiently. In the first half Meghan will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of three popular citations managers EndNote, RefWorks, and Zotero

In the second half of class I'll demonstrate how you import citations, create bibliographies, and format in-text citations with all three citation managers.

We'll also do our best to answer any questions that you have about the three citation managers.

If you're interested, please register here.

If you can't make it to the workshop but are still curious about the differences between the three resources check our comparison chart.

We also have online workshops available for all three resources.

• EndNote Online Instruction
• RefWorks Online Instruction
• Zotero Online Instruction

Is there a topic that you'd like to see the library offer a workshop on? If so feel free to leave your ideas in the comments or send me an email.

Here's a list of library workshops coming up next week at Walter Library. If you have any questions or would like more information about any of the offerings, send me an email.

Create Posters Using PowerPoint

(Image comes from ragesoss via Flickr. CC)

We'll give you the tools to make a classy poster for your next presentation--be it in class, at a conference or a departmental meeting. We'll show you how to use PowerPoint to create a poster as one giant slide that can be easily sent to a large-scale printer. We'll also provide you with some best practices in designing your poster so that you have an eye-catching document that's easy to understand.

Monday, September 28
1:30-2:15
Walter Library 310

Web Tools For Working Collaboratively

An introduction and overview of great online collaborative tools that you can use in your work with colleagues...whether they're across the ocean or across the hall.

Tuesday, September 29
1:30-2:30
Walter Library 310

Engineering: Find Better Information Faster

(Image from Calistobreeze via Flickr. CC).

In this workshop we'll give you an overview and some hands-on experience finding quality engineering research. We'll discuss finding peer-reviewed journal articles from Engineering Village and Web of Science as well as searching for more technical information in patent and standards databases.

Wednesday, September 30
2:30-3:30
Walter Library 310

To register visit our website.

We have three more workshops coming up next week to help you in your research.

(from IRRI Images via Flickr. CC).

EndNote Basics
Monday, September 21
1:30-2:30
Walter Library 310

This workshop will give you an introduction to EndNote--a desktop-based citation manager. EndNote allows you to store and organize your citations and can format bibliographies and in-text citations from those stored citations. I'll be demonstrating the most recent version of EndNote (X3) but the class should be useful even for those using older versions.

Note: We'll have demonstration copies of EndNote to use in the workshop, but to use in your research you will need to purchase your own individual instance of the software.

Grant Funding for Graduate Students
Tuesday, September 22
3:30-4:15
Walter Library 310

This workshop is aimed at helping grad students find grant opportunities specific to their research aims. The workshop will cover searching Illinois Research Information Service (IRIS), SPIN, and Community of Science to find grant funding opportunities.

Zotero: Basics
Wednesday, September 23
1:30-2:30
Walter Library 310

We'll go over the basics of using Zotero--a Firefox plug-in that you can use to store your citations and capture website information for free. Zotero can also format bibliographies and in-text citations and has other unique uses.

You can register for classes on our website. If you have any questions...feel free to send me an email.

The Science and Engineering Library will be offering two workshops next week to help you manage your research.

(image from ant.photos via Flickr. CC).

Introduction to Citation Managers

This workshop will offer an overview of how a citation manager can help you in your research. We'll also give a brief overview of three popular citation managers: EndNote, RefWorks, and Zotero to help you decide which citation manager best fits your needs. This workshop is an overview and will not include hands-on practice with the citation managers.

Monday, September 14
1:30-2:30
Walter Library Room 310

RefWorks Basics

This workshop focuses only on RefWorks, giving an in-depth, hands-on introduction to this online software available for free to UMN students, faculty and staff from the Libraries.

We'll show you how to save citations, link to full text, and format bibliographies and in-text citations in the citation style of your choice.

Tuesday, September 15
2:30-3:30
Walter Library Room 310

You can register for workshops at Walter Library here.

If you'd like more information about these workshops, feel free to send me an email.

To help you get back in the swing of scholarship for the Fall 2009 semester Walter Library will be hosting a workshop series covering topics from Organizing Research to Poster Making to Finding Grant Funding and More.

Here's a list of workshops occurring at Walter Library the week of August 24-28:

Introduction to Citation Managers
Walter Library 101
10:00-11:00 a.m.
Monday, August 24

This workshop will provide an overview of three citation managers, EndNote, RefWorks, and Zotero to help you decide which piece of software is the best match for your research needs.

This workshop is not hands-on but will show you the relative strengthes and weaknesses of these options as well as a demonstration on how they work with library databases and word processing programs.

Online Comparison Chart

Register for the Class

Learn how to create a high quality poster for presentations at classes, meetings, and conferences using Microsoft PowerPoint. This workshop provides a quick overview of design basics and gives you hands-on experience creating a poster from a template and/or from scratch.

Online Tutorial

Register for the Class

Grant Funding--Search Tools and Resources
Walter Library 310
2:30-3:45 pm
Monday, August 24

Looking for funding for a big research project? This workshop will show you search tools and other resources to find grant opportunities that match up with your research project.

Register for the Class

RefWorks: Basics
Walter Library 310
11:00-Noon
3:30-4:30 p.m.
Tuesday, August 25

A hands-on intro to RefWorks...we'll get you set up with an account, show you how to import citations, organize your research, create formatted bibliographies in seconds, and show you how to link RefWorks with Word to format in-text citations.

Online Tutorial

Register for the Class

Formatting Your Dissertation or Thesis in *Word 2007*
Walter Library 310
10:00-Noon
Wednesday, August 26

Not sure how to get started formatting your thesis or dissertation to meet graduate school requirements? Let us help! Learn the formatting requirements and how to set up a template for your document, set up headings, chapter numbers, how to insert and caption images and more.

Register for the Class

EndNote Basics
Walter Library 310
1:00-2:00 pm
2:00-3:00 pm
Wednesday, August 26

Get an introduction to EndNote X3! I'll show you how to store citations, organize your research, link to full text, and format bibliographies and documents with EndNote X3. I'll also cover how you can use the freely available EndNoteWeb to supplement your research anywhere that you have an Internet connection.

Online Tutorial

Register for the Class

Zotero Basics
Walter Library 310
10:00-11:00 a.m.
1:00-2:00
Thursday, August 27

Zotero is a free Mozilla Firefox plug-in that lets you store citations and easily capture 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.

Online Tutorial

Register for the Class

Getting Published: How to Publish Your Science Research Article
Walter Library 310
10:00-11:00 a.m.
Friday, August 28

This workshop, intended for beginning authors will show you how to find good journal matches for your articles as well as inform you about your rights as an author and help you make informed contract negotiations when dealing with publishers.

Register for the Class

Google for Researchers
Walter Library 310
1:00-2:00 p.m.
Friday, August 28

We'll give you an overview of Google Tools to use for Research, Collaboration and Improving Productivity...We'll talk about resources like Google Scholar, Google Documents, Google Reader, Google Books, and much more.

Register for the Class

If you have any questions about any of these workshops or resources, please let me know!

Do you have more free time now that the spring semester has wound down? Why not use the time to take advantage of some of our classes to help you with your research. Next week we'll be offering two classes.

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/refworks/ for more details about RefWorks.

Where: Walter 310
When: Wednesday, June 3 (10:00-11:00)
Register Here

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

Where: Walter 310
When: Wednesday, June 3 (3:00-4:15)
Register Here

(Image from Steve_Wampler via Flickr. CC.)

Do you need helping locating funding for your research project? Let the libraries connect you to tools that will help you grab some of that money being offered by different agencies and groups and get your research funded!

Next week we'll be offering Grant Funding for Graduate Students

Here's the description we've posted on our website:

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

Here are the details:
Grant Funding for Graduate Students
Tuesday, April 14
Walter 310
3:00-4:15 p.m.
Register Here

We have two workshops coming up next week in Walter 310 that may be of interest...

This workshop will be a very basic introduction to using EndNote...we'll cover setting up your EndNote Library, importing citations, basic customizations, and generating bibliographies and using Cite While You Write with Word.

EndNote for Engineers and Physical Scientists
Wednesday, April 8
3:30-4:30
Register Here

If you're unable to attend, I've also put together a self-directed online version of the class. If you have any questions feel free to send me an email.

This class is new to me, but it sounds interesting--all about Creative Commons licensing. Both discussing using the Creative Commons license for your own work and using Creative Commons-licensed material to enhance your work.

Some Rights Reserved: An Introduction to Creative Commons
Wednesday, April 8
1:00-2:00
Register Here

Here's some more information on Creative Commons if you want to learn more.

Chemistry Librarian, Meghan Lafferty, will provide a guided tour of SciFinder Scholar...a chemistry database that provides useful information on substances and materials. The tour will introduce users to the database and provide hands-on opportunities to familiarize yourself with this information source.

Here are the details:

Introduction to SciFinder Scholar
Monday, March 30
4:00-5:15
Walter 310
Register Here

We'll be hosting a variety of workshops next week that you may interested in as you gear up for the end of the semester. Here's a listing of the workshops that still have seats open:

Autoalerts (Automatic Updates and News) For Research
Tuesday, March 24
1:30-2:30
Walter 310

Description: Autoalerts are brief information updates automatically generated by a database, search engine, journal publisher's website or blog. The alerts are sent to you as either an e-mail or an RSS feed. This is an easy-to-use technique for staying up to date with news and research literature for a specific discipline or topic. This workshop will demonstrate some introductory methods for setting up autoalerts for your work. The class will be taught utilizing science and health science information resources for demonstration purposes. Class level: Introductory, no previous experience with autoalerts is necessary. Some experience with basic literature database searches is helpful. Audience: The class is open to U of M faculty, staff and students.
Register Here

Unravel 2: The Research Process--Finding Articles
Wednesday, March 25
12:30-1:45
Walter 310

Description: The U of M has the 15th largest research library system in the United States. How do you find appropriate books and articles in this huge place? This free workshop will help! Save time and energy by learning to do it right. The workshop will focus on effectively accessing articles through the University Libraries and identifying which of these materials are consider scholarly. This workshop is geared towards undergraduates, but all researchers are welcome to attend.
Register Here.

Are you curious to know more about the free Mozilla Firefox plug-in that will allow you to save and organize online websites, citations, and full text articles?

The plug-in is called Zotero and we'll be teaching a workshop here at Walter Library that will show you how to

• Save websites, citations, and full-text articles
• Organize your research for maximum efficiency
• Format in-text citations in Microsoft Word or Google Docs
• Create a quick bibliography

Here's the information on the workshop...if you have any questions about the workshop or Zotero in general, please feel free to drop me an email.

Zotero: An Introduction
Monday, March 9
1:25-2:25
Walter Library 310
Register Here

Are you getting started in the process of publishing in scholarly journals? Come to our workshop, Getting Published: How to Publish Your Science Research Article.

This workshop will help you to identify appropriate journals to submit your articles to and discuss how to manage your rights when signing a contract with a publisher. It will also give you an opportunity to discuss issues and share ideas with your colleagues.

Here's the info:

Getting Published: How to Publish Your Science Research Article
Thursday, March 5
11:15-12:15
Walter Library 310
Register Here

If you're still looking for the best way to manage all the new information that comes flowing at you daily then you may be interested in attending Keeping Up: Web-Based Tools That Help You Work Smarter. In this workshop one of Walter's Librarians, Jody Kempf, will take you through a host of different online tools that will make keeping up-to-date a much simpler process. She'll discuss tools such as online tagging, setting up RSS feeds, and taking advantage of advanced features in library databases.

Here's all relevant information
Keeping Up: Web-Based Tools That Help You Work Smarter
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Walter Library 310
2:30-3:30
Register Here

We're offering our Wikipedia workshop one more time this semester. Librarian, Jan Fransen, will discuss ways to get the most out of this free, online reference tool. Jan will give you a behind the scenes tour of the way that Wikipedia entries are made and will show you how to follow Wikipedia entries to find more information on your research topic.

Jan will also provide some best practices in writing Wikipedia entries, so you can help make this resource even more useful!

Here are the details:

Making An Impact With Wikipedia
Wednesday, February 25
11:00 - Noon
Walter Library Room 310
Register Here

(Image from Calistobreeze via Flickr. CC)

We’re trying out a new drop-in workshop geared specifically to help engineering students in their research. Jan Fransen and I will be presenting:

Engineering: Find Better Information Faster
Wednesday, February 18
3:30-4:30 pm
Walter Library 310
Register here

In this workshop we’ll give a quick tour of a variety of Engineering information resources to help you locate scholarly journal articles, electronic reference books, patents, and standards. We’ll also provide you with research tips and techniques to make your searches as efficient as possible.

Hope to see you there!

(Image from MikeBlogs via Flickr. CC).

Who Owns Your Scholarship? Copyright, Publication Agreements, and Good Policy
Presented by Kenny Crews, Founding Director of Columbia University's Copyright Advisory Office.
Monday, February 16, 2009
2:30-4:30
Great Hall, Coffman Memorial Union
Register Here

Dr. Crews will address such questions as:

Who owns the article or book you just published?
Who owns your course syllabus and lecture notes?
Who controls publishing in your discipline?
How can you fairly use the work of others in your scholarship?
How does the new University Copyright Policy affect you?

For Faculty this course will satisfy the Awareness/Discussion component of the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) continuing education requirement.

Refreshments will be provided.

Click here to learn more.

(Image from Sheree K via Flickr. CC).

Come to our workshop on finding grant funding for your research. Librarian Julie Kelly, will show you how to search a variety of grant databases to find the funding that matches your project's needs. Julie will demonstrate searching in:

-Community of Science
-Foundation Directory Online
-Illinois Researcher Information Service (IRIS)
-Sponsored Program Information Network (SPIN)

All of these databases can be found at http://www.research.umn.edu/opportunities/SearchTools.html

Here are the workshop details:

Grant Funding: Search Tools and Resources
Thursday, February 12.
3:00-4:15
Walter 310
Register Here

If you have any questions, please let me know!

Next Wednesday, Walter Librarian Lisa Johnston will be unlocking the secrets of the Web of Science in her workshop Research Made Easy: Discover the Web of Science.

In this workshop Lisa will discuss
• search strategies,
• how to access the articles you find
• journal rankings
• exporting citations to Endnote

Here are the details:

Research Made Easy: Discover the Web of Science
Wednesday, February 11
2:30-3:30
Walter 310
Register Here

Image from driek via Flickr. CC).

Do you find your mental and physical workspace getting cluttered with all of the information that's out there to follow? Are you having difficulties deciding what the best way to plug in to this information might be?

If so you may be interested in a library workshop we'll be holding at Walter Library next week, Keeping Up: Web-Based Tools That Help You Work Smarter. In this workshop one of Walter's Librarians, Jody Kempf, will take you through a bunch of different online tools that will make keeping up-to-date simpler. She'll discuss tools such as online tagging, setting up RSS feeds, and taking advantage of advanced features in library databases.

Here's all relevant information
Keeping Up: Web-Based Tools That Help You Work Smarter
Monday, February 9, 2009
Walter Library 310
2:30-3:30
Register Here

If you have any questions, drop me an email

This Thursday I'll be teaching an Introduction to EndNote class here at Walter Library.

Here's all the info:

EndNote for Engineers and Physical Scientists
Thursday, February 5
11:15-12:15
Walter 310
Register Here

This workshop will give you a basic introduction to EndNote using the most recent version, X2. I'll show you how to save references in EndNote, how to use EndNote to cite in your paper and create bibliographies, and how to link up to the free EndNote Web to access EndNote from any computer.

So if you've already purchased EndNote and are just looking to get started or if you interested in test driving version X2 for an hour on Thursday feel free to sign up!

If you have any questions, let me know!

(Image provided by lumaxart via Flickr. CC ).

Are you working on a project and tired of keeping track of multiple versions of a document? Are you looking for an easy way to share Internet links with your colleagues around the world?

If these types of troubles are besetting your group work you may be interested in attending the following workshop:

Web Tools for Working Collaboratively
When: Wednesday, February 4 @ 11:15-12:15
Where: Walter Library, Room 310
Register: Yes! Here

Science and Engineering Librarians will share some of their favorite collaboration tools--both University-sponsored tools and tools that are available for free on the Internet. The workshop will cover Google Docs, del.icio.us, Uthink and much more!

If you have any questions feel free to drop me an email

Making an Impact with Wikipedia
Presented by Jan Fransen, Librarian

In this new workshop you'll learn how:

• To get the most out of Wikipedia
• Wikipedia articles come together
• To use Wikipedia as a launch pad for further research
• To write and edit quality Wikipedia articles

The workshop is on Thursday, January 29 from 1:00 - 2:00 pm at Walter Library, Room 310

Visit our Registration Site to save yourself a spot!

These workshops are located in Walter Library Rm 310. Many more workshops are available through the University Libraries. Find out more by clicking links below!

Monday, January 12, 2:00-3:00: Research Made Easy: Discover the Web of Science
Tuesday, January 13, 2:00-3:00: Google for Researchers
Tuesday, January 13, 3:00-4:00: Getting Published: How to Publish Your Science Research Article
Wednesday, January 14, 3:00-4:00: RefWorks Basics
Thursday, January 15, 3:30-4:30: Collaborative Web Tools

Morning workshops are also available at Magrath Library.

Research Made Easy: Discover the Web of Science

Unlock doors to countless research articles in the sciences and beyond in one of the most powerful cross-disciplinary citation indexes available: the Web of Science. This introductory workshop is ideal for undergraduates or graduates beginning their research process who are looking for a better way of searching, one that goes beyond simply skimming the surface! Plus, with the unveiling of a new interface, even experienced Web of Science users will learn new tricks that will make their literature research a seamless and continuous process.

We will cover search strategies, article retrieval, journal ranking, and exporting citations to Endnote. Subject examples will focus on the sciences, but arts, humanities and social sciences are also covered by this index.
Register

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 collaborate environment.
Register

Getting Published

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.
Register

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/refworks/ for more details about RefWorks.
Register

Web Tools for Working Collaboratively

Whether working with your colleagues across the University or around the world, it can be challenging to collaborate when you are in separate locations. Learn about web-based resources, both at the University and freely available on the web, that can help you to effectively collaborate. We will include resources such as Google Docs, del.icio.us and UThink.
Register

Next Thursday I'll be offering another RefWorks Basics class at Walter Library, Room 310.

We'll cover getting citations into RefWorks, organizing your citations, making instantaneous bibliographies and using Write-N-Cite to format in-text citations.

This workshop will be perfect for those students beginning end of semester projects...save yourself time and hassle as you go into the final stretch of the Fall Semester.

The Info:
RefWorks Basics
Walter Library, Room 310
Thursday, November 6 (2:30-3:30)
Register Here

(Image from kurafire via Flickr. CC).

Do you find scheduling a meeting for a group project or research team to be getting more and more difficult?

On Thursday the Physical Science and Engineering Library will be offering a new workshop, Web Tools for Working Collaboratively," highlighting Internet-based tools for working with colleagues across campus and all over the world. These tools will allow you to get the benefits of collaboration without the headache of aligning busy schedules.

Librarians Jan Fransen, Jody Kempf, and Meghan Laffterty will lead this class, discussing such tools as:
• Google Docs
• del.icio.us
• UThink

The class is Thursday, October 23 in Walter 310 from 11:00 - 12:00.

You can register here.

(Image from yomanimus via Flickr. CC).

On Wednesday, October 22 Librarian Leslie Delserone will be offering Grant Funding for Graduate Students at Walter Library (Room 310) from 3:00-4:15.

In this workshop she'll introduce 3 grant databases and provide tips for searching so that you find an applicable grant to support your research with greater ease. She'll also demonstrate setting up email alerts to be notified of new grants and discuss internal funding opportunities from UMN.

If you interested, register here.
If you have questions, just let me know!

(Image from missha via Flickr. CC).

Do you keep hearing about all of the cool new tools that Google is developing, but haven’t had time to explore them? Come to the Google for Researchers class at Walter Library for a quick introduction to a lot of Google gadgets that will enhance your research, collaboration, and productivity.

In this workshop we will quickly go through a variety of Google search tools (Google Scholar, Google Books, etc.) and productivity tools (Google Docs, iGoogle, etc.). We’ll show you how you can use these tools effectively to make your research process flow even smoother.

You can expect to learn:
• How to connect Google Scholar to library resources such as our online print subscriptions and RefWorks.
• How to use Google Docs to easily collaborate with colleagues all over the world…for free!
• How to locate physical copies of the books you find search Google Books.
• How to personalize you iGoogle page to maximize it’s efficiency

All that and much, much more. It’s a fast-paced, hands-on workshop that should be a good time.

The details:
What: Google for Researchers
Where: Walter Library, Room 310
When: Tuesday, October 21 (2:30-3:30)
Register here!

Any questions? Just let me know.

(Image from silas216 via Flickr. CC).

Are you preparing your first paper for publication but don't know where to start? Have you been publishing, but want to find out which journals will maximize exposure to your research?

Let Walter Library help! Next Tuesday, October 14 from 1:30-2:30 in Walter 310, Math Librarian, Kris Fowler, will lead Getting Published: How to Publish Your Science Research Article, a workshop geared towards graduate students and newer faculty members seeking to publish their research.

Kris will cover the following topics:
• Identifying appropriate journals to submit your paper
• Managing your rights, protecting your access to your work when negotiating with publishers

This workshop is an opportunity to introduce yourself to some publishing issues and meet and share experiences with other publishing newcomers.

Click here to register today!

Are you getting ready for an end of semester presentation and want to wow your professor with a strong visual aid? Are you getting ready for a professional conference and want to make sure that your materials draw the positive attention of your colleagues?

(Image from TheEscapology via Flickr. CC.)

Then come to Walter Library next Tuesday (October 14) for “Create Your Poster in PowerPoint� from 2:30-3:30.
In this workshop I’ll help you with the basics of using PowerPoint to create a winning poster for both class and professional presentations. I’ll cover:

• Best Practices
• Layout/Design Fundamentals
• Finding Templates

If you’d like to attend, registration is currently open. If you can’t attend, but are still interested in learning more we have an online tutorial that you can view at your convenience.

Let me know if you have any questions.

(Image from vv via Flickr. CC.)

Are you looking for ways to stay on top of the most current advances in your research area? Come to the Keeping Up Workshop next Wednesday, October 8 from 2:30-3:30 at Walter Library Room 310 and learn some time-saving tricks from librarian Jody Kempf.

Jody will show you how to make the most of easy-to-use Internet tools such as tagging and RSS feeds to keep you aware of the most current developments in your fields of interest. She’ll also show you how to use library databases to bring the most current research directly to you.

If you’re interested in learning more about these tools, sign up here

(Image by alborzshawn via Flickr. CC).

Tired of misplacing citations? Formatting bibliographies? Let the libraries help you make your research process more organized and efficient.

Next Wednesday, October 1 from 11:15-12:15 we’ll be offering another RefWorks workshop at Walter Library (Room 310).

If you’re new to RefWorks it’s a web-based software that allows you to store and organize all of the citations that you discover in the research process. And it’s free to UMN students, faculty and staff!

In this workshop, Jan Fransen and I will be demonstrating:
• How get citations into your account
• How to store pdfs in your account
• How to use Cite While You Write to format your in-text citations
• How to generate a fully-formatted bibliography in seconds.

If you’re interested in attending register here.

Next Thursday (October 2 ) the Science and Engineering Library will be hosting an Advanced EndNote Workshop taught by a representative from EndNote. EndNote trainer Doug Nguyen will be in Walter Library Room 310 from 12:30-1:30 providing answers to questions EndNote users may have about ways to maximize their use of the software.

This is a great opportunity to expand your knowledge of the EndNote software from an expert on the topic. He’ll start with a quick demonstration on how to set up the journals term list so that EndNote can do full and abbreviated journal names and then he’ll open it up to your questions.

This class will be a great opportunity to learn more about customizing citation styles, personalizing your database to best fit your needs, and troubleshooting any problems you may have run into using the software.

This class is free and open to the public. If you’re interested, space is limited. Register here.

(This image comes from SqueakyMarmot via Flickr. CC).

Looking to start research on a topic, but don’t know where to begin? Come to the Walter Library Workshop “Research Made Easy: Discover the Web of Science�.

This workshop is great for both undergraduates and graduate students looking to begin research on a wide variety of topics. Librarian Lisa Johnston will be providing a guided tour of the large, multidisciplinary Web of Science, a search engine for scholarly journal articles.

The workshop will be held at Walter Library, Room 310 on Wednesday, September 24 from 2:30-3:30. You can register here.

Also if you’re starting your research on a big project, I’m more than happy to meet with you individually and help you brainstorm library resources and search strategies to use to find the best information. Send me an email or give me a call and let me know your research topic and I’ll be happy to help.

Do you own EndNote, but haven’t gotten around to learning how to use it? Do you want to give EndNote a test run before making the software purchase?

If you answered yes to either of those questions then our workshop “Got EndNote? Now What? An Introduction for Science and Engineering� might be for you.

I’ll be teaching a one-hour workshop covering some EndNote basics next Wednesday, September 24 from 11:15-12:15.

I’ll be covering the following topics:
• Adding Citations
• Storing PDFs/Full Text Links
• Using EndNote with Word to format citations and bibliographies
• Accessing your free EndNote Web Account for remote use
.
If you’re interested you can register here. If you have questions feel free to send me an email.

Also a heads up…On Thursday, October 2 from 1:30-2:30 we’ll be hosting an Advanced EndNote workshop offered by an EndNote Instructor who will be able to answer in-depth questions and show you how to do things like customize styles. I’ll write more about that when we get closer, but feel free to register if you’re interested. You can register for that class now.

Looking to find more information on funding your research projects? The Science and Engineering Library will be hosting a workshop aimed at assisting Graduate Students find applicable grants to fund their research.

(from Tracy O via Flickr. CC)

In this workshop, Grant Funding for Graduate Students, you will be introduced to four different grant search engines that you can use to locate grants for which your research may be eligible. Jody Kempf will go over IRIS, SPIN, and Community of Science and the Foundation Directory and show you some best practices in searching.

The workshop is on Tuesday, September 23 from 3:00-4:15. You can register here.

What better way to start off the semester than getting started with RefWorks?

RefWorks is an online citation management software that the libraries subscribe to, intended to help students, faculty and staff with their research. In this one hour workshop you’ll learn how you can use Refworks to:
• Organize your research
• Store citations and full text copies of articles
• Format bibliographies and in-text citations
• Facilitate group work through easy sharing of citations.

All at no extra cost to you.

The class will be taught be Jan Fransen and myself on Tuesday, September 9, at Walter Library, Room 310 (2:30-3:30). To learn more or register, click here

One more workshop coming up this week at Walter that might be of interest: Research Made Easy: Discover the Web of Knowledge. Tomorrow (Tuesday August 19, 3:30-4:30) Lisa Johnston will be teaching an introductory workshop to this great resource.

If you don’t know, Web of Science is a huge article database that covers a wide variety of science and technology-related topics. It indexes over 8,000 international journals.

In this workshop Lisa will cover:
• Search Strategies
• Getting Articles
• Journal Ranking
• Exporting Citations

If you’re interested, save yourself a seat and register here.

Next Wednesday (August 20) we’ll be offering another workshop to help get you ready for the upcoming Fall Semester. This workshop is called Google for Researchers and it will be team taught by Lisa Johnston, the Astronomy, Geology,Geophysics and Physics Librarian, and me.

This workshop will quickly go through a variety of Google search tools (Google Scholar, Google Books, etc.) and productivity tools (Google Docs, iGoogle, etc.). We’ll show you how you can use these tools effectively to make your research process flow even smoother.

(image provided by Keso via Flickr CC)

You can expect to learn:
• How to connect Google Scholar to library resources such as our online print subscriptions and RefWorks.
• How to use Google Docs to easily collaborate with colleagues all over the world…for free!
• How to locate physical copies of the books you find search Google Books.
• How to personalize you iGoogle page to maximize it’s efficiency

All that and much, much more. It’s a fast-paced, hands-on workshop that should be a good time.

Once again the date: Wednesday, August 20. 1:00-2:00 Walter 310.

Save yourself a seat--Register here. Email me with any questions.

Are you just starting to publish in your field? The Physical Sciences and Engineering Library wants to help. Math Librarian Kris Fowler will be offering a workshop for scholars just starting the publishing process.

(Photo comes from Gonzalo Barrientos via Flickr CC).

In this workshop Kris will discuss:
• Identifying appropriate journals to submit your work to
• Managing your rights when signing publisher contracts

There will be time to share your questions and ideas with other emerging authors on campus.

The workshop will be held Tuesday, August 19 from 2:00-3:00 in Walter 310. Save yourself a seat by registering here
.

On Monday, August 18 at 2 p.m. Jan Fransen and I will be offering a workshop on getting started with RefWorks. RefWorks is an online citation management system that makes storage and organization of your research more efficient and accessible. Have you ever sat down to start a paper only to realize that the you’ve left your list of important citations back at your apartment? Or have you experienced not being able to remember in what notebook you jotted down that great article you found in Google Scholar last week?

RefWorks can make those problems obsolete. AND it can format your bibliographies and in-text citations in a matter of seconds.

Here’s what Jan and I will be covering:
• Setting up accounts
• Importing Citations
• Organizing Your Research
• Formatting your bibliography and in-text citations
• Collaborating with your colleagues

If you’ve got a free hour next Monday register here for the class. If this class time doesn’t work for you—send me an email or give me a call. I’m happy to meet with you individually to get you set with a RefWorks account as well.

In two weeks (August 21) we’ll be offering an introductory EndNote workshop at the Science and Engineering Library. The workshop will cover the fundamentals of EndNote. Topics that we’ll cover are:

1.) Setting up a library
2.) Customizing your library
3.) Adding citations
4.) Formatting a bibliography and in-text citations
5.) Using EndNote Web when you’re away from your computer
6.) The new features of version X2

If you’re just starting to use EndNote and you think this workshop would be helpful, please feel free to sign up here.

Coming up in October (October 2nd) we’ll have an instructor from EndNote visiting campus to give a Question and Answer session on more advanced EndNote topics.

If you have questions about the upcoming workshop please let me know. If you have a pressing EndNote question, EndNote’s website offers great customer support.

Next Wednesday, I’ll be co-teaching a workshop on RefWorks. RefWorks is a citation management software which you can use for free if you’re affiliated with UMN-TC. Some of the things you can do with RefWorks include:
• Store and organize your citations
• Import citations directly from most databases into your personal account
• Generate formatted bibliographies in seconds
• Format in-text citations in your research papers
• Attach electronic copies of the articles to the citations you’re storing

If this software sounds like it might be useful to you, then you can register for the class here: http://www.lib.umn.edu/registration/#eventidXX75

The workshop will meet from 1:00-2:00 Wednesday, July 23, in Walter 310. If you can’t make it to the workshop, and are interested in learning more, feel free to send me an email and I’d be happy to discuss RefWorks with you one-on-one.

Want to learn more about using Google tools effectively in your academic research? Physics, Astronomy and Geology Librarian, Lisa Johnson, will be teaching a workshop exploring Google, Google Scholar, Google Books, and other Google productivity tools that you can incorporate into your research process.

What: Google for Researchers
When: Wednesday, July 9 1:00-2:00 pm
Where: Walter 310

To learn more and/or register go to our workshop webpage