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, Git and research data management. As previously, one or two modules on AI in scientific research will most likely also be offered.

Autumn 2025 training series «Searching & Managing Scientific Information»

From September to December, we will offer again various individually bookable modules (ca 3-6h each) at the three sites of the institutes covering important aspects of scholarly information and communication. Registration opens in late summer. Please refer to our previous course description below.

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Useful information

Course description

The autumn training series 2025 will probably be split in some 11 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. All modules (incl. a or b) count separately. 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 module 7b: Remember to bring your laptop with a working Git installation and have an account created for the Git service Codeberg. Please send us your user name to @email. This is needed for the exercises. Contact us prior to the course should you require assistance with your installation. Course slides will be available on our training website a couple of days prior to the course.
    • 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.

    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
    • Getting published: Find your journal and share your knowledge
    • Your research profile, impact and visibility
    • Course Notes (Spring 2025)

    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
    • Course slides (Autumn 2024):
      Copyright & CC Licences
      Open Access
       

    Trainers: Jochen Bihn, Michael Bachmann

    See Organisation & Requirements for additional information!

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

    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 (Spring 2025, using Zotero 7)

    Trainers: Janina Radny, Stephanie Hofmann

    Note: Please bring your laptop with the latest Zotero version (7.0+) installed. Please contact us should you require assistance with your installation.

    • Eawag: Zotero 7 is available in Baramundi.
    • Empa: Download Zotero 7 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 7 is available from late February on). 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 7 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.

    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 essential strategies for managing research data and code.

    • Apply the Research Data Management Life Cycle and FAIR principles
    • Document and publish data using metadata, READMEs, and repositories
    • Develop Data Management Plans and use institutional data infrastructures
    • Material:
      RDM course slides, Eawag and Empa specific presentations (Spring 2025)

    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, «Make Your Life Easier with Git», you will be introduced to the concept of version control and learn how to implement it using Git, the de facto standard software for version control.

    • Version control: what it is and why it will make your life easier
    • Git, the most widely used version control software
    • Tracking changes
    • Pulling and pushing changes to a remote repository
    • Concurrent changes with branches
    • Merging branches
    • Material (Spring 2025):

    Trainers: Federico Cantini, Frank Hösli

    Note:
    Remember to bring your laptop with a working Git installation and have an account created for the Git service Codeberg. Please send us your user name to @email. This is needed for the exercises.

    Contact us prior to the course should you require assistance with your installation. Course slides will be available on our training website a couple of days prior to the course.

    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
    • Course slides (Spring 2025)

    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
    • Course slides (Spring 2025)

    Trainer: Corin Otesteanu (external speaker)

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

    See Organisation & Requirements for additional information!