UsingScirus

http://www.scirus.com

Presented by

Mark PuterbaughInformation Services Librarian

Warner Memorial LibraryEastern University

St. Davids, PA 19087mputerba@eastern.edu

Updated Saturday, February 20, 2010.

I. Introduction

A. What is SCIRUS?

“It is the most comprehensive scientific research tool on the web. With over 370 million scientific items indexed at last count, it allows researchers to search for not only journal content but also scientists' homepages, courseware, pre-print server material, patents and institutional repository and website information.”

http://www.scirus.com/

B. Why Use Scirus?Scirus is a search engine specifically for science. It is designed to minimize the effort to find the best scientific information on the Internet.

According to the publisher Scirus:

i. Filters out non-scientific sites. For example, if you search on REM, Google finds the rock group - SCIRUS finds information on sleep, among other things.

ii. Finds credible information created in a variety of formats, such as PDF and PostScript files, which are often invisible to other search engines.

iii. Searches the most comprehensive combination of web information, preprint servers, digital archives, repositories, patent and journal databases. SCIRUS goes deeper than the first two levels of a Web site, thereby revealing much more relevant information.

http://www.scirus.com/srsapp/aboutus/

C. What does Scirus Index?

Scirus indexes over 370 million science related Internet sites.

i. 124 million .edu sites.

ii. 40 million .org sites.

iii. 19 million .ac.uk sites.

iv. 37 million .com sites.

v. 36 million .gov sites.

vi. Over 105 million other relevant STM and University sites from around the world.

http://www.scirus.com/srsapp/aboutus

D. What special services does Scirus index?

Gathers information from over 30 specialized services. Including:

i. Patents from LexisNexis.

ii. Over 1.6 million full-text science articles from PubMed Central.

iii. Full-text documents from Nature Publishing Company.

iv. Over 600,000 full-text articles from Sage Publications.

v. Over 8 million full-text articles from ScienceDirect.

vi. Over 18 million citations from Medline (PubMed).

http://www.scirus.com/srsapp/aboutus

II. The Basic Search

A. Enter a Search Term

Enter a search term into the text box and select the “Search” button.

In this instance “bovine spongiform encephalopathy”, (a.k.a. Mad Cow Disease) is the research topic. The quotation marks are used to keep the terms together during the search.

B. Tools and Information

The results list provides a count of returned “hits”. In this instance over 48,000 citations were returned.

The results can be sorted by relevance or date.

Checked results can be Emailed, Saved to a Disk or Exported to a Citations Manager.

C. Brief Citations

Citations on the Results List display:

i. Titleii. Publication Dateiii. Brief Descriptioniv. URL for the

Resourcev. Link to “Similar

Results”

III. Filtering Results by Information Source

A. ScienceDirect FilterResults can be filtered in a variety of ways by selecting the options found in the left-hand column.

Here citations are updated after the ScienceDirect database was selected.

Following the highlighted text connects to the ScienceDirect record for this article. The full-text is available for those who have a ScienceDirect subscription.

B. Medline/PubMed FilterHere citations from the PubMed database are displayed after that choice was selected.

Following the highlighted text connects to the record in the PubMed database.

C. PubMed Central FilterHere citations from PubMed Central are displayed following choice from the left-hand column.

Selecting the highlighted text connects to the PubMed Central database. This is a open-access full-text resource. Found here are scholarly journal articles in both html and Abode Acrobat PDF formats.

D. Patent Offices FilterResults can be filtered by Scirus’ preferred websites by selecting the options found in the left-hand column.Here citations from various patent offices via the LexisNexis database are displayed after that choice was selected.

Following the highlighted text connects to the European Patent Office.

E. NDLTD FilterNetworked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations

Results can be filtered by NTLTD digital resources.

Here citations from various university digital repositories of thesis and dissertations.

Once logged in to the repository the full-text of the thesis or dissertation can be viewed.

F. Digital Archives FilterResults can be filtered by Digital Archives.

Here citations from various academic, government and other digital repositories are presented .

Following the citation link displays collections of digital media from highly credible resources.

IV. Filtering Results by Document Format

A. Adobe Acrobat PDF Filter

Results can be filtered to find PDF (portable document format) files only.

Here citations from many academic, government and other digital repositories are presented .

Following the citation link displays collections of digital resources from high credible resources.

B. HTML FilterResults can be filtered to find HTML (hyper-text markup language) or web pages only.

Here citations from many academic, government and other sources are presented .

Following this citation displays the information found on a World Health Organization web page.

C. PPT FilterResults can be filtered to find only PPT (Microsoft PowerPoint slides).

Here citations from many academic, government and other sources are presented .

Following the citation link displays information that was presented using a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.

D. More Filters Available

Additional filters are available. Choose the “more” link to display the full list of filters.

Other web documents not classified using the standard filters.

V. Refine the Results using Additional Limiters

A. “Refine your search” Limiters

The “Refine your search” sidebar presents a listing of searchable terms related to the items on the results.

Select a term and it is automatically added to the search, presenting a new results list.

A new “Refine your search” list is presented corresponding to the updated results list.

B. Refine with Logical Operators

Standard logical “Boolean” operators can be used to limit or expand a search.

Group terms together using the quotation marks.

In this instance the search returned citations with either “bovine spongiform encephalopathy” OR “Mad Cow Disease.”

VI. Additional Features

A. Advanced Search

Provides the means to enter multiple search terms using logical operators.

Advanced search screen allows search filters to be preset.

Specific sections of an article, such as the title, abstract or the complete document can be searched.

B. Advanced Search

The “List more” button displays additional filters.

Searches can be filtered by:i. Dateii. Information Typeiii. File Formativ. Content Sourcesv. Subject Areas

C. PreferencesPreferences may be set to:i. Set the number of results

displayed per page.ii. Open the results in a new

window.iii. Cluster results by domain.iv. Presents results by a specific

Scirus partner.

D. Downloads

Scirus provides downloads to enhance the experience of using the search engine:

i. Scirus Search Box.ii. Scirus Toolbar.iii. Scirus Plug-in for

Firefox.

E. Suggest a SiteAllows interested parties to recommend a resource to be reviewed and added into the Scirus database.

VII. The End

Time for Questions!