Finding reliable information for assignments and dissertations(introduction)MSc Patient Safety2009/10

Susan McCourt

QML Floor 2, x3287

s.mccourt@abdn.ac.uk

Aims

Expand current information retrieval skills introduce information

resources which will be relevant for group and individual project work

Provide contact points for help

Session outline

Finding reliable information using Catalogue Databases e.g. Scopus Search engines (Google, Google Scholar)

BibliographiesLater in course – additional

databases and sources

Types of information

Primary literature: original writings on a subject e.g. journal papers/articles, reports, conference papers, patents, theses

Secondary literature: material published about primary literature e.g. textbooks, reviews or tools that point to primary literature e.g. abstracts, indexes, bibliographies

Looking for information – source types

Academic (internal sources) library catalogue WebCT or other course-related material

Academic (external sources) Electronic book collections e.g. ebrary,

sciencedirect Journal articles and conference papers e.g.

specialised databases Trade/technical/support (external sources)

Web pages, manuals, blogs e.g. focused use of search engines

Reliability of information

Important to use reliable information and sources in academic work

Reliability and accuracy generally achieved through checking of output by others editing/control within book publishing refereeing process, known as peer review, for

papers published in journals different types of papers published in journals

– Review articles are extremely useful to start off with

Looking for information Step 1: Use books to get started - the library catalogue

Initial reading Point to other useful references (at end of chapter, or

book) Help with identifying keywords and areas of interest

Step 2: Go further and use academic databases (must do to get a good mark!) Find research articles published on your topic

Step 3: Web sources, but evaluate them! Mix it up: Can start with Step 3 provided you appreciate that

you’ll need to carefully evaluate what you find. Don’t miss out other steps!

Literature searching

Describe recent trends in …

Write a 5,000 word essay on …

Discuss the development of government policy on …

Summarise the issues involved in …

Finding information to support your course work - BOOKS

Library catalogue/OPAC

Library guide available for more detailed information

Simple records Title of books (not chapters

in books) Title of journals (not

papers in journals) Where they are held Status of loan

Act smart – use keywords

Login for extra services – use your computer username and password …

Quick Search only useful if you know exactly what you are looking e.g. have

all details from a reading list …

Title: The human contribution: unsafe acts, accidents and heroic recoveries

Author: Reason, J.T.

Year of publication: 2008

Publisher: Ashgate

One match.

5/1 - we have 5 copies and 1 is out on loan

Shelfmark is important.

New feature – links to Google Books (for some items)

Some publishers provide access to

full text sections of the book (but not in this example!)

An example where some access has

been provided. Not in your subject

area …

Lots of copies but different loan periods…

When looking for information on a topic use Advanced Keyword Search

instead …

Adding more keywords results in fewer hits

Our electronic books are not assigned to any particular library…

When working at a distance, or tight for time, limiting results to electronic

copies can be useful…

… but not everything is available in electronic format

Catalogue contains entries for the e-books that we have in a collection called ebrary and

ScienceDirect. To restrict your catalogue search to these e-books Limit search to Electronic Books

BUT – Can do more powerful and effective searches from ebrary website and from the

ScienceDirect website than in catalogue

Really useful electronic books in our collections

Ebrary 40,000+ items Lots of different publishers

ScienceDirect at www.sciencedirect.com Much smaller book collection

Reference type books (encyclopedia) textbooks and monographs (research type

books) From only one publisher (Elsevier)

Books – secondary sources

Books – Good for overview reading Summarise information pulled from lots of

different primary sources Use the citations/references provided in

the Further Reading or References sections of chapters to read beyond a topic, or get more detail on a topic

Papers/Articles in Journals – primary sources

Finding information to support your course work - JOURNAL references on your reading list

Do we have this reference? How do I find it on the library catalogue?

Yule, S., R. Flin, S. Paterson-Brown, and N. Maran. (2006). Non-technical skills for surgeons in the operating room: A review of the literature, Surgery 139 (2), 140-149

Yule, S., R. Flin, S. Paterson-Brown, and N. Maran 2006

Non-technical skills for surgeons in the operating room: A review of the literature

Surgery

139 (2), 140-149

Article titleAuthors

Journal title

Volume Issue

Year

Pages

Library catalogue/OPAC

Fact sheet available for more detailed information

Simple records Title of books (not chapters

in books) Title of journals (not

papers in journals) Where they are held Status of loan

Act smart – use keywordsOnly the title of journals NOT the papers/articles in the journals …

Sort your results alphabetically by title -we have separate records for a title in

paper format and the same title in electronic format …

Record for an electronic journal: holdings difficult to decipher - use the

SFX button to check holdings …

Look at the holdings/availability information provided in grey under

each supplier. Select the supplier and click on GO …

Now on home page for the journal. Need

to get to the year/volume/issue/pages that are given in

your reference …

Yule, S., R. Flin, S. Paterson-Brown, and N. Maran 2006

Non-technical skills for surgeons in the operating room: A review of the literature

Surgery

139 (2), 140-149

Article titleAuthors

Journal title

Volume Issue

Year

Pages

Citing through the text - acknowledging the work/ideas as

published by others…

List of references (or bibliography) given at the end.

Vancouver system = numbered system…

Sometimes we hold paper format and electronic format (but check the time span for each by going into the library

record – they may be different) …

Paper copy of the journal: Important info is shelfmark and holding …

Finding information to support your course work – what research has been published on my topic?

Report on current research More up-to-date than books Specialised subject coverage Academic content – has been checked Essential for research purposes

Worldwide 25,000+ academic journals across all disciplines

Approximately 2,500,000 refereed research articles published every year

Research papers / journal articles are NOT listed in our library catalogue

How do you find out about them?

Beyond the catalogue

Catalogue – what we hold, limited indexing

Database – what has been published (within limitations!), better indexing Bibliographic/abstract e.g. Web of

Science, Scopus, Medline Full text (primarily journal articles)

e.g. ScienceDirect Web – as compiled by anyone who

can create a web page. May not be academic or scholarly

Types of databases

Bibliographic/abstract databases wide date range publications from many countries publications from many publishers good for comprehensive subject search e.g. Scopus, Web of

Science, Medline Use SFX to link to full text or the catalogue

Full text databases limited date range (e.g. 1995- , 1998-) publications from one publisher at a time eg Elsevier

(ScienceDirect), Wiley (Interscience) good for quick access to full papers

Important databases

A number of databases may be of use to you in the future: Scopus (biggest science, technical and medical database.

Nice search features) PsycINFO and PsycARTICLES (specialised psychology

databases) Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL (specialised medical

databases. Often have powerful search features. Instruction in December from Mel Bickerton)

Web of Science (large, broad science database) Use MetaLib to identify other relevant databases

Planning your search

Consider time spelling alternatives/synonyms truncation

Think about the relationship between the words - Boolean operators (and/or)

Hypothetical essay/project titleTechniques used in the reduction of

medication errors

Essay/Project title: Techniques used in the reduction of medication errors

concepts alternative keywords

Idea 1medication error*

prescription error*

Idea 2 colour coding color codingchecklist*

Idea 3

OR

AND

Boolean searching

Linking of words, phrases and concepts for searching in databases and the Web

OR and AND are main operators

checklist AND medication error

checklist OR colour coding

Boolean searching

OR Broadens the searchUse alternative words

AND Narrows the searchMore specific

NOT Cuts out unwanted termsUse with care!!

Suggested approach, for now…

Use biggest and most comprehensive databases first and see what you get

Then move off into smaller or more specialised databases if you feel it is necessary

Use Scopus or Web of Science

Use MetaLib to help identify these

database

www.scopus.com Biggest science database Contains information on research back to

1826 Mainly research papers (journal articles)

38+ million items From 18,000+ journals

Links to full text where we have paid for it Use on and off campus (need to use your

computer username and password to login)

Scopus Search Rules

Boolean operators: or and Not case sensitive Truncation symbol: * Automatic stemming picks up

singular/plural Exact phrase search in double quotes“patient safety” Cannot use * in exact phrase search

Tips on searching

DO

Plan your search terms and write them down

Try a “quick and dirty” search in your database

Search across more than one database

DON’T

Type in the title of your project word-for- word – likely to get zeroRely on a “quick and dirty” search for the best resultsLimit your search to just one database

Don’t type in the title of your assignment …

This database has 38+ million references and found zero results.

Q: Why?

A: No match for the exact terms you used. Need to think about alternative words and structure the ideas/concepts

“Quick and dirty” search. Two separate ideas. Using only

minimal aspects of the search rules …

Small number of hits. there is material here that may be useful. Now just need to

improve the search terms…

Improve your searching

Planning is important time spelling alternatives/synonyms truncation

Think about the relationship between the words - Boolean operators (and/or)

Refine your search - use different words or different combinations of words

Essay/Project title: Techniques used in the reduction of medication errors

concepts alternative keywords

Idea 1medication error*

prescription error*

Idea 2 colour coding color codingchecklist*

Idea 3

OR

AND

When off campus you may need to prove that you are entitled to access the

resource. Look for Shibboleth/Institution Login …

Select UK Federation (no matter where you are, geographically). Then select University

of Aberdeen (under U, not A)…

Type in your University computer username and password in the

Authentication pop-up window…

Wait a few seconds for the system to recognise that you should be allowed in…

Once you are into the site there is normally some indicator that it has recognised that

you are an authenticated user…

If not already at the article you wanted you’ll need to navigate to it - use year,

volume number, issue number…

Can read this on screen, print off or download for your own research/study

purposes…

Refining your search: add extra keywords …

Refining your search: use options presented by database. Document Type,

Subject Area…

No link to full text – use SFX to find out if it is available in paper format in the

library

SFX pop-up: no link for full text, but there is a link to library catalogue.

Click on GO

Only material older than 7 years available to us at University of

Aberdeen. We don’t hold paper copy (no entry in the library catalogue).

Another negative result – title not held at all

Example of a more positive result where item is held in paper format

Check the Summary Holding field and

Shelfmark. It is impossible for us to subscribe to (= pay for) an electronic version of

every journal that is published. Sometimes you have to come into

the library ….

Cited By information (for slightly older material) allows you to jump forwards

in time from when that paper was published…

They probably don’t share the keywords used in the search but as they cited a

paper that was of interest they may also be of interest...

Mark relevant items. Can output to

email/print/reference software.

Can create a simple formatted bibliography of the marked references …

If results are not useful, look at how you got there (search history) and then start a new/different/better

search …

Suggested approach…

Use biggest and most comprehensive databases first and see what you get

Then move off into smaller or more specialised databases if you feel it is necessary

Use Scopus or Web of Science

Use MetaLib to help identify these

Printed and electronic library guides available on how to use MetaLib …

As you carry out your database search…

Decide on the items that are relevant to you (title, abstract, date)

Do we have them? Use Full text icon if available. Use SFX button to check for

our paper holdings. (Not everything is available electronically!!)

If it isn’t available will the abstract give you enough information?

Read and use them in support of your assignment. Do not plagiarise the work – always acknowledge your source.

Why use databases?

Contain academic and scholarly material Results of refereed research from

institutions worldwide Content is authoritative Referring to published research literature

demonstrates that you have an interest in the topic

Essential to postgraduate studies

Search engine results

Useful for government related and “grey” type literature

Use advanced search features to refine searches

Be careful what you use - anyone can post material

Evaluate content –author, date, URL, bias

Was doing an AND search (all these words)

Modify it – phrase search, OR search

Can limit results to particular domains (useful for .ac.uk, .edu, .gov.uk

materials)…

Not material that would be found in academic/scholarly database (peer reviewed journal/research articles).

Would have to evaluate it...

Going back to an earlier Google search and applying it to Google Scholar …

Google Scholar (beta test for several years!) applies filters to the results:

tries to present academic and scholarly type hits …

Provided you’ve set up your preferences correctly you can get FullText@Aberdeen options (=SFX

menu)…

Why use databases?

Contain academic and scholarly material from across the world – refereed research

Content is authoritative Referring to published research literature

demonstrates that you have an interest in the topic

Easier to evaluate results from databases (date of publication, number of times cited, type of document) than in Google

Not a substitute for academic databases But useful support –documents not included

in databases e.g. reports, theses, “grey” literature

Still in beta test – may get into a mini-loop trying to find full text

We do not hold everything in electronic format – sometimes you have to come to Library and use real books and real journals!

Excellent tutorials exist to brush up your internet searching skills

Get organised!

Bibliography - don’t leave this until last! keep notes on each of your readings, or compile a Word table, or create a reference database (on Access?) or use index cards or use RefWorks (www.refworks.com/refworks)

Plagiarism = copying = cheating Keep backing up your work

H drive, memory sticks ….

Citing and bibliographies

recognise and acknowledge the work of others

demonstrate the body of knowledge on which you have based your work

allow readers/researchers to trace your sources and lead them to further information

www.refworks.com

When off campus …

Can access most library electronic resources using your University computer username and password (learn these!) Shibboleth/Institution Login/UK Access Management Federation

For some services (just a few) you may need to change settings on your PC Some full text journals may need you to change proxy settings

(www.abdn.ac.uk/proxy) May need to install utilities e.g. RefWorks Write-N-Cite May need to allow pop-ups

Essay/Project

Identify sources

Prepare search string/strategy (keywords, truncation and Boolean)

Databases

CatalogueGo direct to database or use MetaLib to identify relevant

sources. Apply correct search rules. Carry out search. Modify

and refine. Evaluate results. Use SFX to link to full text or catalogue to check paper

holdings. Print, save or send to email account.

Use RefWorks to hold references and create bibliography

Web

Search engine (e.g. Google

Scholar or Google or portal

(http://www.intute.ac.uk) or direct to

site.

Access and read papers. Prepare

work.

Check Boolean and truncation.

Carry out search, modify as necessary

Obtain items

Need help?

Library workshops e.g. using databases and “Taster on Two” introductions Must book for these sessions

Vodcasts and podcasts on library web pages More instruction in December with Mel Bickerton

Builds on today’s session – more powerful databases

Updates on stuff – follow us (aberdeenunilib) on Twitter

Susan McCourt

QML Floor 2, x3287s.mccourt@abdn.ac.uk

Slide handout – 09/10

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