Find it! Journal Literature and Online Databases

Biochemistry Communication (BIO301)

Science & Engineering Faculty Liaison Team

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James Soderman – Faculty Liaison Librarian : Science and EngineeringJay Bharj – Library Teaching and Learning Support Information Assistant

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Tell us about you!

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Understand the relationship between journal literature and online databases

• Identify and locate articles in both electronic and print journals

• Use the databases Web of Science and PubMed to carry out literature searches and access full-text content

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Library Webpage

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INTRODUCTION TO JOURNALSlibrary-sande@qmul.ac.uk

Journals

Known as periodicals or serials

Print and electronic formats

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A rich source of current research

information

Specific and detailed coverage

of subjectsPeer-reviewed

Recommended by your lecturers

Journals: Articles

Articles are complete descriptions of current original research findings

Review articles do not cover original research but rather accumulate the results of many different articles on a particular topic. Review articles provide information about the topic and also provide journal references to the original research

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Locating a Specific Journal Article

Example Reference

Flory, J. et al., 2014. Low temperature assembly of functional 3D DNA-PNA-protein complexes. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 136(23), pp. 8283–8295.

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INTRODUCTION TO DATABASESlibrary-sande@qmul.ac.uk

Databases: what are they?

Searchable indexes of evaluated literature such as journal articles and conference proceedings

Types of database:

Bibliographic indexing & abstracting databases or full-text collections

Subject-specific or interdisciplinary

Use to carry out literature searches

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Databases for Biochemistry

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Indexes to the published peer-reviewed literature (and more)…

Major search tool comprised of 3 indexes that provide multidisciplinary coverage of academic literature (Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index). The Science Citation Index covers almost 7000 journals from 1952 onwards. Web of Science was formerly known as Web of Knowledge

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Allows you to search Medline for unparalleled access to the worldwide biomedical literature, including more than 4,500 journals. It contains a broad range of medical topics relating to research, clinical practice, administration, policy issues and health care services

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Accessing Biochemical Databases

As a Biochemical students you can access relevant biochemical resources via the Discovery tool or the Library’s subject support webpages for Biological Sciences and Chemistry:

http://www.library.qmul.ac.uk/subject-guides/

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SEARCH TECHNIQUESlibrary-sande@qmul.ac.uk

Preparation

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Developing a search strategy

Selecting an appropriate

database e.g. Web of Science

Combining search terms –AND, NOT, OR

DEVELOPING A SEARCH STRATEGYlibrary-sande@qmul.ac.uk

Many subjects are complex. You may need to break your search down

into separate concepts, and carry out separate searches for each then

combine the results.

piezoelectric actuators for biomedical applications

- finite element analysis

Break it down :

Developing a Search Strategy

piezoelectric actuators

biomedical applications

finite element analysis

These will need to include synonyms

and related terms

Developing a Search Strategy

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swine influenza

avian flu

orthomyxoviridae

flu

grippe

influenza

Exercise 1: Preparation

Define the subject you are researching! How many words and short phrases can you find that describe the subject in both its broadest and narrowest terms?

1. Write down these phrases and keywords

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Truncating Search Term*

Many information resources allow you to search for the beginning of a word plus any ending using the symbol *

E.g. develop* will find developing, development, developmental

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Phrase Searching

To search for an exact phrase, enclose the phrase in quotation marks.

For example, the query "energy conservation" will retrieve records that contain the exact phrase energy conservation.

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By: David M. Goehring https://flic.kr/p/aLUUMe

Consider combining concepts

Using the Boolean operators AND, OR, NOTlibrary-sande@qmul.ac.uk

Boolean Operators

ANDenzyme AND catalysis

Search for articles that contain both of the search terms.

Using AND narrows your search

ORenzyme OR catalysis Search for articles that contain one

or both of the search terms

(useful for synonyms).

Using OR broadens your search

NOTenzyme NOT catalysis

Search for articles that contain the first term and do not contain the

second term.Using NOT narrows your search

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Asimov AND science

Boolean Search String Game

Asimov’s Thiotimolinediscovered: Astounding

science

Isaac Asimov:

A life of Science?Cien S F Ictun, PhD

Asimov OR scienceAsimov* NOT craterlibrary-sande@qmul.ac.uk

Asimov’s alley cat: pivotal for science

Dr. Belef M. Knot Kat Frend-Lee

Exercise 2: Defining a search

Investigate the keywords and phrases you managed to identify in Exercise 1.

1. Can you come up with any further synonyms or related terms?

2. Start to formulate a search string

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SEARCHING SCOPUS & PUBMED

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Exercise 3 : Use the search string

Find and exploit the Library Subject Guides for Biology (http://www.library.qmul.ac.uk).

Use the search string you created in the Exercise 2 in at least two of the databases.

Discuss in your pair which databases you used and how it worked out. Did you get good results? What does good results mean for you?

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TROUBLESHOOTING YOUR RESULTS

What to do if you get too many results?

Use more search terms linked with AND between each term

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If you wanted to find references about animal

cognition especially concerned with environment,

type animal AND cognition AND environment

What to do if you get too many results?

October 20 library-sande@qmul.ac.uk 33

If you wished to find references

about cognition, but not those about

environment, you might use cognition

NOT environment

Exclude irrelevant subjects by typing NOT before the term you wish to exclude

What to do if you get too many results?

2015 library-sande@qmul.ac.uk 34

Use the search fields to limit your results by date range. E.g. if you were looking for the very latest research on a particular subject you could type 2010-2014 in the date field of the search options

Limit your search to particular fields, e.g. enter your search terms in the title field of the search options

What to do if you get a few results?

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If you are using a US database you may need to use either US spelling or wildcards such as ? to replace the letter that is different in each spelling. E.g. to search a US database for organisations you could use the US spelling organizations or type organi?ations into the search box

Include all possible synonyms. Use a thesaurus to find alternative terms that describe the subject you are researching

Use broader search terms

What to do if you only get a few results?

If you find even one relevant reference you can use it to help you find others

Check the references and bibliography at the end of the article for related works

Many database provide direct links to related articles displayed in these fields

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Snowballing

What to do if you get too few results?

Truncate your terms – add an asterisk * after the root of the word you are using as a search term. The database will find references that contain all endings of the term you have used

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microscop* will find references containing the

terms microscope, microscopic and microscopy

Reference Management

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Collect and organize references

Import references and related PDFs directly from databases

Insert citations and bibliographies into Word documents

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More help?

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