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Structure
The problem with information
What makes information scientific?
Where do I find scientific information?
How do I find scientific information?
How can I use scientific information?
The problem with scholarly communication
Every 60 seconds:
• ca. 204 million emails• ca. 2,4 million Facebook
posts• more than 4 million
google searches• 72 hours extra
audiovisual material on Youtube
• 277.000 tweets• 216.000 instagram posts
The problemwithinformation
The problemwithinformation
Information pollution and/or falisification(consciously or unconsciously)
bv. The Onion
bv. The Daily Mash
bv. De Speld
information overload, information pollution, information falsification
you need information literacy:
(1) to find relevant information fast and efficiently
(2) to be able to determine the reliability of theinformation found
(3) to use the information found correctly and in anethically acceptable manner
Information literacy
Megan Stark, Information in Place: Integrating Sustainability into Information Literacy Instruction, 2011
Five standards for information literacy
1. The information literate student determines the nature and extent of the information needed
2. The information literate student accesses needed information effectively and efficiently
3. The information literate student evaluates information and its sources critically and incorporates selected information into his or her knowledge base and value system
4. The information literate student, individually or as a member of a group, uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
5. The information literate student understands many of the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses information ethically and legally
Information literacy
Putting these standards into practice in research:
Identify research questions
Define search terms on the basis of a research question
Know and recognize various sources of information
Make a correct analysis of the differences betweenand the worth of each information source
Correctly determine the reliability and authority of each information source
Correctly interpret and use bibliographical references
Understand the social, ethical and legal implications of the distribution of information
Information literacy
Develop a search strategy that will get you reliable, scientific information as fast as possible and as complete as possible
Know what you are looking for, how you need to look for it and where to look for it
Searching without a strategy? => you waste time andget incomplete and/or unreliable results
Information literacy
not dependent on one single criterion or label, but combination of internal criteria
external criteria
the more criteria fulfilled, the more scientific/reliablethe information
Scientificnature of information
title author(s) abstract and/or key words
introduction corpus conclusion
references/footnotes/endnotesbibliography
Internalcriteria: structure
• Complete objectivity is an illusion: all information (i.c. publication) is coloured by he/she who provides thatinformation (i.c. author)
• Be wary of manipulation of facts: consciously twistingor hiding facts with the purpose of leading the reader to the conclusion(s) determined beforehand by theauthor
Internalcriteria: content
“giveaways”
Argumentation: use of personal or irrelevant arguments, ignoring or twisting the arguments of theopponent
Data: lack of factual data which can be checked
Language: frequent use of emotional style
Internalcriteria: content
older publication? check if results have not been corrected or supplanted by more recent research
an older publication is not untrustworthy by definition
an older publication is less reliable if: the topic it addresses is studied intensively and
additional or corrective information is put forward on a regular basis
the topic itself is tied to a certain time/era
Tip: look for recent publications, and supplement them with the most important older publications(check references)
Internalcriteria: age
education (proof of training)
affiliation (proof of reliability + trust of peers)
of course only an indication if the author stayswithin his/her field of expertise
Internalcriteria: profile of the author
Peer review
external check of a manuscript by specialistsof the topic discussed; quite oftenanonymously in order to ensure objectivity
e.g. “double blind peer review”
Externalcriteria: judgmentbeforepublication
reviews
citations
qualitative: repeat / confirm results => adds to theauthority and the reliability of the work quoted
quantitative: large number of citations indicates theimpact of the work quoted
! NB: quotes can also be negative !
Externalcriteria: judgment afterpublication
Basic questions
Was there a quality and reliability check before publication? (journal/publisher is an indication)
Does the author refer to sources? Which are his/her sources?
Does the author refer to sources in a correct and complete manner?
Do the CRAP test
CurrencyHow recent is the information? How recently has the website been updated? Is it current enough for your topic?
ReliabiltyWhat kind of information is included in the resource? Is content of the resource primarily opinion? Is it balanced? Does the creator provide references or sources for data or quotations?
AuthorityWho is the creator or author? What is the publisher’s interest (if any) in this information? Are there advertisements on the website?
Point of view / PurposeIs this fact or opinion? Is it biased? Is the creator/author trying to sell you something?
Reliability of websites
Wikipedia
crowd-sourced: quality/reliability is dependent on thecompetence/honesty of the contributors and the quality of (possible) editorial intervention
problems with Wikipedia:Undue weight policy (Chronicle of Higher Education, 12/02/2012)
Philip Roth and Wikipedia (The New Yorker, 07/09/2012)
Sexism on Wikipedia (Huffington Post, 26/08/2013)
Academia.edu &Research Gate
http://www.academia.edu/
http://www.researchgate.net/home.html
“facebook” for scholars
no quality check of papers which are posted
quite often working papers
copyright issues: who owns uploaded content?
The role of libraries
Providers of information: librariesGate keepers of information: librarians
Not only physical, but also digital librariesNot only physical, but also digital services
Public libraries:
primarily social role
selection of fiction and non-fiction for the generalpublic
diverse public
in principal accessible to all
Types of libraries
National libraries:
collect and preserve all publications which appear in a specific country, quite often also all publications aboutthat country published elsewhere
frequently work with legally binding depot
often also cultural role, e.g. by highlighting theheritage of a specific country
Types of libraries
Research libraries:
collection is built with the specific intention to support scientific research and teaching
reserved to researchers and students
Types of libraries
The role of libraries
Libraries acquire sources of information (purchase, exchange, donation)
Libraries preserve sources of information
Libraries provide access to sources of information (catalogues, lending services, etc.)
Bibliographic database
Bibliography (i.e. list of publications concerning a certain topic) in digital form
Three sorts of bibliographic databases:1. Bibliographic databases in the strict sense
of the word2. Citation databases3. Full-text databases
Bibliographicdatabases
Bibliographic databases (s.s.):
Only contain bibliographic information (i.e.information on author of the publication, title of thepublication, year/place of publication), possiblytogether with an abstract and a link to the location or adigital copy of this publication on another platform
Bibliographicdatabases
Citation databases:
do not merely contain the bibliographic reference, butalso information about citations (i.e. otherpublications which quote this particular source ofinformation)
e.g. Web of Science: Integration of three citation indexes of journals with a high impact factor (Science Citation Index
Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts and Humanities Citation Index)
Bibliographicdatabases
Full-text databases:
do not only contain bibliographical references, but alsoa full text digital version of the publications in question
• the full text is often itself fully searchable• some full-text databases only offer an archival
collection, other only the most recent years
Bibliographicdatabases
You use a bibliographic database if
- You want to make a survey of studies availableconcerning a particular topic
You do NOT use a bibliographic database if
- You want to find out whether a specific institutionprovides access to a particular item
Bibliographicdatabases
• Know which type of bibliographic database youare using (full-text or not?)
• Know what the database offers and what not
• Know what you are lookingat: only the reference? only a snippet? full text?
• Use multiple bibliographicdatabases
• Get acquainted with thefunctionalisties of thedatabases which are most important for your research
Bibliographicdatabases
Catalogues
Catalogue
provides a description of a book, a journal and/or othermaterials, together with where you can find it
Two types of catalogue
1. General cataloguee.g. catalogue of an institution (for example of theholdings of a specific research library)
2. Specialised cataloguee.g. catalogue of a specific type of material (forexample books printed in England between 1473 and 1640, together with their current location)
Catalogues
Examples of general catalogues
- UniCat: unified catalogue of Belgian research libraries
- Copac: unified catalogue of about 90 research libraries in the United Kingdom and Ireland, includingthe British Library
- WorldCat: unified catalogue of more than 10.000 libraries worldwide
Catalogues
You use a general catalogue if
- You know what you are looking for and want to knowwhere exactly you can find it
- You want to find out what a particular institution has “on offer” concerning a particular topic
You do NOT use a general catalogue if
- You want to make an exhaustive survey of studies available concerning a particular topic
Catalogues
Transition from catalogue to a “Unified Resource Discovery & Delivery System”
Catalogues Limo
Journal
appears periodically (e.g. every 3 months)
contains articles, i.e. several (shorter) studies
you typicaly want to access a particular journalarticle, but sometimes need to remember tosearch for the overarching journal instead
the journal in which an article appears is typically seen as an element determining theimportance of that article
Types of publications
Collections of essays
book that unites various short studies by one or severalauthors, typically centered around a specific topic or at the occasion of a specific event
e.g. proceedings of a conferencee.g. Festschrift
Types of publications
Monograph
book-length study, typically by one signleauthor, of a well defined scientific topic
e.g. “the application of statistical process control in healthcare improvement in the Netherlands between 1985 and 2000”
Types of publications
Looking forinformation
The problem with general search engines
(like Google):
search results are not checked for quality or reliability
commercial, statistic and nationalistic parameters determine the ranking of results; not their relevance or reliability
not all scientific information is available online
general search engines index only part of the internet
Side step:Googlization
Who’s in charge? “we are Google's products, not its
users” (Harold Thimbleby)
Storing of personal data: “The problem is that we may like Google today, but it could go bad. Google knows too much about everyone for us to risk that.” (Harold Thimbleby)
Role of big companies in the distribution of information:
“when business interest conflicts with the public interest, the public interest suffers” (cf. Steve Wasserman, The Amazon Effect)
Side step:Googlization
Google: expansion of search engine to includemany other services: e-mail, maps, pictures, google drive, ...
Compare amazon: now also take-away (Metro 08/09/2016)
Googlization: domination of Google over all formsof the distribution of knowledge over the internet
Cf. Siva Vaidhyanathan, The Googlization of Everything – and Why We Should Worry (University of California Press, 2011)
site: limit search to a specific domain or website
filetype: limit search to a specific document format
discussions: limit search to discussion fora
Side step: extra tips andtricks forGoogle
research question → formulation of the problem
formulation of the problem → key words
key words → search terms
Looking forinformation
How much time did you get? Realistic assessment of time you want/can spend on your search
How exhaustive does the result of your search need to be? Sometimes you only need one piece of information or one article,
sometimes you need a whole bibliography; sometimes you only need themost recent literature, sometimes you need to have a more complete view of the literature
What is the specific task? Sometime syou only need to gather some literature, sometimes you need
to study and compare it thoroughly
Looking forinformation
From formulating the problem tokeywords
Key words = central notions in the formulationof the problem which form the basis of a query
Looking forinformation
Example:
Make a bibliography of scientific publications about theuse of place names in the novels of the Brontë sisters
Key words: place names, Brontë sisters
Looking forinformation
From key words to search terms
Morfological variant (singular/plural, substantive/adjective, …)
Synonym
Translation
Narrower term
Broader term
Related term
Looking forinformation
Example:
Key words: place names, Brontë sisters
search term:bv. Brontë sister (morfological variant)
bv. toponym (synonym)
bv. Les Sœurs Brontë (translation)
bv. Emily Brontë (narrower term)
bv. nineteenth-century English novelists (broader term)
bv. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (related term)
Looking forinformation
A good query =
get a lot of relevant results and no
irrelevant results withas few search terms
as possible
Looking forinformation
Four important ways to combining search terms:
1. Boolean operators
2. Truncation / wildcards
3. Exact word combination
4. Advanced search with specification of search fields
See also the database search tips by MITLibraries
Combiningsearch terms
Boolean operator AND
only information which contains both search terms!most search machines combine multiple search terms automatically with theBoolean AND-operator!
use AND in a search to: narrow your results
tell the database that ALL search terms must be present in the resulting records
example: cloning AND humans
Combiningsearch terms: Booleanoperators
Boolean operator OR
results which contain at least one of the search terms
use OR in a search to: connect two or more similar concepts
broaden your results, telling the database that ANY of your search terms can be present in the resulting records
example: cloning OR genetics
Combiningsearch terms: Booleanoperators
Boolean operator NOT
results that contain the first but not the second search term
use NOT in a search to: exclude words from your search
narrow your search, telling the database to ignore concepts that may be implied by your search terms
example: cloning NOT sheep
Combiningsearch terms:Booleanoperators
Search order
Be aware of the logical order in which words are connected when using Boolean operators:
Databases usually recognize AND as the primary operator, and will connect concepts with AND together first.
Use brackets to determine the priority of combining search terms
Examples:ethics AND (cloning OR reproductive techniques)
(ethic* OR moral*) AND (bioengineering OR cloning)
Combiningsearch terms:Booleanoperators
Combiningsearch terms:truncation / wildcards
Use truncation or wildcards
If you are using a root word as your search term, i.e. a word with multiple possible endings
Example: sun, but also suns, sunshine, sunny, sunlight, sunscreen, etc.
If you want to use one search term to look for several search terms which only slightly differ in spelling
Example: woman, women
If you know that there are several ways to spell a word, or you are uncertain of the spelling
Example: color, colour
Truncation/wildcard symbols vary by database
Common symbols include: *, !, ?, or #
Check the help screens to find out which symbols are used.
Combiningsearch terms: truncation/ wildcards
Combiningsearch terms:truncation
Truncation
Truncation broadens your search to include various word endings and spellings (symbol used at the end of a word)
To use truncation, enter the root of a word and put the truncation symbol at the end
The database will return results that include any ending of that root word
Examples:child* = child, childs, children, childrens, childhoodgenetic* = genetic, genetics, genetically
The trick is not totruncate to fast
E.g. hum* will search for results containing humour, but it will
also retrieve unrelated terms like human, humbug, humerus,
hummus, etc.
Combiningsearch terms: truncation
Combiningsearch terms:wildcards
Wildcards
Wildcards substitute a symbol for one letter of a word (symbol used within a word)
This is particularly useful if you want to search for singulars as wel as plurals; and if a word is spelled in different ways, but still has the same meaning
Examples:wom!n = woman, womencolo?r = color, colour
Exact word combination (string search)
Search terms between double quotes (“...”)
=>
only results which contain these search terms in exactly the same order
Combiningsearch terms: string search
Records in databases (e.g. library catalogues) are comprised of fields containing specific pieces of (e.g.bibliographic) information
Common fields include:
author
title
journal title
abstract
publisher
date/year of publication
This structure allows you to perform an advanced search with specification of search fields
Combiningsearch terms:advancedsearch
Combiningsearch terms: advancedsearch
Search with more aim by filtering: e.g. if you are looking for books by Adam Smith instead of about him, it is more efficient to limit your search to the author field.
Combine search terms smartly: e.g. author = “Tippett”, title = “statistics”
Tip: Use the Boolean AND-operator and avoid the Boolean OR-operator
Tip: Truncate as late as possible
Tip: Use advanced search to combine search terms smartly
Tip: Use advanced search to search with more aim, using filters
Help! I have too manyresults
Tip: Use synonyms, translations and morfological variants of your search terms and combine these with the Boolean OR-operator
Tip: Use related terms and broader terms of your search termsand combine these with the Boolean OR-operator
Tip: Use truncation or wild cards
Help! I do notget enoughresults
A lot of databases / catalogues / platforms offer thepossibility to repeat searches automatically and alert youwhen there are any new results
Often two possibilities:1. alert by e-mail
2. alert by RSS
Types of alerts:1. search alerts
2. TOC alerts
3. citation alerts
Alerts
TOC alerts
= alert when a new volume of a specified joural (or specified cluster of journals) appears
often with the table of contents of the new volume, hence the name (TOC = Table of Contents)
Example: JournalTOCs
Alerts
Citation alerts
= alert to new citations, i.e. when a new publications quotes another, previously specifiedpublication
Alerts
Scientificintegrity
Violations against scientific integrity
(cf. KNAW advies Zorgvuldig en integer omgaan met wetenschappelijke onderzoeksgegevens, 2012)
a) plagiarising (part of) publications or studies by others
b) unrightfully take credit as author or co-author
c) ignore or not sufficiently acknowledge the contribution of others
d) falsify research results
e) invent research results
f) ignore reserach results which negate your thesis
g) deliberately misuse (statistical) methods
h) deliberately misinterpret research results
i) make avoidable mistakes whilst conducting research
Otherexamples of scientific fraud
overview article in The Guardian, discussing a.o. thecase of Dirk Smeesters
German minister of education quits amidstplagiarism scandal
Plagiarism
“Plagiarism is a means of examination fraud consisting of every form of copying the work of
others (ideas, texts, structures, images, plans etc.) without using adequate source references. This
includes making identical copies as well as copying with slight differences. To apply these regulations, copying own work without a reference will also be
counted as examination fraud.”
(as defined at KU Leuven)
Plagiarism
Plagiarism thus appears in different forms:
Copying another person’s text (almost) literally without indicating that the text is a quote and/or without an aduequate reference;
Paraphrasing another person’s ideas without an adequate reference;
Translating a text without an adequate reference;
Copying an image, scheme, graph, figure, audio or video fragment without an adequate reference;
Auto-plagiarism: re-using your own work without properly indicating that you re-used it.
Plagiarism
Unintentional plagiarism can be avoided by:• Citing the source if you use the words of another literally, and correctly
indicating this• Completely and correctly referring to the author whose words or ideas you are
summarizing or paraphrasing
You can distinguish between citation and paraphrase by following this flow chart (T. Frich, How to recognize plagiarism):
Plagiarism
Plagiarism sometimes happens because of “laziness”, esp. in the internet age, sinceit has become very easy to find some information on the net and copy-paste it
E.g. you find an earlier study which treats the topic you want to discuss verywell, so you copy its structure => large dependence on the argumentation andstructure of the original work, no new thesis or approach (so why write yourpiece in the first place?)
E.g. you find an earlier study which treats the topic you want to discuss verywell, so you copy whole passages, but to avoid just copying the whole work, you alternate these quotes with paraphrases => you create an inferior andderivative work and why write your piece in the first place?
E.g. you find snippets of information which fit into your argument andcopy/paste these (perhaps making small changes to “glue” these snippets together) and thus create a combination of original text with copied material=> reader does not know who is responsible for what and this approach rarelyleads to a tekst which reads as a whole
Plagiarism
Method to avoid plagiarism:
- Get acquainted with your topic based on a wide reading of available sources
- Create your own mind map of what you want to say and the structure of yourargument, defining your research problem and the proof you need to make andmaintain your argument
- Based on this structure, read more sources in detail and take careful notes (sothat you always know what is in the sources and what are your ownwords/thoughts)
- Write a draft version without your sources at hand, indicating in your draft where you will need to insert references and quotes
- Only then flesh it out with quotes and paraphrases that support your ownargument (structured by yourself), using complete and correcte references
Plagiarism
A lot of unconsciousplagiarism is the result of bad writing habits, suchas not being careful andattentive whilstpreparing a text (e.g. sloppy note taking)
References
balance needed between referencing too much (no plagiarism, but alsonot a readworthy text) and referencing too little (plagiarism)
no reference needed: when you state a common known fact
when you provide information of your own (not published before)
reference wisely if you base a part of your tekst on one or a few sources
but of course: you ALWAYS need a reference when you are quoting or paraphrasing
References
to copy referenceswithout having checkedthem yourself is also a form of academic fraud
“academic urbanlegends”
References
Referring to sources consulted can be done in several ways:
references in the text
references in footnotes
references in endnotes
bibliography
References
Several citation styles, but theyall have the same 3 commands
1. Reference correctly
2. Reference completely
3. Reference consequently
Copyright
Copyright
right of the author/maker (or the potentialbeneficiaries, e.g. the heirs of the author/maker) todetermine how, where and when a work of literature, science or art is made or reproduced
Copyright
Public domain
status of works (texts, images, etc.) which are completely free of copyright
N.B.: often only 70 years after the demise of themaker
Open content
initiatives to make knowledge, information or art more freely available than what would be thecase according to traditional copyright
e.g. Creative Commons: maker decides whichtype of license he/she gives
Creative Commons
Attribution (by)Others who use your work in any way must give you credit the way you request, but not in a way that suggests you endorse them or their use. If they want to use your work without giving you credit or for endorsement purposes, they must get your permission first.
NonCommercial (nc)Others may copy, distribute, display, perform, and (unless you have chosen NoDerivatives) modify and use your work for any purpose other than commercially unless they get your permission first.
Creative Commons
NoDerivatives (nd)Others may copy, distribute, display and perform only original copies of your work. If they want to modify your work, they must get your permission first.
ShareAlike (sa)Others may copy, distribute, display, perform, and modify your work, as long as they distribute any modified work on the same terms. If they want to distribute modified works under other terms, they must get your permission first.
Copyright
Be careful when you signan author’s contract (in other words READ THE CONTRACT):
Sometimes you sign awaypart of your copyright tothe publisher, so that youare no longer free to share your work as you may like
The problem withscholarlycommunication
researchers often paid with tax money
researchers produce manuscripts (often without extra payment)
researchers do the intellectual part of the editing (oftenwithout extra payment): recruiting authors, filtering manuscripts, textual editing, peer review, read proofs, …
publishers (sometimes) provide support for this editorial work, and handle the operational aspects of publicationand distribution (although they also often enlistresearchers to play a role in the distribution and pr)
The problem withscholarlycommunication
however: large parts of the copyright are typically signedover to the publisher, esp. the right to make money on thefinished product
what was produced (by researchers) thanks to taxmoney, consequently needs to bought (by libraries or individual researchers) with tax money
extreme example, which is unfortunately not rare: a researcher needs to pay in order to accesss the end resultof his/her own efforts
difference between commercial scientific publishers (e.g. Elsevier) and non-commercial scientific publishers (e.g. certain university presses):
trying to make profit vs. trying to be sustainable whilst serving science
The problem withscholarlycommunication
“The amount of money paid by UK universities to subscribe to some large publishers’ journals
has risen by almost 50 per cent since 2010” (‘Spending on subscriptions to journals rises by up to 50%’, 2014)
The problem withscholarlycommunication
“The opposite of open isn’t closed but broken”
Cristobal Cobo
The problem withscholarlycommunication
“open access is good for article citations and, especially, online visibility”
(‘Open Access papers gain more traffic and citations’, 2014)
Scholarlycommunication
Open Access EBM
What is Open
Access?
Research results (publications, data, ...) (paid with public money) are made avilabe to everyone for free
For free
≠ without restrictions (e.g. plagiarism)
≠ immediately (e.g. embargo)
≠ identical to the commercial version (e.g. preprint)
Open Access
Open Access
Green OA:Author archives version in a digital archive(‘repository’, e.g. Lirias)
Gold OA:Author publishes in a OA publication (andsometimes pays for this – APC or BPC)
Open Access
Danger of Gold OA:
in the hands of commercial publishers, this is just another way to make profit
“double dipping”
excessive APC’s or BPC’s
Fair Gold OA (e.g. see LingOA)
• The editorial board owns the title of the journals.• The author owns the copyright of his articles, and a
CC-BY license applies.• All articles are published in Full Open Access (no
subscriptions, no “double dipping”).• Article processing charges (APCs) are low (around 400
euros), transparent, and in proportion to the work carried out by the publisher.
Open Access
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