Academic competences
Register to a session
Register on the Bookwhen platform
If the training you wish to register for is full, or if no date is yet scheduled, you can make an appointment with a librarian on the Book a Librarian platform. You can attend this training alone or with others, on site or online.
Our training programs
For any of the programs listed below, you can either register for the next available session, or make an appointment with a librarian on the Book a Librarian platform.
Should a training program useful to your studies or research be added in our training offer? Do not hesitate to contact us: [email protected].
Information retrieval
Duration: 1.5h
Frequency: 8x / year
The aim of this workshop is to develop your skills in the field of information retrieval:
- Build a search strategy for your topic
- Get to know specialised resources
- Automate your search to get fresh news as they are published
Search engines, databases, library catalogues, press…
Make an appointment with a librarian on the Book a Librarian platform. You can attend this training alone or with others, on site or online.
Too few/too many search results, relevance of the sources digged…
Make an appointment with a librarian on the Book a Librarian platform. You can attend this training alone or with others, on site or online.
Receive information automatically, alerts, RSS feeds, aggregators…
Make an appointment with a librarian on the Book a Librarian platform. You can attend this training alone or with others, on site or online.
Citation and plagiarism
Duration: 1.5h
Frequency: 2-3 times / year
The aim of this workshop is to help participants identify and eliminate text, images and codes that may be interpreted as plagiarism to the PhD supervisor, an expert or a journal reviewer. At the end of the workshop, you will be able to:
- Explain the difference between incorrect referencing and plagiarism
- Use i-thenticate to correct your text in order to eliminate potential cases of plagiarism
- Appreciate the value of learning to referencing correctly when drafting a text
Duration: 2h
Frequency: 3-4 times / year
Citing correctly requires the acquisition of the right habits. This workshop will walk you through various citation cases that you may encounter during the writing process of reports or publications. At the end of the workshop, you will be able to:
- Understand the stakes of citation
- Reuse different types of content without committing plagiarism
- Cite correctly your sources, within the text and in the bibliography
Duration: 2h
Frequency: 8 times / year
This workshop is for people who want to start using Zotero, a free tool that enables to collect, organize and share bibliographic references. Zotero spares its users from spending troublesome hours on the creation of a bibliography. Very useful for anyone who writes reports or theses, Zotero will be useful all along the curriculum and beyond.
Why does the Library recommend Zotero as reference management software
Copyright rules, cite all kinds of documents, references formatting, with or without Zotero.
Make an appointment with a librarian on the Book a Librarian platform. You can attend this training alone or with others, on site or online.
Research data management
Duration: 1h
Frequency: 2 times / year
In this course, you will get an introduction to the main concepts of Research Data Management to apply them to your specific situation.
Learning outcomes:
- Know the stakes around Research Data Management
- Discover how a Data Management Plan (DMP) can help you be more efficient in your research
- Get an overview of good practices to work with your data at the different stages of your project
Duration: 2h
Frequency: 2x / year
In this personalized workshop, you will check the consistency of your data management plan (DMP) and how to implement it in your lab.
Before you attend the workshop, you will need to fill a form about your current practices. If you are not familiar with research data management already, we suggest that you register to our introduction course.
Description: Discover the many uses of metadata in your research activity.
Main topics: Metadata, Data Modeling, Data Quality, Metadata Standards, FAIR
Audience: Researchers / PhD students / Staff
Format: Specialized course
Frequency: 2 / year
SNSF, European Commission or other research funder, what to write (or not), specific questions…
Make an appointment with a librarian on the Book a Librarian platform. You can attend this training alone or with others, on site or online.
Storage solutions, anonymization methods, versioning, file naming convention, record management, open formats, access rights, ELNs…
Make an appointment with a librarian on the Book a Librarian platform. You can attend this training alone or with others, on site or online.
Data curating, metadata management, data repository, compliancy with funders, data licensing, DOI attribution, data paper…
Make an appointment with a librarian on the Book a Librarian platform. You can attend this training alone or with others, on site or online.
Use versioning, open source, document your software, safely share your code with others, code publication…
Make an appointment with a librarian on the Book a Librarian platform. You can attend this training alone or with others, on site or online.
Enhancing (meta)data quality, choosing (meta)data standards, “FAIRifying” one’s dataset…
Make an appointment with a librarian on the Book a Librarian platform. You can attend this training alone or with others, on site or online.
Scientific publishing
Duration: 1h
Frequency: 2 times / year
Signing a contract with a publisher is supposed to be a rewarding step: your work is getting published! However, the understanding of a contract is less enjoyable, between very specialized terms and ambiguous sentences.
At the end of the workshop, you will be able to:
- Identify the key elements of a contract
- Understand the rights you keep and the ones you waive when you sign a contract
- Communicate with a publisher if you are willing to negotiate
Duration: 3h
Frequency: 3-4 times / year
Publishing to make your research available to the scientific community is a rewarding step. Do you want to understand how it works and know some tips that will help at the submission stage? In this workshop, we will address the publication process in the current context:
- Become familiar with the context of scholarly communication and its latest developments
- Understand the important steps leading to publication, including peer-review
- Ensure your compliance towards EPFL and funders Open Access policy
- Know and protect your rights as an author according to EPFL’s policy
Duration: 1.5h
Frequency: 3-4 times / year
In this short workshop, we will address visibility in the academic context. How can you manage your visibility as a researcher ? How can you ensure that your research output makes an impact ? Let’s explore some of the tools you have at your disposal.
After the workshop, you will :
- know different ways to be visible as a researchers
- grasp the limits and the benefits of visibility
- learn about the steps to take and the people to contact as an EPFL researcher
As a BONUS content: we will help everyone interested to setup their ORCID account after the training.
Duration: 1h30
The aim of this workshop is for you to discover the advantages of the unique identifier ORCID and to know how to use it in the EPFL context. You will:
- Understand how this unique identifier works
- Discover the features in order to add information to your profile, in particular the option Search&Link
- Link your profile to the EPFL directory in order to highlight your publications
Make an appointment with a librarian on the Book a Librarian platform. You can attend this training alone or with others, on site or online.
Make an appointment with a librarian on the Book a Librarian platform. You can attend this training alone or with others, on site or online.
Tools and digital competences
Duration: 2h
Frequency: 8 times / year
Do you want to create documents with the help of LaTeX?
Come to our workshop and test LaTeX live!
This workshop will cover:
- LaTeX principles
- Document structure
- Usage of text and floats
- Citation and bibliographies
- and how to write maths
Do you want to be guided for your first steps with Git? Do you have questions on the basic uses of Git? This 1to1 offer is for you!
Make an appointment with a librarian on the Book a Librarian platform. You can attend this training alone or with others, on site or online.
Discover the basic features of Zotero: collect references, create a bibliography, in-text citing…
Make an appointment with a librarian on the Book a Librarian platform. You can attend this training alone or with others, on site or online.
From EndNote, Mendeley or any other to Zotero…
Make an appointment with a librarian on the Book a Librarian platform. You can attend this training alone or with others, on site or online.
Bibliography in a LaTeX document, additional storage space needed…
Make an appointment with a librarian on the Book a Librarian platform. You can attend this training alone or with others, on site or online.
Adjustment of a citation style according to your needs.
Make an appointment with a librarian on the Book a Librarian platform. You can attend this training alone or with others, on site or online.
For high-school students
Students and teachers of high schools are welcome at the EPFL Library. Registration is free of charge and possible for anyone. Registered readers (free registration) benefit from access to swisscovery, a network that brings together the collections of more than 475 scientific libraries in Switzerland.
The EPFL Library also offers, on appointment, individual support for dissertation in the context of searching for information. Accompanied by a librarian, the various printed and electronic resources available at EPFL are reviewed: BEAST catalog discovery tool, eBooks, databases, encyclopaedias, etc. We address search methods on the web that help the students find relevant information, and options for refining and filtering the search. Training is tailored to the dissertation subject, for individual students or in small groups.
The EPFL Library inducts high-school students as well as their teachers who are responsible for the Travaux de Maturité (TM) in scientific and technical fields. Organised activities allow pupils to familiarise themselves with scientific and technical sources of information. This induction is in line with the promotion of EPFL Bachelor courses which lead to different engineering disciplines. This measure is offered in the same spirit as the Information Days for high-school students, or sponsorship of TM by some EPFL laboratories, and allows the pupil to put himself in the shoes of a researcher who needs to harness information in order to progress in his project.
After induction of his class at the EPFL Library, a pupil
• is able to optimise searching on Google;
• is aware of the limited validity of information found on the internet;
• can cite three scientific and technical web search engines other than Google.
Induction of classes is possibly only during the periods between semesters. We would ask you to contact the Library at least two weeks in advance in order to set a date during these periods.
Also kindly send us on the field of study for which the teacher is responsible and /or some TM subjects of the class so that we can offer targeted activities.
We will offer a workshop on searching for information relevant to the TM, followed by a brief tour of the Library (with registration at the Library for those pupils who wish).
Duration: 1h30 approximately
For teachers
As a teacher at EPFL, you can request a training session in research techniques, information management and citation for your students. The interventions are targeted and delivered within the framework of your courses.
The selected training modules will be inserted and delivered in your course at the time of the start of a semester project or Bachelor/Master’s dissertation, so that your students can put their new knowledge into practice. The teacher chooses the modules to be integrated into his or her course (at least two) and proposes a research topic, which will serve as an example during the training. The proposed modules are evolving and adaptable: we are open to any proposal that could make our training courses aligned to your needs. The dates are chosen in agreement with the teacher.
The Library team collaborates with the Centre d’Appui à l’Enseignement (CAPE) to offer interactive and dynamic training sessions.
Description: Discussion with the students around the channels of scientific and technnical information, based on a research topic that is aligned to the students’ pieces of work: keywords, documentary equation, internet and selected sources, topical news and established knowledge, references or full texts, free or paid information, physical or electronic library, validity of information, peer review.
Objectives: At the end of the module the student is aware of the world of scientific information. He has the tools for starting an efficient search for information, varying his sources and verifying them.
Estimated duration: 45 minutes
Description: Presentation of scientific and technical information resources in connection with the students’ research topics.
Objectives: The student knows the main information resources in his field, as well as the main multidisciplinary resources.
Estimated duration: 45 minutes
Description: One or more librarians and the lecturer help the students start their semester project or Bachelor/Master’s dissertation.
Objective: The student starts his research on a good foundation. He works in a professional manner, varying his sources, using a bibliography/reference manager, and citing his sources in an appropriate manner.
Duration: to be agreed with the lecturer
Description: The trainer proposes a quiz on citation, to which students respond with ResponseCards (clickers). The different opinions are then discussed. Can texts, photos, diagrams, tables, graphs be copied and pasted for documents intended for teaching or for a disseminated publication? The basic rules of citation, copyright and Creative Commons licenses are addressed, and the consequences of plagiarising at EPFL are referred to.
Objectives: The student knows how to utilise scientific and technical information in all its forms in accordance with professional ethics.
Duration: to be agreed with the lecturer (at least, 45 minutes)
Description: Demonstration of how to use Zotero reference management software, installation of the software, and basic practical exercises.
Objectives: The student has a Zotero account. He knows how to import references, manage them and cite them while working on writing. He also knows how to share his references within a group.
Estimated duration: 45 minutes