"Without this tool, my work would have gone unseen," said Megan Vogt-Kostner, a former UNI graduate student.

Many graduate students dream of publishing their research and seeing it read by other scholars. But did you know that you can do exactly that—for free—through the UNI ScholarWorks service?

Offered by the Rod Library, ScholarWorks is an online repository that collects and preserves research conducted through the University of Northern Iowa. This service is an excellent place for students and faculty to make their research available to a wide online audience!

ScholarWorks currently hosts over 25,000 publications in 770 academic disciplines, and scholars from all over the world access and download research on a daily basis.

Here’s how it works.

When you write a research paper, thesis, or dissertation, create a poster or PowerPoint presentation for a conference, or complete a creative project, you’ll be able to submit it for storage in the ScholarWorks repository. All you need to do is visit the ScholarWorks website and access the Student Permissions Form. After filling out this form, you can send a final version of your project to scholarworks@uni.edu.

When completing the permissions form, you'll be allowed to make choices about who can access your work and when.

Once your work has been published in ScholarWorks, it will be available to a worldwide readership! Viewers will be able to search for and download your research from anywhere in the world. You can also track how many people have downloaded your research and where they have downloaded it.

ScholarWorks offers several different options for copyright permissions, allowing students to freely publish work elsewhere after their UNI careers have ended. 

No matter your field of study, ScholarWorks is an excellent place to preserve your work and collaborate with scholars from around the globe. 

"Having my research available...has helped immensely when meeting for interviews as [the interviewers] as they have had a chance to view what I've produced," commented Lyn Tackett, a UNI graduate.

Find out more at the ScholarWorks site, get answers to your questions, and submit your research today! Contact Ellen Neuhaus or Bill Maravetz at scholarworks@uni.edu for more information.