REUs in Science and Engineering at OSU (OSU Libraries)

Engineering Librarian

Profile Photo
Patricia Verdines
Contact:
18th Avenue Library - 490E
(614) 292-5557

Do you have an ORCiD?

If you are publishing articles, you should have an ORCiD Identifier.

orcid icon   More on ORCiD

Bibliographic Software

Learning how to use bibliographic software is a "must do" item for a scientific writer.  Each of the following are free and have online tutorials.

  Zotero (Tutorials) More on Zotero, including how to expand your storage.

 Endnote (free version)  (A more robust version of Endnote is available for purchase through OSU's Tech Hub)

Make the time to master one of the above.  You won't regret it.

Making a Scientific Poster?

Making a Scientific Presentation?

Professor Betty Lise Anderson of OSU's Electrical and Computer Engineering has put together a fantastic presentation entitled "Secrets to a Terrific Technical Talk."  Check it out!

Search OSU Libraries' Catalog

Keeping up on news and literature

Use Google Scholar with care

Unlike when you were in high school or an undergraduate, people who read your scientific article will most likely actually read at least some of the articles cited in your bibliography.  The quality of your research is no stronger than the quality of the articles you use to support it.  If you are supporting a statement with a citation you found in Google Scholar, remember that Google Scholar searches through basically all "academic" journals.  However academic journals are not created equally.  Roughly 50% of journals defined as "academic" are actually predatory journals that contain essentially worthless articles.  There is a lot of money to be made by publishing a predatory journal and those publishers do a great job of making their journal and their articles look legitimate. 

If, however, you use a database that individually selects which journals' content it provides, you will greatly improve your chances of finding higher quality articles.

Therefore, if you choose to use Google Scholar, ensure that any article you choose to cite is from a reputable lab and a reputable journal (because, if you found it on Google Scholar, you've got an ~50/50 chance that the article you found is from a predatory or exceptionally low quality journal).

Article Express (through ILLiad)

Article Express icon

   (through ILLiad) Request free electronic delivery of journal articles not available through OSU Libraries' subscriptions.

Scientific Writing (advanced)

How-to-Write-a-Good-Scientific-Paper  Everything you need to know about writing a scientific paper in an easy-to-read and scan format.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is common (both intentional and unintentional). Plagiarism.org indicates that all of the following are considered plagiarism:

  • turning in someone else's work as your own
  • copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
  • failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
  • giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
  • changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit
  • copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not (see our section on "fair use" rules)                       [https://www.plagiarism.org/article/what-is-plagiarism]

Publishers, universities, researchers, etc. often use software such as iThenticate and Turnitin to check for plagiarism.

For more information on plagiarism, visit OSU Libraries Plagiarism page.