1 Library and Information Services Literature searching and databases.
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Transcript of 1 Library and Information Services Literature searching and databases.
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Library and Information Services
Literature searching and databases
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Library webpages and guides
• Sport subject page• Sport journals
• Search tips• How to plan a search strategy
• SPORTDiscus tutorial
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Search strategy – six steps
• Step one – Spend some time thinking about your topic to clarify your research question
• Step two – Think about the search words which you could use
• Step three – Linking your search words together• Step four – Choosing your database- what type/s
of literature do they cover?• Step five – Searching and modifying your search
online• Step six – Relevant results retrieved! Next steps
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Step one
• Spend some time thinking about your topic
• Clarify and define your research question
• Break down research topic into sections
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Step two
Think about your search words• Generic words can be omitted eg: discuss,
assess, importance• Consider alternative terms eg: social
integration or social interaction• Word endings, plurals eg: athlete, athletes,
athletics, disabled, disabilities• Truncate using asterisks eg: athlet*, disab*
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Step three
Linking search words together• AND search – combining two different subjects
together eg: participation and sport
• OR search – alternative or similar words eg: football or soccer
• Words as a phrase eg: “Olympic games” although NB: in SPORTDiscus, 2 words next to each other are searched for as a phrase by default.
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Step four
Choosing your database / websiteConsider subject area and types of literature
– SPORTDiscus – primary database for this topic
– Literature indexed includes• Journal articles – can be limited to peer reviewed only• Books (monographs on SportDiscus)• Book chapters (known as book analytic on SportDiscus)• Government documents• Theses
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SPORTDiscus- the advanced search screen
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Step four - databases
Choosing your database• Consider subject area
– Academic OneFile – broad subject coverage in full text journals. Includes both scholarly journals and magazines– mainly American perspective
– Infotrac custom newspaper database – full text of daily newspapers such as Times, Guardian etc. Source of current information but obviously not peer-reviewed or scholarly publications.
– British education index – journal articles and some full text documents – PE & sports for children
– ERIC – similar to BEI, but more international coverage
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Step four - websites
• Websites of official bodies can be a useful source for full text reports and documents:– www.sportdevelopment.info– www.sportengland.org– www.culture.gov.uk– www.uksport.gov.uk
• List of sports websites available from library pages> My subject>Sport
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Step five
Searching and modifying online• Different databases might use different search
terms to describe same subject• Experiment with different search words• Limit to searching within different indexes
eg: subject, title, author• Limit to years of publication• Limit to type of document eg: books, book
chapters, journal articles, conference papers, reports, government documents.
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Step six
Relevant results retrieved!• Be aware of the type of publication you have retrieved
eg: Journal article, book chapter etc.
• Is the item full text? – go direct to article, by linking via e-journal finder
• Is it available in print in the library? –some references are for book chapters so you must search for the book’s title on the library catalogue
• If not available here, articles and books can be requested on interlibrary-loan.
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Sport as a tool for social good in British culture
• In what ways could sport be a social good?
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SPORTDiscus database: search example
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Some overall searching tips
• Allow yourself enough time
• The searching process is part of the work
• Make sure you know what type of document you’ve found on a database: journal article, book chapter, report etc.
• Note down or save your references in full when you find them
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Interlibrary loans
• 20 free requests for books and journal articles over years 2 and 3
• Webpage about inter-library loans
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Further help
• For one-to-one appointments for help with your research topic either this year or next contact [email protected]
• Come and see us at the Information and Help Desk on first floor