w orkshops in i nformation s kills and e lectronic r esources oxford university library services –...
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Workshops in Information Skills and Electronic Resources
Oxford University Library Services – Information Skills Training
Key Search Skills for Searching the Scientific
Literature
Gabriella Netting, Penny Roberts
6 November 2005
Workshops in Information Skills and Electronic Resources
What will we cover? Reasons for conducting a literature search Organisation and access of scientific
literature Search strategies for subject searching Evaluation Citation searching Demonstration of a database search
Workshops in Information Skills and Electronic Resources
Some reasons for searching: Specific information
E.g. specific data needed for an experiment, information about a technique, a mathematical equation, explanation of an observed phenomenon, etc.
Research needs E.g. finding relevant data/information for a project, an
essay, or an exhaustive search for a preparation of a systematic review
Current Awareness E.g. monitoring progress in a specific research interest
Workshops in Information Skills and Electronic Resources
Organisation of scientific literature:
Primary literature These are the first published results of an
original investigation usually reported by an individual or a research group.
Examples: conference papers, patents, theses/dissertations, research articles, pre-prints
Peer review process Intended audience: researchers within the same
field Specialised vocabulary No financial rewards for the publication
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Basic structure of primary literature:
Abstract or introduction Methodology Results and discussion Conclusion References Examples: Proceedings of the Royal Society,
Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, American Journal of Surgery, etc.
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Organisation of the scientific literature cont. Secondary literature
This is information about primary sources in a condensed format.
Examples: bibliographies, encyclopedias, also textbooks and review articles
Intended for wider audience Not peer reviewed Written by journalists Publications contain advertisements Examples: Nature, Science, Scientific American
etc.
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How do we access scientific literature? Papers are recorded by
indexing/abstracting services The records are electronically searchable Results contain all necessary information to
find the paper Some results will link to electronic full text
but not all of them!
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Search skills
Finding the best search terms Combining terms using connectors Finding appropriate information sources Selecting, evaluating and saving results Retrieve full text electronically or in print
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Where to start?http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/oxlip
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Journal article databases Used to find papers, book chapters and
book reviews (N.B. references only, NOT necessarily full text)
They could cover a specific subject or many subjects
Are not necessarily tied to library holdings They look different but have similar
functionality
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A couple of definitions Bibliographic (journal article) Database = a
systematic compilation of citations of journal articles(Use these to search for content, e.g. book chapters and journal articles)
Library Catalogue = a list of books, journals, maps, records, etc. held in the library(Use this to search for a book or journal, once you know the title of the journal or the author or title of a book)
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Interdisciplinaryjournal databasesfor the sciences
Web of Knowledge http://wok.mimas.ac.uk
Web of Science covers journals in all subject areas
Scopus http://www.scopus.com/scopus
Covers all sciences and some social science
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How to create a search strategy? Ask a clear search question
e.g. What are the popular ways of losing weight? Break the question into search concepts
e.g. popular, ways, losing, weight Select a range of related search terms
popular: common, favourite etc.ways: methods, techniques etc.losing: lose, reduction, reducing etc.weight: fat, diet etc.
Combine terms into a search strategy by using Boolean operators
Workshops in Information Skills and Electronic Resources
Combine terms using Boolean connectors:
AND, OR, NOT
AND to narrow the search OR to broaden the search (use this to
combine synonyms, or related terms) NOT excludes search terms
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AND, OR, NOTmethods
weightlosing
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Other search tricks Symbols for wildcards and truncation
? for a single character within the word wom?n for woman or women
* for truncation or variant spellings enzym* for enzyme, enzymes, enzymology
etc
“use this” for searching for phrases e.g. “creation theory”
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Final search string:
Topic: Popular ways of losing weight
Search string could be:
(popular OR common OR favo?rite) AND (way* OR method* OR technique*) AND (los* OR reduc*) AND (weight or fat or diet*)
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Evaluate your results:
By relevance By the source material By citations For web resources: URL, currency,
layout, working links, etc.
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Getting your hands on the full-text
Is there a TOUR link from the database? Click on it to access the full-text if
available
Check TDNet http://tdnet.bodley.ox.ac.uk/
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Getting hold of the full text (cont.)
Is it available in print in an Oxford library?
Check OLIS http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/olis/
If not, request the document from a document provider through your library
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Citation Searching Doing a search on just one citation allows
you to create a bibliography of both old and new research related to your topic.
To work back in time: use the bibliography at the end of the paper
To work forward in time: use a citation index to see how many papers referred to the original paper subsequently.
Examples : Science Citation Index, Scopus and Google Scholar
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Any questions about:
Access to databases and e-journals:
[email protected] Radcliffe Science Library services:
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We welcome feedback You will get an e-mail with the online evaluation
form in due course. Next WISER Science session:
Keeping up to date with the literature. Monday, 13 November
This session will show you ways of using electronic bibliographic resources to keep up with the literature in your field by creating personal research / interest profiles and making your own current awareness service
Workshops in Information Skills and Electronic Resources
Demonstration Question:
Is there a link between lack of sleep and academic performance among university students?
Search string:(sleep depriv* OR insomnia*) AND (academic performance OR academic achievement) AND (college student* OR university student*)