Searching & Managing Scientific Information

This is our biannual introductory training series for PhD students and other affiliates of the four federal research institutes Eawag, Empa, PSI & WSL. The series covers a whole variety of topics such as basic & advanced searching, scientific publishing, research evaluation, Open Access & copyright, literature management with Endnote and with Zotero, writing with LaTeX and research data management. This spring we will also offer a new module on Git and two modules on AI in scientific research.

Spring 2025 training series «Searching & Managing Scientific Information»

From March to June, we offer eleven individually bookable modules (ca 3-6h each) at the three sites of the institutes. Registration opens soon. Please refer to the course description below.

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Flyer Autumn 2024

Useful information

Course description

The spring training series 2025 will be split in eleven modules (3-6h each) that can be booked individually. On request, students attending four or more modules will receive a recommendation for 1 ECTS credit point. Modules 4a,b, 7a,b, and 8a,b count as separate modules. Course slides will be available below a couple of days prior to each session. Course slides and corresponding material of previous sessions can be found here.

course-description-series

    • Each venue is open to all members of the 4 research institutes Eawag, Empa, PSI and WSL. Most modules are offered on-site at Eawag-Empa Dübendorf, PSI Villigen and WSL Birmensdorf.
    • Registration closes ca. a week prior to each event.
    • All modules are held in English. No course fees apply.
    • Presentations/Workshops with examples and exercises. The course notes, presentation slides, and other course material will be available below a couple of days prior to the sessions.
    • Max. 20 participants for sessions of modules 1-3 & 5-8 (please bring your laptop).
    • Max. 12 participants for sessions of module 4a (computers provided) and module 4b (please bring your laptop).
    • For module 4b: Please bring your laptop with the latest Zotero release installed. Brief installation instructions can be found below ca. 1 week prior to the sessions. Contact us prior to the course should you require assistance with your installation.
    • For module 5: Please bring your laptop with a working LaTeX installation. Brief instructions for example installations can be found below ca. 1 week prior to the sessions. Please contact us should you require assistance with your installation.
    • For module 6: Please read our info sheet Topic Search prior to the session, particularly if you have not previously attended Lib4RI's module 1 «Searching Scientific Information».
    • For module 7a: Depending on the venue an expert from Eawag, Empa, PSI or WSL will be joining.
    • For modules 8a & 8b: Please create a (free) ChatGPT account before the lecture.

  • In module 1, «Searching Scientific Information», you become skilled in finding relevant scientific information using suitable tools offered by Lib4RI.

    • How to use Lib4RI’s resources for quick information retrieval
    • Formulating systematic search queries including Boolean operators, wildcards and truncations
    • Examples/exercises from the swisscovery library catalogue, Scopus and Web of Science

    Trainers: Stephanie Hofmann, Bobby Neuhold

    See Organisation & Requirements for additional information!

  • In module 2, «Scientific Publishing - From Writing to Sharing», you will be guided through the scientific publication process from start to finish.

    • The paper submission journey: From draft to publication
    • Writing a paper: Structure and content
    • Writing a paper: Grammar and style
    • Your research profile, impact and visibility

    Trainer: Ellen Knappe, Michael Bachmann

    See Organisation & Requirements for additional information!

  • In module 3, «Open Access & Copyright» you gain knowledge on the principles of Open Access (OA) publishing and learn how to deal with copyright questions related to scientific works.

    • Apply Open Access to your publications and gain more impact for your research
    • Funding opportunities for Open Access publications
    • How to make your publications Open Access in the repository DORA
    • Principles of copyright and their applications in science
    • Creative Commons (CC) licences and how to use them
    • Copyright transfer agreements and author rights

    Trainers: Jochen Bihn, Lothar Nunnenmacher

    See Organisation & Requirements for additional information!

  • In module 4a, «Literature Management with EndNote», you get introduced to scientific literature management with EndNote.

    • Introduction to literature management
    • How to import and organise literature information including fulltext PDFs
    • Citing references and creating bibliographies in your scientific document using EndNote's Cite-While-You-Write (MS Word plugin)
    • How to modify/create output styles using EndNote's style editor

    Trainers: Stephanie Hofmann, Bobby Neuhold

    See Organisation & Requirements for additional information!

  • In the new module 4b, «Literature Management with Zotero», you get introduced to scientific literature management with Zotero.

    • Introduction to literature management
    • How to import and organise literature including fulltext PDFs
    • Citing references and creating bibliographies on the fly in your preferred text editor
    • Course slides

    Trainers: Janina Radny, Stephanie Hofmann

    Note: Please bring your laptop with the latest Zotero version installed. Please contact us should you require assistance with your installation.

    • Eawag: Download Zotero 6 and the Zotero Connector from Zotero.org. Get in touch well before the course with the Eawag IT department to setup the connection with your text editor! Otherwise you will not be able to use cite-while-you-write. 
    • Empa: Download Zotero 6 and the Zotero Connector from Zotero.org. If you encounter problems or require an admin account to correctly install Zotero, get in touch with your IT department.
    • PSI: Download Zotero from the institutional software list (Zotero 5 is available). Make sure the plug-in for your text processor is working correctly. Go to Zotero.org to install the browser connector if this is not automatically included in your download.
    Screenshot of Zotero in MS Word
    If you see this tab, Zotero is working in your text editor.

    System requirements for Zotero 6 can be found here.

    See Organisation & Requirements for additional information!

  • In module 5, «Getting Started with LaTeX», you are guided in creating your first LaTeX document, with special attention to scientific writing oriented features. The course is for LaTeX beginners.

    • A not so short summary of LaTeX basics
    • Tables, figures and formulae
    • The LaTeX error log and common errors to avoid
    • BibTeX and citation styles

    Trainers: Federico Cantini, Frank Hösli

    Note: Please bring your laptop with a working LaTeX installation. Brief instructions for example installations are given above ca. 1 week prior to the sessions. Please contact us should you require assistance with your installation. 

    See Organisation & Requirements for additional information!

  • In module 6, «Work on Your Own Project», you work on your own literature project receiving individual assistance.

    • Develop your search strategy and set up your systematic topic search with bibliographic databases such as Scopus & Web of Science
    • Critically evaluate your search results
    • Tweak your reference management & citation tools (particularly EndNote)

    Trainers: Stephanie Hofmann, Bobby Neuhold

    Note: Please read our info sheet Topic Search prior to the session, particularly if you have not previously attended Lib4RI's module 1 «Searching Scientific Information». 

    See Organisation & Requirements for additional information!

  • In module 7a, «Research Data Management - The Basics», you learn to identify the relevant strategies and tools to implement research data management in your research practices.

    • Life cycle of research data
    • Adequate metadata documentation for your code and data
    • Storing and publishing data
    • Writing Data Management Plans (DMP) and using OpenBIS (ELN)

    Trainers: Moushumi Ulrich-Nath, Fabian Felder (Lib4RI). Depending on the venue an expert from Eawag, Empa, PSI or WSL will be joining.

    See Organisation & Requirements for additional information!

  • In module 7b, «Git», you get introduced to the DevOps tool «Git» for collaborative source code management.

    • ... more soon
    • ... more soon
    • ...more soon

    Trainers: Federico Cantini, Frank Hösli

    See Organisation & Requirements for additional information!

  • In module 8a, «AI Made Easy: A Beginner‘s Toolkit for Streamlining Your Projects», you get an understanding of AI, how AI models work and what the most important AI tools are. Image/video generation will not be covered in this lecture. This lecture is for beginners. Please create a (free) ChatGPT account before the lecture.

    • Introduction to AI
    • Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and Large language models (LLMs)
    • Applications with (mainly) publicly available AI tools

    Trainer: Corin Otesteanu (external speaker)

    Please create a (free) ChatGPT account before the lecture.

    See Organisation & Requirements for additional information!

  • In module 8b, «AI in Research & Scientific Writing», you get an overview of the opportunities, downsides, and ethical concerns when using AI tools (text and image generation) in research and scientific writing, as well as current guidelines. Locally deployed AI tools and image generation will be covered in this lecture. This lecture is for beginners. Please create a (free) ChatGPT account before the lecture.

    • Current guidelines from most common publishers
    • How generative tools work (focussed on image generation)
    • Literature search tools
    • Applications with publicly available AI tools
    • Introduction to locally deployed AI tools for privacy

    Trainer: Corin Otesteanu (external speaker)

    Please create a (free) ChatGPT account before the lecture.

    See Organisation & Requirements for additional information!