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Bodleian Social Science Library. Turning a research question into an effective search strategy Louise Clarke, Bodleian Social Science Librarian Kate Williams , Bodleian Education Librarian. PC Log-in. Enter your: University Card Barcode Enter your: Library password - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Turning a research question into an effective search strategy
Louise Clarke, Bodleian Social Science Librarian
Kate Williams, Bodleian Education Librarian
Bodleian Social Science Library
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Part 1: The literature
review process
Relevant scholarly research
Cross-searching
Thesaurus
Natural language
Keywords Boolean
Pearl-growingCitation
chaining
Part 2: Searching
Abstracting and indexing services
Full-text databases
Internet
search
engines
Part 3: Search tools
Part 4: Alerts
RSS /
New articles matching
search terms
Tables of contents from
selected journals New citations
referencing ‘parent article’
Part 5: Citations and bibliometrics
Researcher 3
cites
Researcher 2 cites Researcher 1
Impact
By the end of the session, you should:
• Understand the literature review process;• Be able to plan an effective and structured search for your thesis;• Know where to look for different types of information;• Have evaluated different methods of searching;• Have developed search skills that can be applied across different resources;• Have had a chance to practise;• Know where to come for future help.
Learning outcomes
Part 1: The literature
review process
Literature review discussion groups
1. Why is the literature review important?2. Why be methodical? 3. How do you choose your search terms?4. Where do you plan to search for the
literature?5. What sources are you trying to find?
Primary and Secondary Sources
Primary Source Suffragette posters and pamphlets
Secondary Source Book about female emancipation in Britain
Tertiary Source Dictionary of feminism
• In general a primary source is a work not based on or derived from another source (e.g. contemporary records, data, conference papers, photographs, working papers, etc.)• Secondary sources include the use / analysis / interpretation of primary (and other) sources• Consider the relationship between the researcher and the source in the context of the research topic• Definitions of primary and secondary sources vary by disciplineLOMBARD, E. 2010. Primary and Secondary Sources.
The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 36, 3, pp. 250-253.
Sources
• Grey literature refers to material not easily found through conventional publishing channels • Produced by government agencies, NGO’s, IGOs, academic departments and research groups • Includes working papers, policy documents, occasional papers, briefings, conference papers, newsletters, etc. • Produced in print and electronic formats • Ephemeral nature has implications for dissemination, identification and access – it is out there but may be hard to find
Primary sources include grey literature
How to structure the literature review process
1. Preliminary searching and browsing– Scan abstracts and skim-read papers– Identify current directions of research – How will you contribute new knowledge?
2. Structured searching with appropriate syntax– Identify the key articles and heavily-cited papers– Establish key authors, organizations and sources– Commit to in-depth consideration and re-reading of papers
3. Develop search– Track citations to follow research connections– “Cast net more widely” in terms of resources searched– Set up alerts for new content
• Stay focused on the research question and keep a search log
Relevant scholarly research
Cross-searching
Thesaurus
Natural language
Keywords Boolean
Pearl-growingCitation
chaining
Part 2: Searching
Start with a clear research question
Start with a clear research question
e.g.
What is being done to help prevent AIDS in Zimbabwe?
Search method 1: Natural language searching
Search method 2: Keyword searching
Example - Keywords
What is being done to help prevent AIDS in Zimbabwe?
Aids Prevent Zimbabwe
aids prevent(ion) Zimbabwehiv interventionhuman immunodeficiency virus awarenessacquired immune educationdeficiency syndrome
Wild card characters
• Truncation may be used in a number of ways:– * for right side truncation (e.g. plurals and alternative
word endings) • interven* retrieves intervention(s), intervene, intervening
– ? for a single character (e.g. alternative spellings)• organi?ation for organisation or organization
– $ for one character or zero characters• behavio$r retrieves behavior or behaviour
• Check the database online help (the symbols given above are common but not universal)
Boolean logic
OR
NOT
HIV or AIDS
prevention not treatment
AND AIDS and ZimbabweNARROWS
SEARCH
BROADENSSEARCH
NARROWSSEARCH
Further search techniques
• Use parentheses to group the order in which terms are searched (or use structured search boxes)
• Use the proximity operator NEAR to specify how close two words appear to each other– E.g. University NEAR/4 students
• Search for a phrase by using quote marks – “united kingdom”
• Limit your search to particular fields (title, author, abstract, keywords, etc.)
• Apply search filters such as date to limit a search
Example – Keyword search string
• Aids prevention in Zimbabwe– Search 1 = hiv OR “human immunodeficiency
virus” OR aids OR “acquired immune deficiency syndrome”
– Search 2 = prevent* OR interven* OR aware* OR educat*
– Search 3 = Zimbabwe– Search 4 = #1 AND #2 AND #3
• Demo - SCOPUS http://www.scopus.com/home.url
Search method 3: Database thesauri
• Use database thesauri and subject headings to identify new and useful search terms
• Terms are assigned by the database editors from a set of controlled vocabulary (thesaurus) • May also be keywords assigned by the author
• Broader - brings together synonyms / related terms under one heading (sensitivity)
• More focused - looks for articles about your topic, not just with your words in the article (specificity)
thesaurus term = “Higher education”
Higher Education
Higher education
College UniversityTertiaryeducation
HE HEI
Thesaurus example – ERIC
• Academic Achievement– Use for: Academic Performance : Academic
Progress : Academic Success : Educational Achievement : Educational Level : Scholastic Achievement : Student Achievement
• Narrower terms: Educational Attainment• Broader terms: Achievement • Related terms: Academic Failure : Instructional
Effectiveness • http://search.proquest.com/professional/eric/index
Search examples - ERIC
Search term Free text search Subject heading“Academic Achievement” 62,935 59,970
Search term Free text search“Academic Success” 3,276
Academic Success 16,506
Academic NEAR/6 Success 5,449
Search method 4: Cross - searching
• OxLIP+ Keyword searching of up to 5 Oxford databases – Limited to certain databases– Retrieval is unwieldy
• SOLO Journal Articles Search – Rough and ready– Produces poor results in many cases
A note about searching for authors
• Use truncation to find all forms of an author’s name– To find articles by J.R.W. Yates search for yates j*
• For common names, truncation may not be appropriate – try entering the initials instead– yates jrw or yates j r w depending on the database
• Compound names may be fused together or separated – punctuation may be replaced with a space – To find articles by M. D’Angelo search for d’angelo m* OR dangelo m* OR d angelo m*
• Database tools can help you identify authors– Author index– Author search (SCOPUS) / Author finder (Web of Science) for including
information about their subject and institution
Abstracting and indexing services
Full-text databases
Internet search
engines
Part 3: Search tools
• SOLO http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk • OxLIP+ http://oxlip-plus.bodleian.ox.ac.uk • OU E-Journals http://ejournals.bodleian.ox.ac.uk • Libguides http://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/• Single Sign On Sign into Nexus Email or SOLO My Account and use browser session to access e-journals and OxLIP+ databases from outside the Oxford network
Access to online resources provided by the Bodleian Libraries
Google Scholar Library Links
Selecting databases for a literature review
Tolan, P., Henry, D., Schoeny, M., Bass, A. & Tolan, P. 2008, "Mentoring interventions to affect juvenile delinquency and associated problems", Campbell Systematic Reviews, vol. 16.
Identifying search tools• Ask yourself two questions:
– What subject disciplines might be pertinent to my research topic?
• Economics, health, public policy, education, anthropology, sociology, geography, etc.
– Which information formats might contain relevant research?
• Journal articles, discussion and working papers, books, official papers, datasets, websites, newspaper articles, etc.
• Next, take a look at the appropriate LibGuides– http://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
Major Platforms
• Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts • Dissertations and theses (full-text)• British Education Index (N.B. Proquest Professional)• ERIC (Education)• International Bibliography of the Social Sciences• Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts • National Criminal Justice Reference Service • Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS)• Sociological Abstracts• Worldwide Political Science Abstracts (WPSA)
International Bibliography of the Social Scienceshttp://search.proquest.com
• Disciplines: anthropology, cultural studies, demography, economics, education, political science, religious studies, sociology, etc. • Broad coverage of international material• Records indexed geographically as well as thematically
– Dissertations and Theses
• The world’s most comprehensive collection of social science theses• From 1997 onwards over a million full-text theses are available to download • Dissertations from July 1980 onwards include a 350 word abstract• Earlier dissertations offer citation information (dating back to 1637)
– IBSS – Search Syntax
(ageing OR aging) NEAR/4 population OR declin* NEAR/4 (fertility OR birth)
AND (family OR social) AND polic*
AND Japan
• EconLit • Global Health
• Medline
• PsycINFO
• Abstracts in Social Gerontology
• Business Source Complete • Family & Society Studies Worldwide
• Historical Abstracts
• Philosopher’s Index
• AnthropologyPlus
• ChicanoDatabase • Francis
• Russian Academy of Sciences Bibliographies
• WorldCat
Primary Sources
• Multi-regional• Nexis UK (BBC Monitoring International Reports under Countries Tab)• Factiva• World News Connection• Foreign Broadcast Information Service• Emerging Markets Information Service
• Regional• Nikkei Telecom21(Japanese news and finance)• Russian Central newspapers • Pravda (1912-2009)• China Core Newspapers Database • WiseSearch (China)• Ethnic Newswatch (mainly US, ethnic publications)
• Archives• Proquest (New York Times, Guardian, Observer, Washington Post) • Separate Digital Archives available for the Times, FT, Daily Mirror and Economist• Times of India archive
News
News - comparison of content - example
Nexis FactivaMexico El Norte (Spanish; 2004-)
Reforma (Spanish; 2004-)Mural (Spanish; 2004-)Palabra (Spanish; 2004-)
El Norte (Spanish; 2004-)Reforma (Spanish; 2004-)El Universal (Spanish; 2002-)
Moldova Moldavskie Vedomosti (Russian; 2006-)Nezavisimaya Moldova (Russian; 2006-)
Namibia The Namibian (English;1997-)
Nepal Kathmandu Post (English; 2008-) Nepali Times (English; 2006-)
Kathmandu Post (English; 2008-) Nepali Times (English; 2006-)
Netherlands De Telegraaf (Dutch; 1999-)De Volksrant (Dutch; 1995-)NRC Handelsblad (Dutch; 1990-)Trouw (Dutch; 1992-)
De Telegraaf (Dutch; 2008-)
Multi-regionalESDS InternationalWorld Bank / UN / IMFOECD iLibraryEmerging Markets Information Service
RegionalIndiastatChina Data OnlineLatin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP)Latinobarómetro (via ESDS)Historical Statistics of the United StatesInter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research archive (US)Russian State/CIS Statistical Publications
Data and Statistics
• Subject-specific websites, portals and current awareness services e.g. ELDIS and Social Policy Digest
• Academic institutions• Governmental and Inter-Governmental Organisations• NGO and campaigning sites• Other access points e.g. SCOPUS, ZETOC, Open SIGLE
Sources for grey literature
• International Inter-governmental Organization webpage finder inc. UN and its subsidiaries: http://www.libsci.sc.edu/bob/IGOs.htm#UNSUBS
• PolicyFILE: research organizations, think tanks, university programmes and NGOs listed: http://www.policyfile.com/organizations/organizations.do
• Forced Migration Online (FMO): Lists NGOs and IGOs, (search by country or subject): http://www.forcedmigration.org/research-resources/organizations
• CIAO: lists many university research institutes http://www.ciaonet.org/main/wps.html
Lists of IGO’s, NGO’s and Institutes
Theses and dissertations ProQuest Dissertations & Theses / Index to Theses / Ethos / ORA / SOLO
Conference proceedings & working papersZETOC (conference proceedings, British Library)Working papers generally available on institutional websites or subject based repositories such as REPEC (economics papers)
ReportsOxford Analytica (Regional analysis)Country Reports (via Business Source Complete)World Development Reports, World Bank
Etc. Declassified US Govt Docs / Forced Migration Online / Aluka
Theses, conferences, reports, etc.
Secondary and Tertiary Sources
Major aggregators, e.g. JSTORFull-text of over 1000 journals Moving wall
All major publishers, e.g. SAGE, Wiley, OUP, CUP, Taylor and Francis, Brill Area journal collections
China Academic Journals (CNKI) / China Online Journals (Wanfang) / Taiwan Electronic Periodical Services / JAIRO: Japanese Institutional Repositories Online / Central and Eastern European Online Library
Full-text e-journals
E-books• Packages, e.g. Oxford Scholarship Online• Series, e.g. Handbooks in Economics (Elsevier)• Individual titles listed in SOLO• Google Books
• International Encyclopaedia of the Social & Behavioural Sciences
• International Encyclopedia of Human Geography
Online reference works
Sage Research Methods Online
Sage Reference Online
• SOLO
• British Library Catalogue
• COPAC (UK)
• WorldCat (Global)
Catalogues
Official Papers
Legal Resources
Systematic Reviews
Special CollectionsArea Studies
Subject-specific
Research methods
http://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/
http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/libraries/subjects/librarians
MapsArchives
• Run your search string from exercise 1 in a relevant database (s) of your choice– You may wish to use the Proquest platform, initially
searching all databases. At the results screen click on the option to refine your search by ‘databases’ to note the “hit rates” in the different resources.
• Explore the database search functionality / refine your search
• Email yourself relevant results for your research topic
Practical exercise 2: Online searching
Part 4: Alerts
RSS / email
New articles matching search
terms
Tables of contents from
selected journalsNew citations
referencing ‘parent article’
Table of contents alerts
• Alerts of new issues of journals• Provide tables of contents – browse online
o ZETOC – British Library’s service:• Over 20,000 journal titles + conferences• Alerting service – access via Single Sign On• N.B. Oxford may not have all journals• Via OxLIP+: http://oxlip-plus.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/
Database Alerts
• Subject databases • Create and save sophisticated searches• Receive alerts when new publications come in
that match your topic
• e.g. Proquest databases – search alerts• Web of Science – citation alerts• OxLIP+: http://oxlip-plus.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/
Part 5: Citations and bibliometrics
Researcher 3 cites
Researc
her 2 cites
Researcher
1
Impact
Using citations to identify key papers and related research
• Web of Science
• •
GAVEL, Y. and L. ISELID, 2008. Web of Science and Scopus: a journal title overlap study. Online Information Review ,32, no. 1, pp. 8-21.
Coverage
Web of KnowledgeCitation Searching
http://www.webofknowledge.com/WOS
• Identify current research based on earlier research
• Analyze the impact of a publication on other research in the field or across subject boundaries
Citation mapping (ISI WoS)
• Explore up to two generations of backward and forward citations
Using bibliometrics to assess impact
• citation counts
• h-index • journal impact factor
Article Citation Count Example: ISI’s Web of Science, Dec 2011
Researcher H-index Example: ISI’s Web of Science, Dec 2011
Journal Impact FactorExample: ISI’s Web of Knowledge, Political Science, 2010
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