Information literacy Skills E-mail c spencer ncl ac

Information literacy Skills E-mail | c. spencer@ncl. ac. uk SAg. E

Today … • Gain relevant skills which will enable you to find information for your dissertation topic by using: Databases On-line Journal Services Web Gateways • Produce a set of citations (references) to include in your final report.

A Good Dissertation … • • • Well structured with: Abstract - highlights the scope and relevance with conclusions Introduction - background, context, objectives Contents page – clear with conventional notation Literature Review Methodology – explain how experiments, surveys etc were done and why Results Conclusions - will link to abstract Appendices – data, maps, questionnaires etc Conventional referencing and layout is important: Labelling of figures Labelling of tables Books Conference papers use Endnote Journal articles Max Marks if you have sound: Critical arguments Conclusions

Management • Decide on the type of information you want – books, journals etc • Devise a search strategy describing your topic – it will save time in the long run • Take time out to think about which resource(s) is best for your topic – choose quality rather than quantity; broaden your search strategy if you do not have enough results • Use End. Note http: //www. ncl. ac. uk/library/endnote_introduction. php to store and manage your references and data. • Back up all your files!

Gathering Information • Be clear as to what information you need and how you are going to use it What is your aim in finding this information? What new knowledge will you have gained ? • - Journal article | Standard | Data etc • Identify the main search terms or Keywords which you will use in a computer search, but beware synonyms.

So – what’s the literature? • • • Books – good starting points. Journal articles – concise, up to date and refereed for quality. Often available electronically. Conference proceedings – very up to date, sometimes difficult to obtain, latest research thinking, good quality but not usually refereed Via the Internet e. g. google search – very comprehensive but quality may not be good enough; be very selective and evaluate the sources carefully. Theses – can be useful at Ph. D level but treat research findings with some caution. Unlike published journal articles data may not be verified. Hard to obtain. Verified Data sources/standards/ - essential for product design e. g. BS/Eurocodes Diagrams/software/maps – will often be crucial to science and engineering Corporate/in-house/Government reports – these may be excellent sources of important research material. Can be hard to locate. Newspapers/Magazines – limited use but good for opinions and trends.

Athens Passwords • An Athens password is needed to access many of the library’s e-resources • Athens? – a universal password to access many different on-line services • You need to read our web page for instructions on how to set up your own personal Athens password: http: //www. ncl. ac. uk/library/athens. html Your Generic login: nclciv Password: hgit 9269

A good place to start … • www. ncl. ac. uk/library/resin • Take time to explore the different menus

Engineering Resources • Level 4 - Books and Journals • Specific resources – check out http: //www. ncl. ac. uk/library/lim/sagehome. html

Finding the Literature… e-resources …include > Journal articles > Conference proceedings > Reference data > Citations > Theses > Digital maps …and much more - delivered to your desktop!

A Literature Search … • Finds information related to your topic of interest • You may need to use many different sources to find this information • It’s best to make a plan or formulate a “search strategy” to locate this information • After doing your search you can critically review your results and use them to test your hypothesis, provide evidence of wider reading, or use the results to focus your topic.

Literature searching – The Plan… • Search strategy – think about your topic • Identify appropriate information retrieval resources • Search, locate and retrieve references • Read, analyse and evaluate • Keep records for reference • Further help…

Databases – not just data… • Collection of information sources (references) • Lots of different types of database: they service different types of information books, articles, conference papers, theses, standards etc…. – Bibliographic (summaries only) or full text – General or subject specific – Specialised e. g. British Standards

Bibliographic databases … • … are indexes to journal articles, conference proceedings, abstracts, technical papers etc. e. g. Compendex and CSA Illumina • Typically, searching a database will generate a list of references to articles which may or may not be held in the library – use another service to get the full text of the article you want to access.

Important Bibliographic Databases http: //www. ncl. ac. uk/library/databases. php Compendex® is the most comprehensive interdisciplinary engineering database in the world. Compendex contains over 8 million records and references over 5, 000 international engineering sources including journal, conference, and trade publications. Coverage is from 1969 to present and the database is updated weekly. covers journals, proceedings, current contents, journal citations, patents and chemical structures … Scopus from Elsevier - the world’s largest abstract and indexing database. Scopus is a multidisciplinary navigational tool that contains records going back to the mid 1960 s, offering newly-linked citations across the widest body of scientific abstracts available in one place. access to more than 50 databases covering major areas of research …

Journal Papers • Papers from refereed journals are high quality sources of information which have been checked for authenticity – they are said to be Peer Reviewed • You will need to include at least 6 examples of Peer Reviewed papers in your dissertation.

Full Text On-Line Journals The Library subscribes to many on-line full text academic journal titles: http: //www. ncl. ac. uk/library/ejshome. html Important full text journal sources for Science and Engineering include: “one of the world's largest providers of scientific, technical and medical (STM) literature”. “quality full-text content plus a vehicle for finding precisely the information needed — quickly and easily — among hundreds of well respected sci-tech references”. IEEE Xplore ® A Dynamic Online Delivery System for IEEE Online Publications Most on-line services provide e-mail alerts or e-tocs to advise you of a new issue. Everything Computing and more … Comprehensive Science and Engineering content PROCEEDINGS OF THE INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS

Conference Proceedings • There are thousands of conferences, symposia, meetings and colloquia held annually. No one database covers all so try: http: //zetoc. mimas. ac. uk/ http: //firstsearch. uk. oclc. org/Web. Z/FSPrefs? entityjsdetect=: javascript=true: screen size=large: sessionid=sp 05 sw 01 -60760 -ds 4 it 48 x-c 0 vpz 6: entitypagenum=1: 0 http: //portalt. wok. mimas. ac. uk/

Data & Datasets • As Engineers you will need to use validated data: Data services http: //www. ncl. ac. uk/library/hsheets/esdu. html British Standards http: //www. ncl. ac. uk/library/hsheets/britstan. html Statistics | Mapping http: //www. statistics. gov. uk/ http: //edina. ac. uk/digimap/index. shtml If you need to look at another Thesis use

Using the Internet for Research This can be broken down into several areas: • The Web or World Wide Web for content • E-mail lists, newsgroups, XML or weblogs for current awareness.

Using the Internet as an information resource • Disadvantages: Often no quality control (or can be unclear / variable – e. g. , relevance ranking) Information overload likely Lack of organisation of results Poor search tools? Limited help available

Sources of Information • Wide range of web-based search tools available including; Search engines Metasearch engines Weblogs/Blogging Classified directories Subject gateways Customisable portals – e. g. , RDN

Search engines (e. g. Google) Disadvantages: • The database may not be regularly updated – “snapshot” • There is no human “quality control” - you will get a lot of irrelevant “hits”, even if results ranked • Importantly – you are not covering whole WWW (Google Scholar FAQ) • Search elsewhere (Invisible Web)

Search engines (e. g. Google) • http: //scholar. google. com/ Google Scholar – specific to academic needs - including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports • http: //www. scirus. com Sort of Google for Science & Engineering! • http: //www. eevl. ac. uk/ EEVL extra – Science Engineering and Maths

Best Search Engines To Use • Phil Bradley: finding what you need to know with the best search engines; http: //www. philb. com/whichengine. htm • How to choose a search engine or directory http: //library. albany. edu/internet/choose. ht ml • Infopeople http: //www. infopeople. org/search

Searching sources more effectively • Boolean logic (AND, NOT, OR) • Field searching • Using advanced search features on websites • Improves high recall/high precision ratio • http: //www. google. co. uk/advanced_search ? hl=en • http: //www. lboro. ac. uk/library/combining. html

Gateways … • Created & maintained by subject experts who evaluate web resources for quality and content. Often contain extended abstracts. Advantages: • Assured quality information • Allow you to avoid information overload • Focused information in topic areas • Often include contacts, lists of experts etc. • Aimed specifically at academic community • Well developed search and browse facilities

Gateways Disadvantages: • Stringent editorial control means number of resources can be limited • Not comprehensive • Criteria for including sites is not always made immediately available • Often biased by country • Use broader search terms than may be desired due to small number of resources?

Engineering Gateways http: //www. eevl. ac. uk/engineering/index. htm http: //store. asme. org/ http: //www. gogeo. ac. uk/

Gateways Artifact – arts & creative industries BIOME – health, medicine & life sciences EEVL – engineering, maths & computing GEsource – geography & environment HUMBUL – humanities PSIgate - physical sciences SOSIG – social sciences; includes sections on statistics, research tools & methods; http: //www. sosig. ac. uk • SAPLING – architecture, planning & landscape • •

Gateways – Current Awareness • EEVL – Engineering – http: //www. eevl. ac. uk/latest-news. htm - General news http: //www. eevl. ac. uk/current_awareness_services. html - What’s new http: //www. eevl. ac. uk/onestepnews/ - Industry news

Subject Portal • Resource Discovery Network http: //www. rdn. ac. uk Internet Portal which catalogues and delivers value-added services e. g. , interactive web tutorials, newsfeeds and alerting services

Evaluation criteria for webbased information • Who authored it? Academic or amateur? Work published elsewhere in well-respected titles? Individual or organisation? • What? Reliability? Scope? Accuracy? • Where is resource hosted? • How structured? . mpeg, . pdf, . html security concerns?

Internet - Keeping up to Date Once you have discovered resources in your area you can have regular updates sent to you via e-mail – Tables of Contents from Zetoc http: //zetoc. mimas. ac. uk/alertguide. html – Personal profiling e. g. Science Direct Use RESIN! use http: //inhale. hud. ac. uk/79 Many databases provide this service – Use current awareness web servers e. g. Research Buzz – Use e-mail lists to collaborate with colleagues: http: //www. jiscmail. ac. uk/ – Use blogging tools http: //www. lib. umd. edu/ENGIN/Tech. Reports/Virtual-Tech. Reports. html

Plagiarism – beware! • If you use another persons work and pass it off as your own you are cheating • You MUST correctly cite any work you refer to - http: //www. ncl. ac. uk/library/resin/citation_why. php • You may be asked to submit your work to the online plagiarism detection service. The University is very strongly opposed to all forms of cheating. To find out about Plagiarism look at: http: //www. unn. ac. uk/central/isd/plaginfo. htm/

End. Note • You’ll need to include a bibliography with your dissertation or lab report • End. Note is a reference manager which can automatically download, format and export citations into your favourite text processor e. g. Microsoft Word. • You can follow a tutorial on how to use End. Note here: – http: //www. ncl. ac. uk/library/pdf/End. Note 7. pdf

Activities… • Set up your ATHENS username and password: • User: Password: • Explore Online tutorials (cover various information resources e. g. Compendex, Science Direct, etc…) http: //informs. hud. ac. uk/perl/portfolio. pl? folio=79

illumina • • • • • Instructions Use the Internet Explorer browser Log on to CSA Illumina Choose a database (eg. ASFA) and search in the usual way Using the checkboxes, put a tick beside the records you want to import into your End. Note library Click on Save/Email/Print Ensure that Records = Marked and Record Format = Complete Record Choose appropriate File Format (PC or Mac) Click on Save Your refs will appear in a tagged format Select File > Save as. . . Choose a filename (eg. csarefs. txt) *** It is important that you use the. txt extension *** and save the file Now open the End. Note program and open your End. Note library Select File > Import Click on Choose File. . . 6 Select the correct text file (eg. csarefs. txt) In the dropdown box beside Import Option, select Other Filters. . . Scroll to find the appropriate filter (eg. ASFA (CSA) ) and click on Choose Now click on Import The references will be imported into your End. Note library.