Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Research Guide: Research Tools

It's important to have a system in place to organize your readings, especially if you will be using them as references in your own writing.  Using a reference manager/citation management application is the best way to manage this information.

There are many reference managers available, in both free and paid versions.  If you don't already have one you prefer, we recommend getting started with Zotero.  It is easy to install and there is good documentation available online, and during the academic year CUL offers frequent introductory workshops on how to use it.

Official site - Zotero.org

Quick Start Guide

Library Workshops - check this page frequently as we update it throughout the semester

Help email - zotero-help@library.columbia.edu

As a current Columbia affiliate, you have access to Overleaf Professional, for all your LaTeX needs.  Please see the link below to sign up and for additional information:

• Overleaf @ Columbia

Proxy Bookmarklet:  To access most of our licensed resources, you have to be recognized as a Columbia user.  If you are on campus, this will usually happen automatically when you are connected to the internet.  If you do a lot of research off campus, however, you may occasionally run into problems; you can either always make sure to navigate to the desired resource by using the links in CLIO, and/or you can install the Proxy Bookmarklet which will automatically redirect you without having to go through CLIO first.

Scientific Writing Guides:  Science and technology work requires clear communication skills.  This is a list of e-books in our library catalog that will help in developing this specialized competency.

Engineering Writing Guides:  Same as above, but more specifically covering technical writing in the engineering disciplines.

The ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication:  Produced by the American Chemical Society, but a valuable source of information for any STEM researchers or students looking for best practices in the presentation and communication of research outcomes.

Electronic Research Notebook:  Columbia University provides access to LabArchives, providing a secure space for your research data which is compliant with Data Management Plan (DMP) requirements from funding agencies.  Columbia's Research Notebook Service is funded by CUIT and the Libraries, in partnership with the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research, and is provided at no cost to you.  Create your free account today!

Good Laboratory Notebook Practices (PDF):  A tutorial on best practices for maintaining and organizing your research data.

Research and Data Integrity (ReaDI) Program:  Provided by the Office of the Executive Vice-President for Research (EVPR), this site includes many useful resources to help researchers at all stages of their career.

Environmental Health and Safety:  Vital information for anyone working in a laboratory setting.  This office provides information, training, and assistance regarding the safe use, storage, and disposal of research-related substances.

Scholarly Reputation Management:  This simply means exercising control over your identity when it comes to your research output.  This page is provided by the Libraries' Scholarly Communication division and introduces you to the concept by suggesting the creation of author profiles with services such as ORCID, Google Scholar, and others.  This will help you easily keep track of your published works.

Questions? Suggestions?  Email ref-sci@columbia.edu