Transcript Slide 1
Information Skills for Research in Earth Sciences Roger Mills OULS Bio- & Environmental Sciences Librarian October 2008 This session How to do subject searches for journal articles, conference papers, book chapters etc How to cite electronic sources correctly How to avoid plagiarism Subject searching SOLO, OLIS and Oxford e-journals cover Oxford holdings only Better to use specialist indexes covering the world’s literature Access via OxLIP+ Use inter-library loan for items not held in Oxford and not online Major sources Today we cover: Web of Knowledge SCOPUS GeoRef Google Scholar Many others available: see OxLIP+ Going home These are mostly subscription databases Only available on Oxford network Outside Oxford, login using your SSO – Single Sign On – username and password (as for Webauth / Herald email) Athens/VPN no longer needed What can you find on Oxlip+? Library catalogues including OLIS Bibliographic databases (journal article summaries & tables of contents) Full-text electronic journals Internet sites (subject gateways) Reference works & Statistics Glossary Bibliographic Database= an indexed source 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 and arranged in a systematic manner (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) Bibliographic databases Excellent for locating journal articles, book chapters and book reviews (NB. References only, NOT necessarily [though increasingly] full text) General or Subject specific coverage Different interfaces but similar functionality Not tied to library holdings Some will provide a link to full text Bib. databases - Interdisciplinary Web of Knowledge (http://wok.mimas.ac.uk) Web of Science covers journals in all subject areas Citation searching Scopus (http://www.scopus.com/scopus) Provides an alternative to WOK for crossdisciplinary search and citation searching; incorporates Geobase Relevant Subject Databases GeoRef (for geology) Biological Abstracts (life sciences and environment) CAB Abstracts (environment) These are available on OvidSP Gateway software and can be cross-searched there Search strategy Ask a clear search question What is the impact of tropical deforestation on our climate? Break the question into search concepts tropical deforestation, climate change Combine terms into a search strategy using Boolean connectors Find more terms from retrieved records whilst you are searching Boolean connectors: AND, OR, NOT AND to narrow the search OR to broaden the search (synonyms) NOT excludes search terms OR, AND, NOT Tropical deforestation Environment Climate change Other tricks: Use symbols for wildcards and truncation ? for a single character wom?n will find woman or women * for truncation or variant spellings enzym* for enzyme, enzymes, enzymology etc use quotation marks for searching for phrases e.g. “non-ferrous metals” Sample search What is the impact of tropical deforestation on our climate? AND = narrows OR = widens Search string could be: “Climate change” and “tropical deforestation” Getting your hands on the full- text Is there a link to full text from the database? Is the journal available electronically in Oxford? Check Oxford e-Journals (http://journals.ouls.ox.ac.uk) Is there a print copy in an Oxford library? Check SOLO (http://solo.ouls.ox.ac.uk/olis/) If not, try Inter-Library Loan from the Earth Sciences Library or RSL Default means of delivery is SED = Secure Electronic Delivery Databases vs. Search engines Contents are indexed by subject specialists Subject headings Limiting functions e.g. publication types, language Allow you to View Search history Combine searches Mark and sort results Print/save/email/export Save searches Set up alerts Searches done by automated “web crawlers” No thesaurus / subject headings – just free text searching No limiting functions Usually none of these! Google Scholar Has links to many, but not all, journal publishers So not all journals can be found through GS Records can only be selected singly But quick route to full text when relevant article found Citing your references An article in an online journal which also exists in print can be cited in the same way as print To cite something which only exists electronically, e.g. a web site, follow special rules which include the date viewed Avoid plagiarism Easy to copy and paste paragraphs and make it look like your own work Heavy penalties if caught! Make sure you always give correct citation See: http://www.jiscpas.ac.uk/referencing.php [or Google ‘plagiarism uk’] http://www.jiscpas.ac.uk/referencingcitations.php Keeping track of your references Make sure you keep a systematic listing of your references, so you can find them again when you need them A simple listing in Word should be fine, but if you have a large number of references, software like RefWorks (free) or EndNote (£80 from OUCS) can be very helpful. Some databases allow you to export references directly to RefWorks or EndNote. Maps If you need to do much mapping, consider using the MapInfo software. The Bodleian Map Room staff can give you guidance. http://oxlip-plus.ouls.ox.ac.uk/ To find the databases go to OxLIP+ search by the database title: Web of Knowledge SCOPUS GeoRef Nb turn off pop-up blockers! Quick Reference Guides Web of Knowledge: Quick Reference Card SCOPUS: Online tutorials User Guide OvidSP Tutorials and guides These slides are available on www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/isbes/training Any questions in the future, contact your subject librarian: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Try these Petrogenesis in Europe Intracrystalline deformation in the Alps Sequence stratigraphy in volcanic areas Ultra-high pressure metamorphism