New professors
All professors are encouraged to attend a 1 hour information session on Library resources and services. While priority goes to new professors, we're happy to welcome any instructors who wish to upgrade their knowledge, given the continually changing information environment.
Please contac Marie-Hélène Dupuis to make an appointment.
Course reserve - professors
Professors can have documents required for classroom purposes placed on hold in the reserve collection (Service du prêt). Course reserve can be consulted by students on the Library premises for a maximum of three hours. Placing items on reserve avoids having them monopolized by one student for an entire semester. Use this form to request a course reserve.
You can also suggest purchases and have the items placed on reserve once they have been acquired.
Contact person : Lyse Bourget
Citing sources
You can help your students avoid plagiarism by underscoring the importance of identifying the sources they use in their assignments.
They must also learn to use the appropriate citation style. The Library recommends two default styles in the reference guides available on the Citing with style page. Designed to help undergraduate and graduate students compose bibliographies for their various assignments, these guides feature sample citations for a range of entries.
Of course, you're free to recommend a different style, just make sure your students abide by it!
Promoting effective search methods
Given that Google always provides at least some results, students can easily overlook the wealth of information sources-manuals, handbooks, textbooks, patents, journal articles, standards and the like-that, since they call for paid subscriptions, cannot be accessed through Google.
The Library can introduce students to these resources that are so invaluable to professional practice.
Professors also have an important role to play in helping students hone their information search skills. Students should be able to :
- Determine the nature and scope of their information needs
- Browse general information in a given field and identify a specific topic or locate the data needed to solve a problem
- Retrieve information on a given topic
- Critically assess the information gathered as well as its sources
- Effectively and ethically use the information gathered
- Employ strategies for continually updating information and ensuring continued learning
The Library's most effective work has been in helping students harness their search competencies with regard to coursework and assignments. Ask your librarian for help: he or she will be happy to suggest the exercises and evaluation procedures that will help your students maximize their methods.
Documentary research: graduate students
As part of Polytechnique's research methodology course ING6900 (compulsory for all PhD and research-based master's students), the Library offers a 10.5-hour lab course. The aim is to have students acquire the search skills-e.g. the ability to retrieve and develop information-they will need in their careers.
Contact person : Manon Du Ruisseau
Documentary research: undergraduate students
As much as possible, please inform us in advance of any courses that entail considerable documentary research. Not only does this ensure a better response when students bring their questions to the Service de référence, it also lets us align our work with your pedagogical goals.
We suggest familiarizing yourself with the documents needed to complete a given assignment so that you can correctly assess the quantity and quality of the available resources. You can also ask the information services team (Services d'accès à l'information) to conduct a search for you or compile a list of relevant starting points.
Contact person : Manon Du Ruisseau
Integration projects
In 2009-2010, the Library took part in the following integration projects :
- CIV1910 An experimental analysis of civil works
- GCH1121 Introduction to chemical engineering design
- GCH2550 Digital modelling
- GCH3100 Unit operations
- GCH4125 Process design and synthesis
- ELE3000 Personal project in electrical engineering
- INF1040 Introduction to computer engineering
Integration projects comprise a key component of Polytechnique's undergraduate curriculum.
These projects, which demand effective, rigorous information-search methods, encourage students to be autonomous and support their
arguments with appropriate, reliable and varied sources, in both written works and oral presentations. Students must also cite their sources,
as per academic regulations.
Integration project coordinators are invited to contact Marie-Hélène Dupuis of the Library's information services (Services d'accès à l'information)
when their course involves a significant information search or if they wish to emphasize a specific type of engineering document (standards, handbooks, patents, etc.).
Librarians who come on board at the start of an integration project can offer suggestions for assessing students' research methodologies, lead workshops on the resources useful to engineers or how to effectively use them, and reiterate the principles of citation, among others.
Contact : Manon Du Ruisseau
Adding a Library search box to Moodle
Working with the Moodle support team, the Library has prepared a block that lets users search the catalogue directly from Moodle. Students can also add a course page to their homepage by doing the following:
- In Overview of my courses, click on Edit this page.
- Under Blocks, select Library from the drop-down menu.
