informatics transkills 2006-7

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info.shtml

Transferable SkillsSearching Research Literature

Sarah KellyLiaison Librarian for Informatics

Robertson Library, King’s Buildings

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


• Literature databases (incl. Conference proceedings)• Searching/Browsing options (incl. Cited reference searching)• Search histories, combining searches• Accessing the FT• Keeping track of new material published • On and off-campus access• Online journals and packages• Theses/Dissertations• Pre and Post Prints• How to access material not held in EUL• JCR• Books• Reference management software


Transferable Skills…• The most acknowledged delineation of

information literacy was provided by ALA, which defined information literacy as a set of abilities: recognizing an information need and locating, evaluating, and using the needed information effectively (American Library Association Presidential Committee on Information Literacy, 1989).


All on the Internet?....• Easily access information, but…• Need to verify data• Not to say you won’t get some good results, but

– it is not a very systematic approach– cannot be sure your results are

comprehensive• Quantity v quality


All in the Library Catalogue?....• All Library Holdings (print and online) can

be found by searching the Library Catalogue

• The Catalogue allows you to search at the source title level (e.g. journal title), but does not allow you to search at the article level


Literature Databases• Resources available, designed specifically to

search for research literature• Search across a range of publishers• All search results guaranteed to be from

scholarly publications (peer-reviewed)• Search limiting/refining features, thesauri and

personalisation and alerting options


But its easy to search…• Any literature search only as good as search

strategy you devise and coverage of database/s you use

• It is worth spending some time improving your search skills and familiarising yourself with the range of resources available and how they work– The type of information you want– The depth of information you want


Searching/Browsing• Keywords/Extraneous words• Synonyms (incl. Autostemming and American spelling)• New topic?

– Thesaurus search (broader, narrower, related terms)– Controlled terms (cataloguers use to index record)

• Combing your terms/Search History• Detailed records• Related records• Cited references• Refining


Guide to Resources in Informatics (http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info.shtml)

Planning a Search Strategy booklet (http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/PDF/search_skills_A4_booklet.pdf)

Undertaking a Literature Review Booklet(http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/PDF/Literature_Review_A4_booklet.pdf)

Conducting a Literature Search/Review(http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info/IRR.shtml)

Science & Engineering Library Guide 2006(http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/PDF/CSE_LibraryInfoPack_2006.pdf)


http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/PDF/search_skills_A4_booklet.pdf

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/PDF/Literature_Review_A4_booklet.pdf


Access to resources• Follow links from Library web-

pages• Will be prompted for EASE

username and password• Works both on and off-campus


EXAMPLESTOPIC• ‘theorem proving with temporal logic’CITATION SEARCH• Felty, A. and Thery, L. Interactive

theorem proving with temporal logic. Journal of Symbolic Computation, v 23, n 4, April 1997, p 367-97


Inspec (can be cross-searched with Compendex) • Produced by the IET (formerly the IEE), Inspec is a major

database for literature on computer science, artificial intelligence, and related areas. Containing over 8 million records, it indexes over 5,000 journal titles and conferences, as well as books, reports and dissertations, from 1969 to present, and grows by around 400,000 records annually.

Ei Compendex (can be cross-searched with Inspec)• Compendex is a major database for engineering containing

over 9 million record, it indexes over 5,000 journals, conference proceedings and technical reports from 1969 to present. Updated weekly, the database grows by over 500,000 new records annually.


• Select database: Compendex OR Inspec OR Compendex & Inspec• Boolean: AND (default), OR, NOT and NEAR, or phrase (“”) • Autostemming: On or Off or * (truncation)• Specify search limits at start: author, subject, abstract, document

type, language and date range….OR• Start of broad and refine search using options given OR• Browse indexes: controlled terms, author, title, publisher • Search results: citation, abstract or detailed record • Sort by: relevance or by publication date• Full text: links to EUL catalogue or direct to full-text (where available)• Export results: email, print, download, save to folder, Blog• Automatic notification of new results: email alerts, RSS• Search history: save searches, combine searches


• Web of Science - Science Citation Index - Covers 5,900 of the major journals across all fields of science and engineering, providing a useful source for inter-disciplinary subjects. The "citation search" function in this database allows users to search for an article and then track subsequent literature in which it has been cited.

• Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings - indexes the published literature of the most significant conferences, symposia, seminars, colloquia workshops and conventions in a wide range of disciplines in science and technology.

• Journal Citation Reports - The Science Edition of the JCR draws on citation data from roughly 5,900 international journals in the areas of science and technology, providing a unique resource for journal evaluation, or "journal impact factor".


• WoS - Science, Social Science and Arts & Humanities Citation Indexes - Quick, General, Advanced and Cited reference searching

• Search by Topic (subject – title, abstract, keywords), Person (author, cited author or person as subject), or Place (address)

• SAME, NOT, AND, and OR operators, wildcards and brackets/nesting. Default phrase

• Limit by: document type, language and date range• Sort by: Latest date, Times cited, Relevance, First Author and Source

title• Maximum 100,000 results• Summary displays and full record displays • Cited references and number of Times cited• Links to full-text online (findit@edinburgh), EUL catalogue (Holdings)

and Find Related Records• Search history, saved searches, combine searches• Print, save, export to bibliographic software or email marked records


• The A-Z database list gives a full list of the databases Information Services subscribe to, including:

• Linguistics Abstracts Online, Linguistics and Language Behaviour Abstracts, MLA International Bibliography (Linguistics)

• ERIC (Education)• PsychInfo (Psychology and psychological aspects of Linguistics and

Education)• Biosis Previews (available via WoK),• PubMed/Medline, (Medicine/Biomedicine)• ZentralblattMATH (primarily maths, but including theoretical computer

science)• One or more of the other Subject Guides for subject specific

databases and other resources

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resources/databases/findlita.shtml

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resources/databases/findlita.shtml#LAO

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resources/databases/findlita.shtml#Linguistics%20and%20Language%20Behavior%20Abstracts

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resources/databases/findlita.shtml#mla

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resources/databases/findlita.shtml#Eric

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resources/databases/findlita.shtml#Psycinfo

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resources/databases/findlita.shtml#BIOSIS%20Previews

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resources/databases/findlita.shtml#pubmed

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resources/databases/findlita.shtml#ZMATH

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/index.shtml


The database isn’t giving me the full-text…• The level of detail given will depend on the database:

– Citation: basic publication details– Abstract:summary of the article– ‘Your library’: functionality to link to and search library catalogue– Full-text: links directly to full-text

• FT will depend on:– That we subscribe to the journal online to that year/volume– The DB has the FT functionality– The FT provider allows direct linking from DBs– May password for FT database, even if logged in to the Bib DB

If there is no FT link or if you are prompted for payment – always check the Library Catalogue first


…straight to the full-text• If you are short of time, it may be preferable

to go straight to one of the full-text journal packages– Upside - guaranteed full-text online – Downside - you have not conducted a

comprehensive search and may have missed out on useful articles from other publishers


Dissertations/Theses• School of Informatics

– MSc Theses, 2000 - present (ITO)– MSc Theses, pre 2000 (digitisation)– PhD Theses, 2000 - present (ERA)– PhD Theses, pre 2000 (digitisation)

• ERA• Index to theses (GB & Ireland)• Digital Dissertations


Research Reports, Preprints and Postprints

• Keep up to date with new developments before they have been published

• May be pre or post peer-review• Informatics• ERA• External


• New resource which cross-searches many library, but not all, library resources

• May be useful starting point• Native interfaces have more search

options and personalisation features


Finding Material not held in the Library

• Bring the item to you– ILL

• Go to the host Library– NLS– SCONUL Research Extra


Journal Citation Reports on the Web (JCR)“…a unique multidisciplinary research tool used for journal

evaluation. It provides access to quantifiable statistical data that supplies a systematic, objective way to determine the relative importance of journals within their subject categories”

• Discover high-impact journals (The Impact Factor)• Find which journals are cited most quickly (the "hottest"

journals) • Identify journals relevant to a particular area of research • Print, save or export data into spreadsheets


Remember • Not ALL information can be found on the

internet– Some publications only available in print,

these and other non-Internet sources still useful/essential (depending on what you are looking for!)….

– Talking to other people: classmates, tutors….library staff


Books - Print and Online• Print: Finding/Borrowing/Recalling/Renewing

(http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info/print.shtml)

• E-books(http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info/ebooks.shtml)

• Book recommendationsprint (http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/services/librec2sci.cgi)ebook (http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info/ebooks.shtml#newebook)

• Book alerts(http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info/updates.shtml#bookalerts)

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/services/librec2sci.cgi

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info/ebooks.shtml#newebook

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info/updates.shtml#bookalerts


Help/Further Information• Information Clinics

– Every Wednesday, 2pm – 4pm– Seminar Room, Robertson Library– Drop-in service for anyone with a query on

using Library resources• Email• Telephone


Questions?


Managing Bibliographies• EndNote

– Creating an EndNote Library– Exporting references from literature

databases– Locate and insert a reference from your

Library - ‘Cite While You Write’– Format the citation style

(http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info/managingreferences.shtml)

informatics transkills 2006-7

Technology