Transcript microbursts
Advanced information searching Sue Egleton: Liaison Librarian [email protected] January 2004 MT25D Skills for graduates at the end of these sessions you will: be able to formulate an information search strategy be able to search databases for journal articles make more efficient use of the Internet be able to evaluate information sources know how to compile a bibliography … the process ... 1 carry out your search 2 evaluate material 3 think about your topic - design your search use information sources read and use - compile bibliography think about your topic: formulate your search strategy ? what subjects or ideas are involved ? how might you describe them What do you actually want to know? example topic “Discuss the features of naturally occurring microbursts in relation to aviation safety.” exercise related terms (synonyms) microbursts downdraughts / downdrafts downbursts aviation aeroplane aircraft safety hazard turbulence carry out your search: books and articles What do you already know about? Library Catalogues (Unicorn / Met. Library) Web of Science Information available immediately (good general coverage, has citation searching option) Some information not held by library GEOBASE (environmental information) Some information not held by library How quickly do you need the information? Have you got your ATHENS username & password? carry out your search: using databases ? what are they ? how are they put together ? how do you access them ? how do you search a database ? what do you find exercise & demo Web of Science complex searching - “OR” items containing “microbursts” items containing “downbursts” items containing “microbursts” OR “downbursts” widens your search by including more than one search term allows searching for synonyms complex searching - “AND” items containing “microbursts” items containing “aviation” items containing “microbursts” AND “aviation” narrows your search by adding terms together a possible search (microbursts OR downbursts OR downdraughts OR downdrafts) AND (aviation OR aircraft OR aeroplane) AND (safety OR hazard OR turbulence) break carry out your search: using the Internet good for certain types of information eg facts/data, company information different types of search engine available eg general or subject specific use advanced searching for more complex enquiries demo evaluating your sources very important when using web sources, but good practice with every source authority relevance / audience coverage currency accuracy / reliability design / structure access Example web page tips and tricks check for simple mistakes spelling are you searching in the right place? try using some different terms are there more related terms? try narrowing or widening your search use combinations of and / or why compile a bibliography? you’re marked on it you can’t pretend someone else’s work is yours (plagiarism) other people should be able to find the sources you used Bad examples OHP referencing - guidelines Essay project guidelines state format should follow Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society Full guidelines at: www.royal-met-soc.org.uk/qjinstr.html (appendix 1= house style, appendix 3 = title abbreviations) Some guidelines on inside back cover of unbound copies (Met. Library and Main Library) OHP example referencing - layout - article •authors of the article, •in the order that they appear on the article •surnames first followed by initials. full title of the article date the article was published page numbers of the article volume number of the periodical, in bold •full title of the periodical, in italics •may be abbreviated according to Q.J.R.Meteorol. Soc. rules referencing - layout - book •author(s) of the book, •in the order that they appear on the book •surnames first followed by initials. full title of the book, in italics date the book was published place of publication full name of publisher referencing - layout - chapter of a book •author(s) of the chapter, •in the order that they appear in the book •surnames first followed by initials. date the book was published full title of the book, in italics full name of publisher full title of the chapter in quotation marks page numbers of the chapter in the book place of publication •authors or editors of the book •in the order that they appear on the book •initials followed by surnames referencing - layout - web page •author(s) of the web page, if this is possible •Institution / Organisation can be used •date the page was created, if known OR •date the page was viewed if creation date unknown full URL (address) of the web page visited title of the web page date you viewed the web page