CELB20020 Library Workshop 26 Jan 2011

Finding & Citing Information

How to search for and find the research literature you need!

CELB20020 Perspectives in Cell Biology

Presented by Josh Clark, Science Librarian

Wednesday 26th January 2011

UCD James Joyce Library Leabharlann UCD

What I will cover:

Plagiarism – what it is and what you need to know

The different sources of information

What are the best sources for your needs?

How to start searching

Using the Library’s catalogue & article searching functions

Since my very unsuccessful journey to the library, I am now unsure about how effective research is going to be made in this project as there seems to be no written literature published yet. I know that an unbiased project can not be produced with information solely from the internet so I'm sort of confused as to what to do next.

From a real student!

After the information gathering...

Once you have a sufficient (and relevant!) amount of information, it’s time to analyse, draw your conclusions and write up your report/ presentation.

It’s very important to compile your bibliography – references to the material which has informed your own research

Avoid plagiarism!

What is plagiarism?

What is common knowledge?

How does plagiarism happen?

How to avoid plagiarismParaphrasing vs quotationsReferencing within a textCiting secondary sources

Where to find further information

What is it?

“The action or practice of taking someone else's work, idea, etc., and passing it off as one's own”

“literary theft”

-Oxford English Dictionary definition

Forms of plagiarism

Using another person’s words or ideas without crediting the original source

Copying and pasting directly from a source into your document

Passing off someone else’s work as your own

Failing to put a quotation in quotation marks

Forms of plagiarism

Summarising or paraphrasing material without crediting the original source

Changing certain words or phrases but copying the ideas and sentence structure of the original source without crediting it

Citing sources you did not use or read

UCD’s policy

Plagiarism is a serious academic offence. While plagiarism may be easy to commit unintentionally, it is defined by the act not the intention.

See the University’s policy on plagiarism!http://www.ucd.ie/registry/academicsecretariat/plag_pol_proc.pdf

Why so serious?

Plagiarism undermines the University’s reputation and the quality of degrees and research

Knowledge creation is a key element of researching

Ability to communicate in writing, researching, and learning to organise data is an essential part of life long learning

Undermines integrity

examples of plagiarism

In journalism: Jayson Blair, NYT reporter

In politics: Obama speech

In music: MadonnaGeorge Harrison

ColdplayU2




How does it happen?

Unintentional:

Poor study skills

Poor time management

Can’t find the information

Poor citation skills

Ignorance about plagiarism

Intentional:

Pressure for good grades

Poor time management!

Dishonesty

3 common misperceptions

It's not plagiarism if you paraphrase

Put anything in quotation marks - it's not plagiarism if you acknowledge that it's a quotation

The Web viewed as the public domain

Common knowledge

Definition: facts, dates, events and information that are readily available

e.g., mitosis is one stage of the cell cycle

Common knowledge does not have to be cited!

You MUST cite a source when:the idea/thought comes from another source an author interprets the thoughts/ideas from

another source (secondary source)

Common knowledge

Tony Blair is the former UK Prime Minister

A molecule of water contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms

Frogs are amphibians

The speed of light is 299,792,458 metres per second

HOWEVER....if you’re not sure, GO AHEAD AND CITE!!

Common knowledge quiz

Which one is considered common knowledge?

A. Charles Darwin had several theories, including evolution and natural selection

B. Darwin's major work entitled Origin of Species was published in six different editions

Writing your report

Watch out for the following:

Incorrect paraphrasing

use of quotations

use proper citation styles

paraphrasing

incorrect paraphrasing:

Occurs when you only change a couple of words or phrases, or rearrange sentences

When the source of information and ideas are not acknowledged

When in doubt, cite!

paraphrasing

correct paraphrasing:

Occurs when you put the ideas into your own words

AND

you give full acknowledgment for the ideas in your BIBLIOGRAPHY

Use quotations...

When the exact words are relevant to your argument

When something is expressed in an unique way

When rewriting would cause loss of impact

Citation styles

Various methods of citing references to the information that informs your own research

Pick a style and stick to it! Common styles are the Harvard, APA, Chicago & Vancouver styles

See the Library’s guide on citing correctly!

Gathering your resources

So....where do I start?

Different types of material

books! academic journals databases – large searchable collections of

journals or abstracts newspapers

the Web! – though proceed with caution...

Primary vs. secondary sources

Books

Search in the library’s catalogue

Encyclopaedias and dictionaries are a good place to start for an overall view

Academic textbooks can also be a good place to start

Journals

tip: Journals that print review articles are excellent sources for starting your research

Databases

Databases are often large collections of full-text journals, or sometimes just abstracts of articles pulled together in one place

Search many different journals/ other resources in one go

Examples of Scientific Databases

PubmedBioMed CentralScience DirectCambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA)Web of ScienceSpringerLink

ALL very large store of content

ALL available via the Library!

Newspapers/ News magazines

Yes, newspapers!

Sometimes a good place to discover new research

Often gives a summary in layman’s terms of new research being done

We have tools for searching many news media in one go

And, yes, of course...the Web!

...but, proceed with caution!

Websites with scientific information

Liaison Librarians (subject specialists) compile lists of freely available Web resources containing scientific information

Subject Gateways on the Web

www.intute.ac.uk



End result: a potentially useful resource!

End result: (another) potentially useful resource!

Websites of Organisations

OK....NOW where do I start?

Begin a literature search

Literature searching is the comprehensive study and interpretation of literature that is related to a particular topic

Steps in the process

Define your need

Determine appropriate (scientific) resources

Search!

Evaluate information gathered

Refine & revise search (if necessary)

Define your need

Look at your research question, topic or assignment and identify what the core concepts are

This will help guide your search in the right direction and provide a framework for searching

To do this identify the key words or synonyms that describe your core concepts

Example:Find references on how food preservatives affect the growth of microorganisms

Keyword 1 Keyword 2 Keyword 3

food preservatives

AND

microorganism

AND

growth

OR OR OR

additives bacteria development

OR

microbe

additives AND microorganisms

bacteria OR virus

additives NOT emulsifiers

narrows your search

broadens your search

narrows your search

Other search techniquesTo expand your search:

Use synonyms, related terms or broader terms Use both American and English spellings, e.g.,

fetus OR foetus

To narrow your search:

Limit by year, language, type of publication...

Use more specific search terms

Use phrases, e.g., “drug therapy”

Determine appropriate sourcesBEFORE you start searching, make a list of

where you might find information

Books – Library Catalogue(s) – reference material

Journal Articles – e-journals, review articles

Databases

Organisation – Library Subject Portals, Intute portal e.g.,(http://www.intute.ac.uk/agriculture/)

Professional experts (your lecturers!)

http://www.intute.ac.uk/agriculture/

Discovering the Library’s online resources

www.ucd.ie/library

Library catalogue

Library catalogue

When searching the catalogue, think broadly in a particular subject area...

Library catalogue searching

NOT

Tip!Textbooks often have many different editions

Use the “sort by” function to sort by date to see which is the latest edition…

e-books!

Reference titles – dictionaries, encyclopaedias

A few examples….

Electronic (online) resources

Electronic (online) resources

Search journals by title...

Exercise!Log in to the Library’s findit system and search for the following journal:

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology

• access the journal via the Nature link (NOT EBSCOhost)

• find review articles on apoptosis via the “web focuses” section of the journal’s website

Browse journals by subject area...

Search databases by title...

...or browse by subject area

...or browse by subject area

Exercise!Search for the following database:

Genetics Abstracts

You are trying to find articles on programmed cell death or apoptosis in plants

You want your search terms to appear in the title of the article

Limit your search to journal articles published in the last 5 years only

Once located, get the full text of one of the articles by clicking on the button

Conduct a search of many databases by subject in one go

Now let’s go back to our research question

Example:Find references on how food preservatives affect the growth of microorganisms

Keyword 1 Keyword 2 Keyword 3

food preservatives

AND

microorganism

AND

growth

OR OR OR

additives bacteria development

OR

microbe

Exercise!

Consider this research question:

Do pathogens manipulate death responses in plant cells?

• Identify the key concepts, consider synonyms, and compose a search query using connectors (AND, OR)

• Do an advanced search in PubMed database and limit your search to the last 5 years

• How many results do you find?

Feedback!

Please fill out this short evaluation form…be honest!

http://bit.ly/e1O26a

THANK YOU!

Josh Clark,

Science Liaison Librarian

My Contact info:

Tel: 716 7646

Email: [email protected]

James Joyce Library

Level 4, Room 414 (just ask at the Information Desk)

University College Dublin

An Coláiste Ollscoil, Baile Átha Cliath

mailto:[email protected]

A typical journal article…

I’m trying to find…

I’m trying to find…

CONNOLLY, H.C. JR, JONES, B.D. & HEWINS, R.H. 1997. The flash melting of chondrules: an experimental investigation into the melting history and physical nature of chondrule precursors. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 62, 2725–2735.

Anatomy of a journal reference 1


Author(s)



Year of publication



article title



journal title



volume no



page no(s)

Education

CELB20020 Library Workshop 26 Jan 2011