Rssp nov2010 effective literature searching1

connecting you with information, support and your community

Effective literature searching

Samantha Johnson

Academic Support Librarian

Jenny DelasalleAcademic Support Manager

(Research)


How can we help?

• Contact your Academic Support Librarian– Knowledge of relevant library resources and

how to use them– Experts in putting together search

strategies– Advice in how to keep up to date with new

research– Help in managing references and creating

bibliographies

Academic Support Librarians

• Chris BradfordEducation, Health & Social Studies, Politics, Comparative American Studies, Applied Linguistics, Lifelong Learning

• Emma CraggBusiness Studies and Economics

• Helen IrelandSciences, Classics, Psychology

• Samantha Johnson Medicine, Biological Sciences, Life Sciences, Psychology

• Peter Larkin

English and Comparative Literature, Philosophy, French, Italian and Special Collections

• Richard ParkerGerman, History, History of Art and Renaissance Studies

• Richard PerkinsFilm, Television and Theatre Studies, Cultural Policy Studies and Business Studies

• Helen RileyLaw, Official Publications and Statistics and Economics

• Lynn WrightSociology and History


Resourceshttp://go.warwick.ac.uk/library-resources

• Quick and easy links to subject specific databases and good quality web sites

• Link to electronic journals page• Registration for off campus access


Accessing resources from off-campus

• After registering for a University username and password from your home PC go to:– Library Homepage > Resources >Off –campus access page

> Athens setup

and follow the instructions.

• This will set a cookie on your PC and allow automatic login to the electronic resources

• Virus checkers sometimes delete cookies, so you may need to re-set it


What can you look for?

• Articles:

– written by a specific author

– published in a specific journal

– containing specific keywords

– limited to certain dates or languages

• Combine searches to look for more than one

criteria


Starting the search process

• Devise and refine the question• Devise a search strategy• Identify appropriate resources• Use resources effectively• Evaluate search strategy and results• Store search results (Endnote Web)


The Question

How effective are fitness programmes orregular exercise in helping to prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes in adults?

• Concepts: Fitness programmes, Exercise, Type 2 diabetes

• Limits: Adults• Combining: OR


Devise a search strategy

• Identify the different ideas/concepts covered by your question

• Identify the keywords or phrases • Identify any synonyms, alternative spellings

and related terms• Think about how you want to combine the

search terms together

Developing a search strategy

Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3 Concept 4

Keyword Exercise Fitness programmes

Type 2 diabetes Adults

Synonym Exercise therapyWalkingRunning

Physical conditioning

Diabetes mellitus, adult onset

Middle aged

Synonym Physical exerciseAerobic exercise

Diabetes mellitus, non insulin dependent

Elderly

How effective are fitness programmes or regular exercise in helping to prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes in adults?


Truncation

• Truncation allows you to search for alternative endings to words. – The most frequently used symbols for truncation are the

asterisk * and the dollar sign $– For example you could use diabet* to find diabetes or

diabetic.

• Note: it is always worth checking the search hints or tips for each particular database to find out what symbols are used for truncation and how they may be used.


Wildcards

• Wildcards allow you to find variant spellings• It is especially useful for finding

– American and English variations – Retrieving plurals.

• The most commonly used symbols for wildcards are ?, $, * and #

• For example wom?n will find woman or women and p$ediatric will find paediatric or pediatric

• Check the database searching hints and tips or help to find out what symbols are used


Phrase searching

• Use quotation marks to search for a phrase, rather than individual words– “fitness programmes”– “Type 2 diabetes”


Combining keywords

• Combine terms using Boolean operators:

Exercise Exercise

OR Fitness programmes AND Diabetes mellitus

(broadens search) (narrows search)

OR AND


Limits

• Some databases have pre-defined limits:– Publication year– Publication type– Age group

• Use instead of search terms, e.g.,– use the “Adolescent (13-18 years)” limit– instead of adolescent/s, teenager/s, school

children, youths, young adults– All articles about this age group will have been

indexed under the “Adolescent” limit


Search techniques

• Useful search techniques include– Free Text searching– Thesaurus or controlled language searching– Field searching

• These apply irrespective of the database you are using. Read the search hints and tips to find out what is possible.


Free text searching

• Allows you to search the database using words of your choice

• If your word appears in a document it is returned as a ‘hit’

• You need to think of and list all the different ways different authors may express a particular concept in order to retrieve papers that express that concept

• Can seem easy but may be missing vital articles

• Retrieves lots of articles but many may not be relevant


Controlled Vocabulary Searching

• You select terms or are directed to terms that have been predetermined using a subject index or thesaurus

• A preferred term will index all articles on that subject regardless of how the subject has been described in the article

• Provides an efficient way of finding articles on a particular concept that has been described in different ways


Using a Thesaurus

• Indexers always assign the most specific terms available.

• If an article discusses several terms, or a more specific term does not exist, the indexer will assign a more general term.

• The tree structure allows for flexibility when searching. – Identifies where a particular term fits within

the tree– Allows you to select narrow or broader terms

that might better match your search requirements


Free text or thesaurus terms?

• Use a combination of controlled vocabulary and free text searching to comprehensively search a topic.

• Thesaurus headings may remain unassigned: – Indexing error– New concept


Field searching

• Restrict your search to a specific part of the reference, e.g., Title, Abstract, Author

• Will retrieve less references• Searching by title is useful when you have a

“solid” topic, i.e., sciences


Reviewing the search

• Review results and identify possible additional keywords that could be used

• Consider alternative spellings, word endings or broader or narrower terms

• Edit and re-run the search • Re-run the search in alternative databases /

resources


Managing your time

• Search Alerts – Save your search strategies for use later– have recently published articles sent

directly to you via email or RSS feeds

• Journal Alerts: have the contents pages (and full text where available) of key journals sent directly to you via email or RSS feeds– Try ZETOC or Science Direct– Go direct to a journal homepage

• Citation Alerts: track who is citing a particular article


Citation alerts via Web of Science

• To receive alerts if anyone cites a particular article, click on the article to select full display

• Click on Create citation alert• You will be prompted to log-in or register• The default alert type is email. To set up an RSS feed

instead, click on the XML icon and subscribe to the feed as prompted.


Citation Alerts

• An alert whenever someone cites your article?


Managing your references

• Keep records of the literature you have read and used during your research

• Demonstrates your level of knowledge and understanding

• Avoids problems with plagiarism• Consider using Endnote Web

– More info available at:http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/main/research/endnote/


Further help and advice

• Contact your Academic Support Librarian

• Speak to the Advisors in the Research Exchange

• We’re here to help and to guide you to other sources of help.

Rssp nov2010 effective literature searching1

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