EAP: Finding Information

Lynne Meehan and Rachel Nelligan Room 314, UCL Science Library

Tel: 020 7679 2634 email: lib-sciteam@ucl.ac.ukEvaluation Form: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NGYWHH7

Finding Information

Finding information for course work and research takes time. Developing your information skills will help you to find information faster and to a higher standard.

It is possible to “speed up” the searching process by using consistent, structured ap-proach as well as by making use of alerting services and “saved searches”

You can improve your standard of your work by including material from a broad range of information sources.

Where do you look?

Assignment Search engine (e.g. Google)

Wikipedia Library Catalogue

Database

Writing a short assignment

-Google Scholar-Intute

An overview of your topic

Find a book on your topic that you can use

Look for references to journal articles if you had time to do it.

Writing a long assignment

- Google Scholar- Intute- Finding organisations linked to your topic- Political policies relating to your topic

- An overview of your topic- Suggested keywords you can use when searching the database's.

- Find a book on your topic that you can use - Possibly find conference papers or research monographs

You might try using a database of journal articles to look for what research there has been over the last few years into your topic.

Types of Information

Type of Information Useful for ExamplesJournalsUsually published monthly or quarterly, and contain a selection of articles providing details of recent research.

Up-to-date research developments within the field, or reports on technological innovations, current affairs, business matters, conferences, practical experience 'in the field

-Nature-Scientific american-Science

BooksTake a general approach to the subject, typically covering basic principles, facts and theories

Useful to provide an introduction or overview of a topic or building on research published in journal articles.

-Textbooks as part of your course material -Knovel is our largest collection of engineering books.

Web Useful for official information, specialist organisations, statistics

-Intute – www.intute.ac.uk- Sciverse - http://www.hub.sciverse.com/action/home

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Official publications Publications issued by the government and its departments.

Governments are involved with most areas of society, and there are few subjects that are not covered. Official publications will ultimately affect corporate strategy to a greater or lesser degree.

-Directgov website provides access to a wealth of government information and services online. -Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform website is a good example of an government website

Reference materialSuch as dictionaries, directories, and encyclopedia

Looking up company facts, data, statistics, specialist organisations and definitions.useful for providing specific pieces of information (i.e. facts) quickly.

Encyclopaedia BritanicaWikipediaKnowUK - http://www.knowuk.co.uk/Oxford English DictionaryWho’s Who

Search techniques

Overview of topicBefore you begin, get an overview of the topic you are researching. Especially if you are not familiar with the topic. Good places to get an overview are:-

Encyclopedias e.g. Encyclopedia Britannica, WikipediaSubject dictionaries Subject websites e.g. www.ucl.ac.uk/library/guides/subjguidehtmlLecture notes

This will also help choose concepts and keywords to describe your topic when searching.

Define your topicGo through the following steps :-

Think about the question you want to answer and break it down into its broad areas or “concepts”. You usually find that your question breaks down into a couple of areas or concepts.

Brainstorm for words and phrases associated with the major areas or concepts. Remember to include synonyms and alternative spellings and colloquial and

scientific/chemical terms-abbreviations – UK, United Kingdom-Variations in spelling – colour, color, specialised, specialized-Variations in terminology used in different cultures and countries – for instance, ‘children with emotional and behavioural problems’ (UK) are referred to as ‘maladjusted children’ in the US. This will help to ensure that you find things that an author might have referred to using different terms.

But don't worry if you can't always find any sensible substitutes for the words you have chosen – there might not be any.

Are there any grographical or date limitations you need to build in to our search? (e.g. are you looking for the worldwide or european perspective? Are you interested in his-torical or very current materials?.

The process may help you decide what you don’t want to investigate as well as what you do – saving you time when deciding what to read and what not to read.

Task 1

In groups discuss the topic “Greener city transport” and write down the main “Concepts” and brainstorm for alternatice words and phrases to describe the concepts.

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Boolean

If you want an online database or search engine to understand you, you need to speak its language. That's why syntax - the way you put your search terms together - mat-ters.

Since syntax can vary between databases and search engines, you should refer to the help.

Boolean determines how multiple search terms are combined in a search. Two common connectors are and, or. Sometimes symbols are used instead of words, i.e. + or –

Boolean logic – USING OR

Green SustainableOR

Results will contain either term

Useful for combining a search on the same concept

Boolean logic – using AND

Useful for combining different conceptsSustainable TransportAND

Only get results where both terms are mentioned

Search tips

Nesting: The order in which search engines execute your commands is not always obvious. You can use round brackets ( ) to control the search sequence.

Example: the search term transport and (green or sustainable) will find documents that contain one of the words in brackets -i.e. green or sustainable – but only if they also contain the word transport.

Phrase searching: Some databases will treat two or more words entered into the search box as a phrase, while others require you to place a phrase in double quotation marks “”.

Example: "sustainable transport” will only find documents where the whole phrase is present.

Truncation: Most databases allow end of word truncation, using one character, such as an asterisk *, to replace the remaining letters.

Example: transport* will find documents containing transprt, transported, transporting

'Wild cards': Wild cards are characters, such as a question mark, ?, used to replace replace a single letter in the middle of a word. They are used to accommodate spelling variations.

Example: wom?n will find woman and women; organi?ation will retrieve organization and organisation.

Proximity operators: locate terms that are close to one another. One such proximity operator is w/#, which you can use to find two words that are # number of pages apart.3

Example: sustainable w/3 transport will find documents where sustainable and trans-port occur within three words of one another, in either order.

Searching specific fields: Field searching allows you to designate where to search for a specific term. Sometimes there is a drop-down menu to select the field, at other times a field 'qualifier' is added to the search term, such as Smith:au or Smith in au

Library Catalogue

BooksTo find a book that you know the author and/or title of:

Use the Quick search Enter the author surname and key words from the title No need for diacritic marks like commas

To find books on a particular subject: Type in your chosen key words into the search box e.g. Sustainable transport

ResultsBy clicking on the blue “Library site” links on the right hand side of the “Results List” page you can see which UCL Library the book is kept in as well as:-‘Item status’ = how long the book can be borrowed for‘Due date’ = displays as “Available” if it isn’t out on loan‘Location’ = where it is shelved

The Science Library has its own scheme for arranging books on the shelves. A typical Engineering location (or classmark) looks like this: ENGINEERING QQ 5 DOR . This is the classmark for Bioprocess engineering principles / Pauline M. Doran, where:

ENGINEERING is the book collection; QQ 5 is the classification (all books with QQ 5 are about Biochemical Engineering); DOR is the first three letters of the author's surname.

Journals Use the Quick search Type in the words you know e.g. Transport policy Select “All journals” Click on “Search” Click on the (copies/on loan) link for location information, or, if available electronically,

click on the SFX link to go the full text

TIP: The library catalogue only lists which journals UCL has, and does not list the individual articles within those journals, therefore when looking for journal articles ONLY look up the FULL NAME OF THE JOURNAL on the Library catalogue

SFX SFX is a tool to link all UCL electronic library resources, including the catalogue and databases, straight to the full text of journal articles and books.

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For more information on finding journals please look at the UCL Library Services leaflet “Finding journals” available to download from http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/prints.shtml.

TASK 2:In which library would you find the book “Sustainable transport strategy” by Brian Madge and Jeff Wilson and what is the shelf location?

Your library record Click on “My account”  (on the top tool bar).     Enter your barcode – the 10-digit number located on your UCL ID card. Enter your PIN number which will be the first 4 digits of your date of birth, DDMM – not

the year, just the date/month. Click on ‘Sign-in’. Your name should now be displayed at the top of the screen, with a

list of books on loan, reservations, etc. Always click the “Reset” option (located at the top right-hand corner) after looking at

your personal information, so that no one else can see your personal details or borrow books using your account.

TIP:  Renewing books – when you have borrowed any books from a UCL library, it is possible to renew your books yourself from within your personal record – select ‘loans’ followed by ‘renew’. You are not able to renew if you owe the library more than £20 or if your books are reserved by other library members.

TutorialFor an online tutorial on the library catalogue, go to http://www.ucl.ac.uk/moodle, log in, click on WISE, and select Engineering and the Built Environment.

Knovel

Knovel is an interactive e-book and database package which gives searchable access to the full text of a range of text and reference books. It covers all aspects of engineering and applied science. Link to Knovel from the Library’s databases list: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/database/.

You can search for terms within all of the subscribed titles or browse the available re-sources by navigating through the subject areas.

For help with using Knovel, see section 3 of WISE (Finding information): go to http://www.ucl.ac.uk/moodle, log in, click on WISE, and select Engineering and the Built Environment.

Web Search

The web is a useful source of information but it is quite unlike library catalogues and databases in that it isn't so neatly organised and varies greatly in quality and usefulness.

Below are some ideas to try and improve your web searching.

Google is not the only search engine, tryYahoo www.yahoo.com Exalead, www.exalead.com/search

Also look at Internet GatewaysIntute – www.intute.ac.uk

Remember to evaluate the web site to ensure it is information you can trust using PROMPTP = Presentation: Look at layout, language and structure R = Relevance: Is it relevant to your topic5

O = Objectivity: Do you know the authors position on the issue? Is the language emotive?M= Method: For research reports only is the clear and appropriateP= Provenance: Can you identify the authors or organisation? T= Timeliness: Is it dated? Is the information updated regularly? Does the date meet requirements

TASK 3:Try one of the websites above and search for sustainable transport. Note down 2 useful websites you found

Database's

A database is a way of storing, indexing, organising and retrieving informationThe specialised databases we can use to search for references to journal articles are called 'bibliographic' databases (because they contain information in summary form about books and journal articles). They are electronic indexes to the contents of thousands of journals. They are a very quick means of accessing thousands of references to academic material.

Some databases have a very narrow focus, while others contain information on many topics. Select a database that is appropriate for your topic - see the subject guides http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/guides/subjguide.shtml or browse the list of databases http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/database/index.shtml

Metalib

MetaLib is a gateway to a range of electronic resources relevant to users of UCL Library Services. It can be used to identify resources relevant to a particular area of research or study, and it can be used to search groups of these resources in one search. For information see http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/metalib.shtml.

Use MetaLib when you want to develop a quick overview of a subject or to conduct an introductory search of one or more electronic resources. It can also help you to identify relevant resources in specific subject areas. For more complex searches use the individual interfaces of each electronic resource as mentioned above.

Quick Search Go to the library website www.ucl.ac.uk /library Click on Electronic Resources Click on Metalib Click on “Go to Metalib” link Click on the “Login Here” link and enter your UCL userid and password at the sign-on

page Enter search e.g Sustainable transport Change subject to “Engineering” Click GO

ResultsThe search summary screen shows the status of your search as it proceeds. Searches are completed at different speeds for different resources. When all the searches have completed, you will be taken to a new results window. Only the top 10 results from each resource will be shown. For individual results, you can:

Use the SFX button to locate the full text

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Save the record to “My Metalib” by clicking on the + icon. Email or save the record, from within the Full View, by clicking on envelope or disk icons

My MetalibMetaLib offers a number of personalization features associated with your login. These allow you to save sets of records, create favourite lists of resources, and set up regular alerts based on previous searches.

eShelfRecords which you save from your results lists are stored in your eShelf (available within “My Metalib”). It will be empty until you have added some records from your searches.

To add records from your results list click on the + sign. To see them on your eShelf click on My Metalib and your eShelf is the first list you see. From this screen you can select records to email to yourself, tick the boxes next to the records you want

to email and click on “email/save selected” In the new window click on email, enter your email details and click email. Check your email account to

see the results

TASK 4 : Use Metalib to search for Sustainable Transport. Try searching General resources and Engineering resources. Which produces more relevant results? Save three records that look useful. Email those records to yourself.

Finding References

SFX icon can be used in most databases to check journal holdings at UCL and other universities. Use the drop down menu in SFX to search across library catalogues with COPAC or ULS

Links to nearby university libraries at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/otherlib.shtml Books and journal articles not held at UCL or local libraries can be requested via inter-

library loan: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/ill.shtml

Citing your Sources

It is important to include references in your work in order to indicate that you have used relevant information resources, to avoid plagiarism and to allow readers of your work to be able to find the information sources for themselves.  You should remember to list all the details of the books/journals that you consult so that you can reference them correctly. Failure to cite your sources constitutes plagiarism and you may be penalised!Citing            acknowledging within your piece of work the source from which you             obtained information.Reference          full details of the source from which you obtained your information. Bibliography      a list of the references you have used, usually placed at the end of your

text.

There are two main citation styles called Harvard and Vancouver. Find out which one is preferred by your department

Make systematic notes of all the results you find. You need to know Author, Title or Article and Title of source publication, Date of Publication, Publisher, Place of Publication, Volumes and issue numbers. Remember you can usually email these details to yourself from the databases.

Also note the content, when it comes to writing up it is easy to forget what information you found in all the references you are using, so when you make a note of the publication details also note down which part of your essay it is useful for and the main points the book or article make.

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For help with citing sources, See section 5 of WISE (Working with information):  go to

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/moodle, log in, click on WISE, and select Engineering and the Built Environment.

Read Neville, C. (2008). Complete guide to referencing and avoiding plagiarism. Milton Keynes: Open UP held at MEDICAL SCIENCES A 9 NEV (2nd floor) and GEO-GRAPHY A 9 NEV (1st floor)

Try Internet detective - http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/detective/ Library guide to references, citations and avoiding plagiarism available online at

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/References_and_Plagiarism.pdf and at enquiry desks

Go to http://www.ucl.ac.uk/current-students/guidelines/policies/plagiarism for more information.

Access to electronic resources

UCL users are advised to access resources through the lists of ejournals (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/ejournal) and databases (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/database) available on MetaLib. This will guarantee that you get free access to all the resources to which you are entitled as a UCL member. If you are on-site you will not need to log in to resources. If you are off-site, you will be prompted for your UCL userid and password automatically. For more information on access to e-resources, visit http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/e-res.shtml.

Further help

Library website http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/ WISE:  go to http://www.ucl.ac.uk/moodle, log in, click on WISE, and select your

faculty or WISE for beginners. Science Enquiry Desk:  located on the ground floor of the Science Library.  

Telephone on ext. 37789 or 020 7679 7789. Lynne Meehan (science subject librarian) contact me on l.meehan@ucl.ac.uk or

020 7679 2634 or come and see me in Room 314, Science Library, or contact your subject librarian (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/who.shtml)

Links to slides and resources used in this course: http://delicious.com/LynneMeehan/EAP10

TASK 5: Evaluation

Please fill in the evaluation form about your session at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NGYWHH7

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