Posted: 09-28-2011
Welcome to Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine graduate programs!
Did you know that the IGP, NUIN & IBiS programs have their very own personal librarian at Galter Health Sciences Library? Hi, I'm Pamela Shaw, Liaison Librarian for the biosciences programs at NU. I was a lab tech for almost 20 years and have graduate degrees in bioinformatics and library science, so I understand the pressures and needs of a graduate student researcher. I'm your go-to person for information resources. Contact me through my liaison page to arrange for training or consultation.
Here are some of the resources and tools we've put together for new graduate students to make your graduate school research easier and more efficient.
CREATE YOUR GALTER LIBRARY ACCOUNT
The best way to ensure access to all the full-text journal and ebook content available to you, both on and off campus, is to create your Galter Library website account. Go to the Galter Library home page, click the Sign In tab or link on the left side of the page, then click the Create an account link in the New Users box on the right side of the next page. Here's the information you need:
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Net ID
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Net ID password
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WildCARD (Northwestern ID) barcode number
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Last name
MAKE USE OF GALTERLISTS TO FIND AND ORGANIZE YOUR FAVORITE RESOURCES
When you create your Galter website login account, you will need to select a subject specialty to display when you sign in to the Galter home page. Galter librarians have created GalterLists with useful resources on a number of topics, such as immunology, neuroscience, molecular biology, etc. To see these lists, click the GALTERLISTS tab at the top of the Galter home page, then click on the text link View librarian created lists near the top of the page. There is also an IGP GalterList that has frequently-used resources and short cuts to library guides on EndNote, grant resources, and more.
You can also create your own GalterList. From the GalterLists page, follow the links and instructions in the All about GalterLists box on the right side of the page. GalterLists are useful for bookmarking websites that you access frequently, even if they are not Northwestern-owned resources.
PUBMED AND OTHER NCBI DATABASES
Create a MyNCBI account
Saving your literature search strategies can be important for your research and can save you a lot of time.
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If you work in a lab that conducts research on animals, you will soon learn that all of your IACUC protocols must include a literature search in order to ensure that your protocol utilizes methods to 1) reduce numbers of animals used, 2) replace live animals whenever possible, and 3) refine your methods to ensure the safety of the animals
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It is also helpful to save a complex search so you can refer back to it if you need to run it again
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MyNCBI also allows you to create automated searches that will run regularly (daily, weekly, monthly) and send you search results via email. This is particularly useful for journal clubs.
To create a MyNCBI account:
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Go to any NCBI page (such as the PubMed home page) and click on the MyNCBI link in the upper right corner
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Click on Register for an account in the sign in box
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Fill in the fields on the registration form and click the Register button
To learn how to save searches, create bibliographies, and set up search updates and alerts, see Galter Library's MyNCBI guide.
WEB OF SCIENCE
Web of Science (Web of Knowledge) is a database which covers science and social science articles, and has considerable content overlap with PubMed. However, it includes more literature on engineering sciences than PubMed. You can save search strategies with Web of Science, just like you can with PubMed. You can also create "Citation Alerts", which will notify you each time a particular article is cited by another author. This is a great way to track how often other researchers are citing your work.
To create a Web of Science account:
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Go to Web of Science using the text link under Popular Resources on the left side of the Galter Library home page
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Click on the Sign In text link near the top of the page
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Click the Register link in the box on the left
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Fill in the required information and click the Submit Registration button to complete the registration process
To learn how to save searches, find article impact factors, author h-indexes and how to create citation alerts, see Galter Library's Web of Science guide.
GUIDES AND TUTORIALS
Galter Library maintains guides and support materials for EndNote, searching other databases, creating posters with PowerPoint, and much more. Galter librarians also teach classes in the use of these resources and provide one-on-one consultation on their use. Check out our Guides and Tutorials page to see the full list of our guides, and check out our Classes page to see a list of our upcoming classes in the library.
There are many more great resources available at the Galter Library site (SciFinder, GeneGo MetaCore and many more). Be sure to investigate all of the tools and databases we have to help you with your research. If you have questions about any of these resources, don't forget that you can contact Pam Shaw for more information.
Have a great year!
