Information Skills for Researchin Earth Sciences

Roger MillsOULS Bio- & Environmental Sciences Librarian

October 2008

This session

How to do subject searches for journal articles, conference papers, book chapters etc

How to cite electronic sources correctlyHow to avoid plagiarism

Subject searching

SOLO, OLIS and Oxford e-journals cover Oxford holdings only

Better to use specialist indexes covering the world’s literature

Access via OxLIP+Use inter-library loan for items not held

in Oxford and not online

Major sources

Today we cover:Web of KnowledgeSCOPUSGeoRefGoogle ScholarMany others available: see OxLIP+

Going home

These are mostly subscription databases

Only available on Oxford networkOutside Oxford, login using your SSO –

Single Sign On – username and password (as for Webauth / Herald e-mail)

Athens/VPN no longer needed

What can you find on Oxlip+?

Library catalogues including OLISBibliographic databases (journal article

summaries & tables of contents)Full-text electronic journalsInternet sites (subject gateways)Reference works & Statistics

Glossary

Bibliographic Database= an indexed source of citations of journal articles

(Use these to search for content, e.g. book chapters and journal

articles)

Library Catalogue= a list of books, journals, maps, records, etc. held in the library and arranged in a systematic manner(Use this to search for a book or journal, once you know the title of the journal or the author or title of a book)

Bibliographic databases Excellent for locating journal articles, book

chapters and book reviews (NB. References only, NOT necessarily [though increasingly] full text)

General or Subject specific coverageDifferent interfaces but similar functionalityNot tied to library holdingsSome will provide a link to full text

Bib. databases - Interdisciplinary

Web of Knowledge (http://wok.mimas.ac.uk)

Web of Science covers journals in all subject areas

Citation searchingScopus (http://www.scopus.com/scopus)

Provides an alternative to WOK for cross-disciplinary search and citation searching; incorporates Geobase

Relevant Subject Databases

GeoRef (for geology)Biological Abstracts (life sciences and

environment)CAB Abstracts (environment)These are available on OvidSP Gateway

software and can be cross-searched there

Search strategy

Ask a clear search questionWhat is the impact of tropical deforestation on our climate?

Break the question into search conceptstropical deforestation, climate change

Combine terms into a search strategy using Boolean connectors

Find more terms from retrieved records whilst you are searching

Boolean connectors:

AND, OR, NOT

AND to narrow the searchOR to broaden the search (synonyms)NOT excludes search terms

OR, AND, NOT

Tropical deforestation

Climate changeEnvironment

Other tricks:

Use symbols for wildcards and truncation? for a single character

wom?n will find woman or women

* for truncation or variant spellingsenzym* for enzyme, enzymes, enzymology etc

use quotation marks for searching for phrasese.g. “non-ferrous metals”

Sample search

What is the impact of tropical deforestation on our climate?

AND = narrows OR = widensSearch string could be:“Climate change” and “tropical

deforestation”

Getting your hands on the full- text Is there a link to full text from the database? Is the journal available electronically in Oxford?

Check Oxford e-Journals (http://journals.ouls.ox.ac.uk)

Is there a print copy in an Oxford library? Check SOLO (http://solo.ouls.ox.ac.uk/olis/)

If not, try Inter-Library Loan from the Earth Sciences Library or RSL Default means of delivery is SED = Secure Electronic

Delivery

Databases vs. Search engines

Contents are indexed by subject specialists

Subject headings Limiting functions e.g.

publication types, languageAllow you to View Search history Combine searches Mark and sort results Print/save/email/export Save searches Set up alerts

Searches done by automated “web crawlers”

No thesaurus / subject headings – just free text searching

No limiting functions

Usually none of these!

Google Scholar

Has links to many, but not all, journal publishers

So not all journals can be found through GS

Records can only be selected singlyBut quick route to full text when

relevant article found

Citing your references

An article in an online journal which also exists in print can be cited in the same way as print

To cite something which only exists electronically, e.g. a web site, follow special rules which include the date viewed

Avoid plagiarism

Easy to copy and paste paragraphs and make it look like your own work

Heavy penalties if caught!Make sure you always give correct

citationSee:

http://www.jiscpas.ac.uk/referencing.php[or Google ‘plagiarism uk’]

http://www.jiscpas.ac.uk/referencingcitations.php

Keeping track of your referencesMake sure you keep a systematic listing of

your references, so you can find them again when you need them

A simple listing in Word should be fine, but if you have a large number of references, software like RefWorks (free) or EndNote (£80 from OUCS) can be very helpful.

Some databases allow you to export references directly to RefWorks or EndNote.

Maps

If you need to do much mapping, consider using the MapInfo software. The Bodleian Map Room staff can give you guidance.

http://oxlip-plus.ouls.ox.ac.uk/

To find the databases go to OxLIP+ search by the database title:

Web of KnowledgeSCOPUSGeoRef

Nb turn off pop-up blockers!

Quick Reference Guides

Web of Knowledge: Quick Reference Card

SCOPUS:Online tutorialsUser Guide

OvidSPTutorials and guides

These slides are available on

www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/isbes/training

Any questions in the future, contact your subject librarian:

Jenny.Colls@earth.ox.ac.uk

Sue.Bird@ouls.ox.ac.uk

Roger.Mills@ouls.ox.ac.uk

Try these

Petrogenesis in EuropeIntracrystalline deformation in the AlpsSequence stratigraphy in volcanic areasUltra-high pressure metamorphism