Engineering Thesis Boot Camp

An informative series of eight virtual workshops designed to aid researchers at all levels with technical writing tips, library resources, literature reviews, searches, citations, and more.

All 30 minute workshops are on Wednesday at 2 pm on Zoom. Anyone is welcomed to join these workshops from graduate students, researcher, staff, and faculty. The zoom link will be emailed to registered participants 1 hour before the workshop starts.

If any questions or concerns, please email Kari Kozak (kari-kozak@uiowa.edu or lib-engineering@uiowa.edu). Presenters include those from:  Lichtenberger Engineering Library, Graduate College, and the Writing Center.

June 10: Finding articles/journals/government reports (library introduction)

  • Learn about the breadth of resources in the engineering library, from the online databases and books to technical reports and standards.  Uncover the mysteries around how to access everything remotely.  Discover the 265+ tools now available for checkout including new 3D scanners, EEG, oscilloscope, and VR headsets, just to name a few items and how you can gain access to these items.  Taught by Kari Kozak, Head, Lichtenberger Engineering Library.
  • Video of the Session
  • Slides Used

June 17: Introduction to Comprehensive Literature Reviews

  • Have you ever struggled with doing literature reviews? Although you do not have to conduct a literature review as high quality as a systematic review, some strategies from systematic reviews (defined as “a research method that aims to locate and summarize all available evidence for a research question in order to guide decisions and practices”) may help you tackle your research question in a more rigorous way. This workshop will introduce three review types (literature reviews, scoping/mapping reviews and systematic reviews), the review process and research question frameworks, search strategy and some available resources and services. Taught by Marina Zhang, Engineering & Informatics Librarian, Lichtenberger Engineering Library.
  • Video of the Session
  • Slides Used

June 24: Submitting your Thesis/Dissertation

  • Learn about the thesis submission process, issues related to copyright and embargo, and additional resources available from the Graduate College. Learn more about the Microsoft Word tools you can use to format your thesis. Taught by Erin Kaufman, Graduate College

July 1: Creating Citations Quickly & Easily with Endnote

  • Want to make your research and writing more efficient? Hate the last minute rush of trying to create a correctly formatted bibliography? This workshop is for you! We will introduce Endnote, a citation management tool that can help you import, organize, share, and manage your citations and documents, as well as create correctly formatted in-text citations and bibliographies in almost any style — in seconds. Taught by Marina Zhang, Engineering & Informatics Librarian, Lichtenberger Engineering Library.
  • Please download EndNote onto your computer before the class.  The full desktop version of EndNote will be taught – the desktop version is freely available to Graduate Students, Staff, and Faculty.
  • Video Tutorial on Downloading Endnote
  • Video of the session

 

  • Undergraduate Students who would like to use citation management software have access to EndNote Basic. More information about EndNote Basic
    • EndNote Basic will not be covered in this session

July 8: Lions and Tigers and Predatory Journals, Oh My!

  • In this workshop, you will learn strategies for navigating through the jungle of scholarly publishing. Have you ever wondered how to identify which journal to publish in? Want to learn how to avoid predatory publishers? What is the difference between traditional publishing and open access? This workshop will provide answers to these questions and more. Bring your own questions too! Taught by Kari Kozak, Head, Lichtenberger Engineering Library.
  • Video of the Session
  • Slides Used

July 15: Demystifying Scholarly Metrics

  • How do you make a list of every single paper that cites you? How do you gather evidence and demonstrate potential values and research impact? This workshop will help you understand how to interpret “standard” scholarly metrics (h-index, impact factor, CiteScore etc.) and where to find them, explore three major sources of citation data (Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar), and identify best practices on broadening your research impact. Taught by Marina Zhang, Engineering & Informatics Librarian, Lichtenberger Engineering Library.
  • Video of the Session
  • Slides Used

July 22: Keeping up to date: Searching while you are sleeping (Alerts and Notifications) 

  • Are you overwhelmed trying to keep up on the recent research done in your area? Many of the library’s databases allow you to set up alerts and notifications. Alerts can tell you when there is a new issue of your favorite journal, when work by a particular author is available, when a specific article is cited, and when new articles are published that match a saved search. These searches will run automatically overnight and will send you an email with the results. Learn how to set up these alerts and notifications so you can really learn to search while you sleep! Taught by Kari Kozak, Head, Lichtenberger Engineering Library.
  • Video of the Session
  • Slides Used

July 29: Finding and Using a Good Writing Model

  • In this workshop, we will discuss common challenges faced by students writing at the graduate level, and we will learn various ways to energize and organize your writing. Discover techniques to give your project momentum and motivate daily writing during this phase of your graduate research. Taught by Deirdre Egan, Writing Center.
  • Video of the Session

 

The University of Iowa prohibits discrimination in employment, educational programs, and activities on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, pregnancy, disability,  genetic information, status as a U.S. veteran, service in the U.S. military, sexual orientation, gender identity, associational preferences, or any other classification that deprives the person of consideration as an individual. The university also affirms its commitment to providing equal opportunities and equal access to university facilities. For additional information on nondiscrimination policies, contact the Director, Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, the University of Iowa, 202 Jessup Hall, Iowa City, IA, 52242-1316, 319-335-0705 (voice), 319-335-0697 (TDD), diversity@uiowa.edu.