Library research for chemical engineering graduate students

1. ‘How to be an outstanding graduate student’ Seminar Series Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry Department &Engineering & Computer Science LibraryNovember 2010 Library research for chemical engineering graduate students

2. Session outline The lit review Major search tools Finding review articles, using citation searching Alerting services The patent literature

3. Literature review • convey to reader knowledge and ideas established on a topic • what their strengths and weaknesses are • identify areas of controversy in the literature • formulate questions that need further research • be organized around and related directly to the thesis or research question you are developing • synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known Summarized from The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It Written by Dena Taylor, Health Sciences Writing Centrehttp://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/literature-review

4. work hierarchically use short general sources at first work your way towards primary references if needed: start with encyclopedia articles, books then move to • review articles • primary articles • theses • perhaps: other materials such as patent literature

5. chem eng research guide

6. Major databases Scifinder Scholaraka Chemical Abstracts Scopus Web of Scienceaka Science Citation Index • Find articles, work with citation tracking • Any science topic – multidisciplinary Compendexaka Engineering Index Scholars Portal Search • Interdisciplinary: sciences, social sciences, humanities • Very large: includes many major engineering databases Dissertations & Theses Full Text

7. SciFinderScholar is actually a collection of databases: CA Plus journals, tech reports, patents Medline biomedical citations CASReact multi-step reactions database Structure includes biosequences Registry regulated chemicals CHEMCat commercial suppliers & commercially available chemicals

8. SciFinder: Uses ‘natural’ language searching I am looking for the effect of aspirin on blood clotting • separate key concepts with prepositions • prepositions are translated into the boolean NEAR aspirin on blood clotting is better than aspirin blood clotting • if only a space separates words, the system will consider the words to be part of a phrase

9. Use nouns aspirin on blood clot is better than aspirin on blood clotting • use nouns (rather than adjectives) for key concepts as much as possible • helps with automatic truncation and finding synonyms Synonyms aspirin (salicylic acid, acetylsalicylic acid) on blood clot • separate synonyms with commas • parentheses are translated into the Boolean OR

10. Put molecular formula into a Logical Order e.g.,Hill Order What is Hill Order? -Carbon first -Hydrogen second -all remaining elements in alphabetical order C2 H3 F3 O (2,2,2-trifluoro-ethanol) To search multicomponent substances, separate each component with a period If SciFinder cannot interpret the formula, you will get a message asking you to add capitalization and/or spaces

11. searching authors in scifinder type a surname and initial select all possible forms of a name

12. Scifinder access • available as web version and client-server • web version works off and on campus • register individually from a computer with a valid U of T IP address via the Scifinder Scholar registration page • must use a utoronto.ca email address to register • log on from any PC but connect via the UofT Library site • Access between 11 am and 6pm may be difficult since only 6 seats are available concurrently • try again in 5 minutes or use Scifinder in the evening instead

13. Scholars Portal Search large interdisciplinary collection with many databases useful in chem eng: • Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management • Medline • Biotechnology & Bioengineering Abstracts • Compendex • Web of Science • METADEX (materials science) • Advantages • -search many platforms at once • -simple identification of refereed articles

14. Scholars Portal Search- break down question into concepts - use keywords plus synonyms & related terms - wildcards to broaden your search

16. Use boolean ‘and’ rather than multiple boxes

18. Use truncation symbol * to improve search results

19. Test your knowledge quiz Choose all that apply…

20. 1. Which of the following are considered primary publications? • Blue - An article in Journal of the American Chemical Society on the novel use of a chemical • Orange - The patent on the drug later tradenamed Lipitor • Pink - A UofT's graduate student's doctoral dissertation • Green – None of the above

21. 2. Which of the following would be a good database to find patents? • Blue - PubMed • Orange - Compendex • Pink - Business Source Premier • Green - SciFinder Scholar

22. 3. If you performed a search by substance identifier for the drug Plendil in SciFinder Scholar, what types of information would likely be available? • Blue - CAS Registry Number, alternate names and molecular formula • Orange - Commercial availability info • Pink - An experimental melting point • Green – None of the above

23. 4. SciFinder Scholar approaches keyword searching very differently than most other indexing databases. What are some of the key distinctions between SFS and other scientific indexes? • Blue - Multi-term queries in SFS are supposed to be expressed in natural language phrases • Orange - SFS searches "research topic" terms in the document title, abstract and subject headings • Pink - SFS has no way to allow entry of synonyms for search terms, while other databases let you string synonyms together using the Boolean operator OR • Green - None of the above

24. 5. Which of the following entries is the most efficient way to search for hydrolysis or alcoholysis of lactams in SciFinder? • Blue - Alcoholysis OR hydrolysis of lactams • Orange - Lactams AND (hydrolysis or alcoholysis) • Pink - Lactams (hydrolysis, alcoholysis) • Green - Hydrolysis (alcoholysis) of lactams

25. 6. Web of Science has been described as "not the first place to go for any search, but the second place to go for almost every search". Which of the following are logical reasons to support that? • Blue - Its chronological coverage is very shallow • Orange - It has detailed subject indexing • Pink - It covers only the top journals in each field • Green - Its citation indexing features make it powerful for building a search from one or more good references

26. Gaining context, comprehensiveness: some strategies Use journal databases, but limit to review articles • experts identify significant literature, authors • reveal gaps in existing body of research • identify controversies quickly

27. Finding review articles usingWeb of Science – use the Advanced Search

28. comprehensive review: -many aspects of topic covered, Including applications -huge reference list -article divided into mini-chapters for easy use

29. Finding review articles using Compendex

30. Finding review articles: some other strategies look for titles such as… • Advances in chemical engineering • Reviews in chemical engineering • Annual reviews of industrial engineering chemistry • Progress in colloid & interface science

31. Gaining context, comprehensiveness: some strategies 1. Use citation databases • identify significant authors, significant papers by the number of times they have been cited

32. Get the most out of significant papers explore their: Cited lists related articles reference lists

33. Using citation databases • Ancestors • aka footnote tracing • Use reference lists from review articles Problem:author bias magnified therefore, use in addition to other general search methods • Descendents • Take most relevant articles • Follow them forward in time

34. Scopus – times cited

35. Web of Science – times cited

36. Be aware of other possible problems with citation searching • Famous papers widely accepted therefore may not be cited as much • Important papers not written in English not cited in English literature • High cites may not measure QUALITY of a study, but may measure INFLUENCE

37. Reaxys • Can be used to find references to reactions or properties of chemical compounds • Can search by name or drawing of structure • Search reactions, substances & properties, text authors & citations

40. Practice exercise: article databases

41. Gaining context, comprehensiveness: some strategies 3. Use thesis/dissertation databases • who has been doing what? • get a fairly complete picture quickly

42. Dissertations & Theses Fulltextinternational coverage-search by school, advisor, author, or by keyword

43. Staying current: alerting services mail alerts are sent after every database update Sent if the update contains any new records that match your saved query

44. Save as Alert is found on the Search History page.

45. Login or create a password.

46. Citation alert

47. Web of Science has a similar citation alert.

48. patents

49. A patent is “a right, granted by government, to exclude others from making, using, or selling your invention in Canada.” Applicable for a pre-determined amount of time Source: Canadian Intellectual Property Office retrieved November 23, 2010 from http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/h_wr00001.html

50. What makes something patentable? NOVEL -not yet available or disclosed to the public INVENTIVE -is not readily apparent to a person skilled in the technical field on basis of generally available information -reproducible USEFUL -must work! - has a useful function Source: Canadian intellectual Property Office. Retrieved November 23, 2010 from http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/wr01402.html