The University of Iowa Libraries

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition) provides guidelines for formatting papers/manuscripts followed by nursing and most allied health sciences disciplines. This hands on session, mostly intended for student writers or instructors, will provide information about the basic rules of APA formatting and help you to gain experience applying APA formatting to journal, book, and web references. Resources about using APA 7th will be provided.

This hands-on session will demonstrate how to use CINAHL effectively to find high quality nursing and allied health literature. An explanation and demonstration of how to select the most appropriate search terms will be provided. Search practice will be conducted at the end of the session to reinforce what was demonstrated. Anyone who has an interest in learning how to use this tool should consider attending; no prior experience with searching this database is needed.

Mini-tutorial on CINAHL (10:36)

Whatever the research you are doing, chances are, you’re working with research data. Small changes to your data management practices can make a big difference during research, and when you are ready to share the results. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to securely store and organize your data, keep track of changes to your files, create accompanying documentation, and submit your data for publication. Employing these practices will ensure that everyone, including you, can use and reuse your data in the weeks, months, and years to come.

NIH, NSF, and many other research funders require data management plans as part of the funding proposal. A good plan may help you provide a more competitive proposal. We’ll cover the foundational elements of these plans, campus resources and policies you can include in the plan, and look at some examples. Bring your plan if you have started working on one.

Nearly everyone works with data in spreadsheets or tables. This workshop will provide you with hands-on experience in using a free tool, called OpenRefine, to check data in spreadsheets, and fix some common issues, from typos to splitting columns. OpenRefine is easy to use, will save you a lot of time, and it keeps track of the changes you’ve made so you can reuse them or roll them back.

This workshop can be tailored for specific groups and disciplines. Follow-up sessions and individual consultations are also available. If you have a data set that you would like to work on, contact the instructor for a consultation.
Prior to the workshop, please install the Release Version of OpenRefine on your laptop: https://github.com/OpenRefine/OpenRefine/wiki/Installation-Instructions

You’ve received funding for a project, and your research funder expects you to share the data. Or perhaps you are working on an article, and the journal requires you to share your data. In this workshop, we’ll walk through the process of preparing data for sharing or publication, important decisions to make, and ways to enable your data to have a broader impact.

EMBASE is a biomedical and pharmaceutical database containing bibliographic records with abstracts. Although there is overlap with records from PubMed, there are also many unique records. This hands-on session will show you how to conduct basic searches using EMBASE’s quick search box, how to conduct searches using EMTREE subject headings, and how to use subheadings for drug and disease topics.

Mini-tutorial on EMBASE (11:42)

EndNote Basic is a web-based citation management software that is freely available to all UI affiliates. It allows you to import, organize and format citations for papers, articles, etc. EndNote Basic is not the same as the desktop software, Endnote.

EndNote is a reference management tool that helps you to easily gather together your references in one place, organize them, and then insert them into papers and format them in a style of your choosing. This session will walk you through the basics of using EndNote to collect and format your citations. The class will be hands-on and there will be time for questions at the end.

For those already using Endnote, this class teaches you to maximize the tool. You’ll learn about the Endnote options for sharing so that you can collaborate effectively. From exporting and importing to syncing and sharing, this class will help you manage your information seamlessly on the desktop, on the web, and on mobile device.

There are an overwhelming number of health sciences journals, but how do you know which ones are best to target for submitting your work? This session will provide a demonstration of tools to use to create a list of appropriate journals to consider. Resources to help you evaluate the quality of health sciences journals will be reviewed. Time for guided practice using the resources will also be provided.

This course will cover how to search for Hardin Library resources including books and journals and how to request materials not owned by the libraries. Participants will also be introduced to our available databases, subject guides, and services. Optional tour of library spaces after the session. This course can be tailored to meet the needs of a particular group.

Using images can add interest to your assignments and presentations, but do you know where to find good images and how to ensure that you use those images ethically? This workshop will help you understand copyright, creative common licenses, and public domain. You will also learn where to search for stock and health sciences images and how to cite your images appropriately.

Explore the John Martin Rare Book Room’s rich collection of rare and historical medical materials! This session will introduce you to the JMRBR collection — over 6400 items which span the of breadth of Western medical scholarship. We will also discuss how to search for, request, and use items from the collection.

Want to know as soon as an exciting new article is published? Tired of skimming the websites or paper copies of multiple journals to see what is in the new issue? This hands-on session will show you how to create a single destination for information from your favorite journals, databases, websites and blogs using RSS feeds and auto-alerts.

Mendeley is a popular citation management tool with a social networking twist, allowing researchers to share, compare, and discuss materials. This introductory session will cover the strengths and weaknesses of the Mendeley tool, as well as provide an in-depth demonstration of its functionality.

Take a tour of some new (and some well-established) apps for your mobile device or smart phone! At this informal workshop, you’ll not only be shown a variety of tools for both academic and clinical use but also invited to share your own examples and experiences. If you don’t have a mobile device, don’t worry: The only necessary smart device is you!

Overwhelmed by the number of databases that the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) has to offer on nucleotide sequences, genes and proteins? Wondering which database you should always start with? Would you like to learn how to set up an NCBI account to link articles in PubMed to records in other databases? Do you know about PubMed’s Gene Sensor? Are you familiar with the concept of linear navigation? Learn all of these tips and more in this session that is designed for anyone who needs to search the NCBI databases for genetic information.

The NIH Public Access Policy, which assures that all articles arising from NIH-sponsored research are freely available within a year after publication, is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to changes in the scholarly publishing. Participants will learn more about these trends and to discuss experiences with publishing.

Open Access to scientific literature is one of the most hotly debated topics in scholarly publishing. This workshop will provide an overview of what scientists need to know when making their research open access. We will cover the basics of what we mean by open access, how open access relates to the NIH Public Access policy, open access journals in the biomedical sciences, predatory publishing scams, and best practices for evaluating your open access options.

What is ORCiD? Why would you want one? This session will discuss ORCiD, how researchers can benefit from having one, and how ORCiD connects with other information systems. This will also be a hands-on workshop where everyone will have the chance to create their own ORCID and learn the most efficient ways to populate their profile with their publications.

The purpose of this hands-on class is to introduce several resources found on the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office website that may be used to locate information on patents, trademarks and patent applications. Google’s patent searching feature will be also be highlighted as a source for finding information on patents. Taught by Kari Kozak (Head, Lichtenberger Engineering Library).

This hands on session will help you improve your searching through best practices for basic and advanced searching and show you features for saving or exporting citations. The session will also help you understand medical subject headings (MeSH) and how they improve your search as well as the benefits of a MyNCBI account.

Mini-tutorial on PubMed (12:36)

This class will teach participants how to use tools such as Ulrich’s, Journal Citation Reports, Web of Science, and Scopus to determine the impact that journals, articles, and authors have had on a particular field. Topics such as impact factors, Eigenfactors, and H-indices will also be discussed.

Scoping reviews generally aim to examine research activity, often to identify research gaps in the existing literature. These reviews, which are becoming more popular, may benefit from contributions of a medical librarian. This session will provide detail about scoping reviews, including examples of topics/questions best served by this type of review. Standards and criteria to consider with planning a scoping review will be shared. Additional topics will include determining where to search, identifying search terms, reporting search strategies, and managing references.

Mini-tutorial on Systematic and Scoping Reviews (6:37)

Both databases are multidisciplinary and allow you to measure scholarly impact. This hands-on session will show you
• how to quickly find the articles you need for you research or systematic review in each database
• how to track an article’s cited and citing references in each database
• how to find journal ‘Impact Factors’ using the Journal Citation Reports of Web of Science
• how to determine an author’s h-index
• how to identify a researcher and her/his publication track with Scopus,
among other useful features of both databases.

Mini-tutorial on Scopus (14:14)

Mini-tutorial on Web of Science (7:14)

Introduction to standards and specifications. Learn how to access a wide variety of standards including ASTM, ISO, ADA, NFPA (Fluid), and the US Code of Federal Regulations. Featuring a new database, TechStreet, to gain electronic access to these standards and more. Taught by Kari Kozak (Head, Lichtenberger Engineering Library).

This class will provide a framework for developing a literature search for a systematic review. Topics will include the following: standards and criteria to consider, establishing a plan, registering a protocol, developing a research question, determining where to search, identifying search terms, reporting search strategies, and managing references.

For individual instruction on this topic, please contact your liaison librarian.

Mini-tutorial on Systematic and Scoping Reviews (6:37)

This class will focus on tips and techniques for carrying out a successful literature search in support of a systematic review. Topics will include techniques for developing search strategies, deciding which databases to search and how to seek out grey literature for a given topic. There will also be discussion on selecting journals for hand searching, documenting search strategies, and saving and organizing references.

Twitter is more than just a social media tool. It has developed into a vibrant real-time information network used by health care providers, scholars, and scientists. Come to this hands-on session to learn the basics of twitter, advanced techniques such as searching, and examples of its use in the Health Sciences.

Collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources with Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh], a free, easy-to-use web browser tool. Learn more at our hands on session and start gathering your materials in Zotero right away.