Cover the essentials with UK Medical Center Library’s fall research workshops

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 21, 2025) — The Medical Center Library (MCL) is kicking off the Fall 2025 semester with a variety of events. 

Fall 2025 Series

The MCL’s Fall 2025 Research Workshop Series begins Thursday, Aug. 28.

Held on Zoom, the virtual seminars help students, faculty and staff improve and expand their research skills and make more efficient use of library resources. The workshops are primarily concerned with research competencies in the health sciences, but the subjects are pertinent to researchers across a variety of disciplines. The Fall 2025 series will cover search strategies for commonly-used databases Embase and Web of Science, along with best practices for locating, analyzing and managing gray literature and gray data sources.

The workshops are free to attend and open to all UK students, faculty, staff and affiliated researchers. Pre-registration is required to attend workshops. Attendees who have registered will be provided with a recording of the presentation.

The Fall 2025 workshops begin in late August and run to mid-November. All will be held on Zoom. Below, find a detailed description and registration link for each:

• Introduction to the Medical Center Library
  • Noon-1 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28
  • Get to know what services and research resources your library offers. Learn about time saving tools for accessing full text and setting up search alerts. Register here.
     
• Embase Essentials
  • Noon-1 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 15
  • Learn the basics of searching and using Embase, a comprehensive biomedical literature database. Register here.
     
• Web of Science Essentials
  • Noon-1 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 29
  • This workshop will cover the essentials of Web of Science, including how to perform effective searches, track citations, and identify key literature in your field. Register here.
     
• Lost in the Gray: Gray Literature for Systematic Reviews
  • Noon-1p .m. Thursday, Nov. 6
  • Identify different types of gray literature and how they can be used in evidence synthesis projects. Discover the purpose of including gray literature in reviews and investigate resources for gray literature discovery. Register here.
     
• Who’s Counting? Locating and Using Gray Data in Health Sciences Research
  • Noon-1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18
  • Governments, nonprofits, and international nongovernmental organizations all collect and publish data that can be used for a variety of purposes in the health sciences, such as estimating disease prevalence across different regions or identifying potentially promising interventions for further study. But these “gray data” sources are often difficult to find and require researchers to understand their full context before analyzing them or bringing them together with other data sources. This session will cover some of the benefits of working with gray data, strategies for systematically locating data sources and data management workflows for accurately reporting findings. Register here.

Research Impact Week

Sept. 22-26 is Research Impact Week. The week-long event, open to all disciplines, will explore library tools and resources to help researchers understand and enhance the visibility and reach of their work. An in-person kick-off event on Monday, Sept. 22, will feature snacks, library swag and a clay crafting station. MCL librarians will lead daily virtual workshops from Tuesday through Friday on identifying journals for publication, understanding open access citation advantage and building online researcher profiles. Below, find detailed descriptions, locations and registration links for each event.

• Research Impact Week Kickoff: Molding Your Research Impact
  • 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday, Sept. 22
  • Basement of the Medical Center Library
  • Celebrate the start of Research Impact Week at the Medical Center Library. Enjoy snacks, grab some library swag, and visit the clay craft station where you can explore the theme “Molding Your Research Impact.” While you’re here, explore a selection of library resources and tools that can help you better understand, track and share your research. Register here.
     
• Identifying Journals for Publication
  • Noon-1 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 23
  • Zoom
  • Learn strategies for investigating and evaluating your options when choosing a journal to publish your manuscript. This workshop will cover the tips and tools available through UK Libraries. Register here.
     
• Open Access Citation Advantage: Myth, Reality, or Somewhere in Between?
  • Noon-1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 24
  • Zoom
  • Discover the Open Access Citation Advantage (OACA) in this engaging webinar exploring whether open access articles truly earn more citations. This workshop will break down the basics of OA publishing and dive into new research focused on OA citation trends at UK. Register here.
     
• Building Your Research Identity: Online Research Profiles
  • Noon-1 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25
  • Zoom
  • Discover how to build and manage your online scholarly identity. Participants will learn how to create and optimize profiles on platforms like ORCID, Scopus and Scholars@UK to enhance research visibility, track impact and ensure accurate attribution of their work. Presenters will also discuss ForagerOne, UK’s platform for engaging undergraduate students in your research. Register here.
     
• Beyond the Manuscript: Effective Data Sharing for Boosting Research Impact
  • Noon-1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26
  • Zoom
  • The datasets you produce in your research aren’t just an add-on to your publications — they can be standalone research outputs that can be cited, reused and contribute to new findings. But not all shared data is good data, and datasets aren’t likely to be reused or cited if they’re disorganized, poorly described or hard to access. This session will cover everything you need to know about maximizing the citation and reuse of your data, including picking a data repository that tracks usage metrics, curating your data prior to sharing and making it as simple as possible for others to find, access and cite your work. Register here.

Past workshop participants have universally applauded their experience. In surveys following the workshops, 100% of participants who filled out the survey indicated that they had learned something new. 

“This was the clearest presentation of concrete steps for data management that I've ever seen,” one participant wrote.

Other commenters raved about the new techniques, tools and resources they were able to add to their research repertoires.

The MCL has past workshop recordings and associated slides available for public view. Topics include:

• Introductory tutorials for tools, resources and software used in health sciences research
• In-depth guidance and advanced search training for popular databases
• Extensive coverage of systematic reviews and other evidence synthesis projects

Find more details and register for the workshops, and contact mclib@uky.edu with any questions.

For more information, visit the MCL’s Research Workshops & Tutorials page to find all of UK Libraries’ offerings, including Digital Scholarship & Data Workshops & Events.