Library Instruction

Workshops at Steenbock Library · Spring 2012

General Information

• Workshops include hands-on practice and require no registration (except our Graduate Support Series, where registration is strongly recommended!)
• When you arrive, check Steenbock Library's display monitor to verify your workshop location.
• If you can't make our scheduled workshops, set up a time for just you or your group using our Request Form or contact Barbara Sisolak at 608-263-2385 or by email.
• If you have a general research question, click here to view helpful videos!
• The Campus Library Workshop Schedule lists workshops held at all campus libraries.

Graduate Support Series Workshops

• Keeping Current with the Literature

Thursday January 26, Noon-1:15pm, Room 105

Learn about several tools that can help you stay up-to-date in your field of research. Learn how to create a custom list of library databases in MyUW. Have table of contents of the most recent journals sent directly to your email. Be alerted to the most recent articles on a topic. Monitor Web sites, blogs, and other important resources with ease. Keep track of citations and make bibliographies quickly. Registration recommended. Please register with the GSC.

• Managing Your References: An Introduction to Citation Managers

Tuesday January 31, Noon-1:15pm, Room 105

Are you tired of formatting bibliographies and in-text citations by hand? Are article pdf files stored randomly on your hard drive with no hopes of retrieving them? Need a place to collect literature citations while you are researching? Citation management tools can help. This workshop will give an overview of the four citation managers supported by the campus libraries, RefWorks, EndNote, EndNote Web and Zotero, and help you decide which one is right for you based on your individual research needs. Registration recommended. Please register with the GSC.

• Library Tools for the Publication Cycle: Sciences

Tuesday March 13, Noon-1:15pm, Room 105

Hands-on exploration of library resources that will help you learn how to prepare your research article, find an appropriate journal to submit your manuscript, and manage your rights when signing a contract with a publisher. Registration recommended. Please register with the GSC.

Google for Academic Research

Power search with Google to remove clutter and quickly locate quality resources. Get hands on practice using Google, Google Scholar, Google Patents, and Google Book Search. Learn how to use Find It and Refworks with Google Scholar and how to evaluate your search results to get the best information from the Internet.

Library Tools for the Publication Cycle: Sciences

Hands-on exploration of library resources that will help you learn how to prepare your research article, find an appropriate journal to submit your manuscript, and manage your rights when signing a contract with a publisher. Registration recommended. Please register with the GSC.

Keeping Current with the Literature

Learn about several tools that can help you stay up-to-date in your field of research. Learn how to create a custom list of library databases in MyUW. Have table of contents of the most recent journals sent directly to your email. Be alerted to the most recent articles on a topic. Monitor Web sites, blogs, and other important resources with ease. Keep track of citations and make bibliographies quickly. Registration recommended. Please register with the GSC.

UW-Madison Libraries: What You Really Need to Know

An introduction to the many things the UW-Madison libraries offer: the library catalog, journal databases, other electronic materials, conveniences such as book retrieval and your online library account, and ways to get help finding and using campus library resources. There will be an opportunity to ask any questions you might have about the libraries.

Managing Your References: An Introduction to Citation Managers

Are you tired of formatting bibliographies and in-text citations by hand? Are article pdf files stored randomly on your hard drive with no hopes of retrieving them? Need a place to collect literature citations while you are researching? Citation management tools can help.

Citation Managers are software and web applications that help you to:

• Create and organize a personal research database of references gathered.
• Format manuscripts and reference lists instantly in a variety of styles (MLA, APA, IEEE, etc.).
• Share your research with colleagues.

This workshop will give an overview of the four citation managers supported by the campus libraries, RefWorks, EndNote, EndNote Web and Zotero, and help you decide which one is right for you based on your individual research needs. Registration recommended. Please register with the GSC.

Managing Your Citations with RefWorks

RefWorks is a web-based citation management tool that can be used to format and print a bibliography for a class paper. It is free to use by UW-Madison faculty, students, and staff. In this workshop, we will demonstrate how to set up a free account, import and add citations to your personal citation lists, and then print out a formatted bibliography for a paper.

Managing Your Citations with EndNote

Covers the basic features of using Endnote, including organization of databases and records, searching and sorting records, importing records electronically from MadCat and journal article databases, and instant formatting of bibliographies. Also covers EndNote Web (Free to campus users courtesy of UW-Madison Libraries). Learn how to set up your EndNote database initially to avoid later style formatting hassles.

Data Management Planning

Start crafting Data Management Plans for your research. Learn about specific funder requirements, collection protocols, metadata standards, storage options, sharing strategies, and campus support services. Avoid Datageddon!

PubMed for the Life Sciences

Learn how to successfully mine PubMed (MEDLINE), the world's largest biomedical literature database, using advanced features such as Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), limits, citation matcher, and the new My NCBI feature for saving searches, search results, and setting up customized tabs or topic/journal alerts. Learn the power of PubMed record Links to Entrez databases such as Gene, Protein, and PubChem Compound. For more information, contact Barbara Sisolak at 263-2385 or by email.

NCBI BLAST for Beginners

New to your life science laboratory? Sequence similarity searching is an essential bioinformatics skill for many researchers. This introductory workshop will describe the use of NCBI BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool). BLAST is a popular web-based resource for comparing experimental DNA and protein sequences to databases of known sequences in order to discover regions of alignment and homology.

The workshop will give an overiew of:

• What BLAST is
• The BLAST interface
• Developing and saving basic BLAST search strategies
• Understanding the components of the BLAST report

This workshop will be useful to anyone who would like to have better basic understanding of this NCBI resource. It is intended to be introductory, and not meant for experienced users.

Managing Your Citations with Zotero

Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a free, easy-to-use Firefox extension to help you collect, manage and cite your research sources. It lives right where you do your work, in the Web browser itself. For more information, see http://www.zotero.org/.

Steenbock Library Tours | Spring 2012

• Tuesday January 24, 4:00-5:00pm

Meet at the Reference Desk on the 2nd floor.

Join us for a tour of our facility! We are the library for agriculture, life sciences, natural resources, veterinary medicine, family and consumer sciences. We also have a great InfoLab, knowledgeable and friendly staff, and eight group study rooms on the first floor. We are conveniently located near the Lakeshore dorms and CALS campus.

If you would like to arrange a tour for you or your group, other than those listed, use our request form or contact Barbara Sisolak at 263-2385 or by email.