"Three students study together" (c.1985) found in CMU Digital Collections
At the University Libraries, librarians with a wide range of specialities maintain different LibGuides to share information and resources relevant to specific subject areas. Covering everything from architecture and chemical engineering to women’s history and zines, the guides are the perfect place to start when exploring a new interest, starting a research project, or preparing for a class.
To highlight the range of this resource, we’ve compiled the top five most-visited LibGuides of the 2022-2023 academic year.
1. Ph.D. Dissertation Defense Slides Design
The most popular LibGuide of the year is designed to help Ph.D. students in engineering fields create their dissertation defense presentations. Luckily, many of the recommendations are broad and can be used when designing other types of presentations such as conference talks and technical seminars as well. If you need to know how to emphasize your unique contribution to a field and tell a compelling story with your research for a general audience, then this resource is for you.
It includes tips for designing slides, a presentation checklist, and example slides from real Ph.D. graduates. There’s also a list of additional resources for those who want to dive deeper into effective design principles.
2. Newspapers
Have you ever wondered what newspapers you can access through the Libraries? The second most popular LibGuide on this year’s list includes descriptions and links to an extensive directory of online and print news available for browsing and research.
Some resources, like the “New York Times” and the “Wall Street Journal,” require an account created with a CMU email address. Some can be viewed online, or in paper or microfilm. The guide includes links to historic newspapers dating as far back as the 1700s, African American newspapers, American Indian newspapers, Jewish and Hispanic American newspapers, newspapers from around the world, and more.
If you can’t find the newspaper you need, there’s an option to request it from another library, too.
3. Machine Learning and AI
Machine Learning and AI have long been major topics of interest at CMU, and this year was no exception. This LibGuide, the third most-referenced, breaks down important resources for computer science students.
The guide includes links to frequently-used textbooks, databases for accessing articles, and even data repositories with high-quality datasets. It also explains some key ideas of research reproducibility, and offers information about citation management and data and text mining as well.
4. Music
Senior Librarian Kristin Heath has created an extensive compilation of composers, sheet music, live performances, and more in this LibGuide. It makes it easy to search through physical materials located on the fourth floor of Hunt Library — including approximately 13,000 books, 25,000 scores, 13,000 LPs, 9,600 CDs, and 80 journal titles — and a wealth of online resources.
The guide takes care to feature a diverse range of composers, highlighting Black, Asian, Indigenous, Jewish, Latin American, queer, and women artists. It also identifies multiple places to view live performances of everything from classical music to dance to opera. There are even examples of citations in both Chicago and MLA styles for various music sources.
5. Modern Languages
This LibGuide is not just for Modern Languages students, but also for anyone interested in developing or maintaining language skills or having fun with languages and cultures. Created by Librarian Charlotte Price, liaison to the Department of Modern Languages as well as History, this is the perfect resource for anyone diving into a new language, advancing within their studies, or even connecting with a new friend from a different country.
The guide features resources like cultural information, key journals, useful websites, and more for a variety of languages, including Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish. It also highlights information about second language acquisition, as well as research guides for specific Modern Languages courses.
Browse the complete list of LibGuides for additional topics and resources.
by Sarah Bender, Communications Coordinator