Using Electronic Journals Collections and Databases for you

Research

presented byKaren Richardson

Academic Services Librarian, University of Greenwich

Aim of talk

– Why research the literature

– What is a journal

– What are databases and electronic journals collections

– Security

– Demonstration of useful products

– Why things go wrong

– How to get hold of the materials you’ve identified

– Karen’s handy hints

Why Research the Literature?

• Purpose– To build on your knowledge of what has

already been researched and established on your topic

– Reference to these articles then demonstrates your ability to find and identify useful material

– It also demonstrates your ability to critically appraise information.

What are journals and journal articles.

• Journals are also known as periodicals and are similar to magazines, being published at regular intervals

• They are therefore much more up to date than books and are also more specific in content

• They are refereed to ensure their academic quality • References to articles in journals will include a string of

numbers after them e.g.• 12[2] p345-52 this is volume 12, part 2, pages 345- 352• Our library catalogue will tell you what journal titles we

stock – not their content

What are Databases and Electronic Journals collections

• Electronic journals collections are a set of full text articles that we have paid for

• Databases are resources for identifying useful articles

• Nowadays it can be hard to tell the difference between journals collections and databases because you will get some full text articles from databases – this is only when they know that we have a subscription for that title.

Security

Access to the electronic journals and databases are protected either by ip. address or the Athens authentification system

• IP controlled ones can be accessed from home via the proxy server How to use the proxy server for external access. *

• Alternatively you can obtain an Athens account and access products either through the library web pages or via My Athens http://www.athens.ac.uk *

• AOL users will experience problems setting up the proxy server and will not be able to use Science Direct.

Using the Electronic Journals Collection

• Our main electronic journals collection is currently hosted by Swetswise.

• To access this go via: Electronic Information Products - University of Greenwich or My Athens

• Note: Older volumes are only available in paper format, so do check the catalogue for in-depth details about what we stock.

Using Swetswise

Swetswise defaults to a publications search – so you might want to change it to search articles

Searching for Articles

Start with 1 or 2 words to get an idea of coverage – if there are lots of results – find 3 that you like then analyse them – there should be a keyword they have in common. Repeat your search adding this new keyword to your previous search

To get the broadest coverage choose ‘all fields’

ACM Collection• Access from library pages • Now search

Databases

The university subscribes to over 50 databases http://www.greenwich.ac.uk/directory/library/

products/az.html– Provide more in depth coverage i.e. informs

you of materials that we don’t stock as well as the ones we do

– Many are subject specific– Some or the publishers who provide info to the

databases, will provide access to ones we don’t subscribe to for an extortionate fee

Subject specific databases• Compendex (via Engineering Village 2)

• data mining search = 24,660 • multimedia search = 35,493

• Inspec (via EBSCO)• data mining search = 15,458• multimedia search = 62,625

• Mathsci (via SilverPlatter Arc2 )• data mining search = 340• multimedia search = 189

• ACM*(for comparison)• data mining search = 96,226 (will only show first 200)• multimedia search = 14,494

Other useful databases• Business Source Premier (via EBSCO)

• Data mining = 1,636 multimedia = 17,705

• Science Direct (except those using AOL)• Data mining = 13,525 multimedia = 2,416

• ISI Web of Knowledge (Web of Science)• Data mining = 4,445 multimedia = 13,525

• Zetoc/Zetoc Alert – includes a citation index• Data mining = 13,702 multimedia = 56840

• Emerald• ?

HELP!• I’ve used the databases and found nothing.

• What am I doing wrong? How should I phrase my questions?

Why things go wrong.

• If you can’t find any information, the reasons are usually:– You’ve asked for the wrong information

(choose your keywords {descriptors} with care)– You’ve asked the question wrongly– No-ones written anything about it

Re-analyse your research topic

• Identify from your statement those key words and phrases that represent the principal ideas or concepts.

A web site to perform a search facility for a shopping centre

• Write down the keywords that you think describe each principle idea or concept

internet, search engine, gateway, portal,

Database, shop*, mall, commerce

Computers need our help!

• You need to express your search in a way that the computer can interpret. Check the help menu to see how you should phrase questions.

• Many the logical operators known as Boolean operators, the main ones are: AND OR NOT *

E.g. health and (cat or feline)

* allows for a variety of endings

eg computer or computing = comput*

I’ve found the titles I want - now what do I do, where do I go?

Obtaining your materials

• Check our OPAC• UKLibraries Plus - www.uklibrariesplus.ac.uk

• Use M25 catalogue to search many libraries simultaneously http://www.m25lib.ac.uk/Link

• Other libraries • Apply for an interlibrary loan (£5 charge to

department)• British Library (the last resort)

And finally....Karen’s handy hints

• Start local - find material and follow the references that look of interest and so on…

• Create lists of resources available to you • e.g. use keyword search to identify all journal titles

available to you and print the list

Karen’s hints (contd)

• Construct own thesaurus– note down all keywords that produce effective results - many

databases provide a list of descriptors/keywords/identifiers that are tied to each reference

• Photocopy contents and title page of each book you use

• The End

Sample Search in Compendex

Sample Search in Inspec

Inspec a Useful Resource for Identifying Keywords

Following the keyword links