GSBMS Literature Review and Thesis Preparation Workshop

This series of lectures, discussions and hands-on activities is intended for those Basic Medical Sciences students who expect to complete an M.S. Thesis or Literature Review by Spring 2010.  The series is sponsored by the GSBMS in partnership with the Health Sciences Library faculty.  All sessions are held in the Health Sciences Library rooms 108 and 109 (PC lab and adjacent classroom).  Hands-on searching in the library’s computer lab is part of the sessions.  Sessions focus on pre-selected student topics. Search critiques and consultations are completed for each participant.

Registration is Required

Session 1:    Overview of the GSBMS Thesis Process

Wednesday January 13, 2010                       6:00-7:45 p.m.

  • What is a thesis; what is a literature review?
  • GSBMS requirements, timelines and guidelines
  • What faculty, library and other resources are available
  • Hands on: PubMed; finding review articles

Session 2:    Conducting an Effective Literature Search

Wednesday January 20, 2010                       6:00-7:45 p.m.

  • Searching basic medical sciences databases
  • Ordering articles through ILLIAD
  • Importing references into RefWorks
  • Hands on:  Science Citation Index,  Scopus; finding original articles

Session 3:    Intellectual Property and Critical Appraisal

Wednesday January 27, 2010                       6:00-7:45 p.m.

  • HSL online catalog
  • Critique of the elements of a quality paper
  • Critique of the elements of a quality website
  • Hands on: interactive discussion of peer-reviewed paper(s) and selected websites according to review criteria

Session 4:    The Final Thesis: Pulling it all Together

Wednesday February 3, 2010                       6:00-7:45 p.m.

  • Authorship and intellectual property; plagiarism
  • Clear writing; paraphrasing
  • RefWorks citation management software (continued)
  • Citations, quotations, references, tables, figures and the GSBMS style
  • Final thesis organization and checklists
  • Individual consultations with library faculty
  • Hands on:  practice paraphrasing from a scientific paper

Registration is required. To RSVP contact: Deborah Crooke: (914) 594-4203 deborah_crooke@nymc.edu