Turning a research question into an effective search strategy Louise Clarke Bodleian Social Science Librarian

1. Bodleian Social Science Library Turning a research question into an effective search strategyLouise Clarke Bodleian Social Science Librarian

2. Part 1: The literature review process

3. Part 2: Searching • Keywords • Boolean • Pearl-growing • Citation chaining

4. Part 3: Search tools

5. Part 4: Alerts

6. Part 5: Citations and bibliometrics Impact

7. Learning outcomes • By the end of the session, you should: • Understand the literature review process; • Be able to plan an effective and structured search for your thesis; • Know where to look for different types of information; • Have evaluated different methods of searching; • Have developed search skills that can be applied across different resources; • Have had a chance to practise; • Know where to come for future help.

8. Part 1: The literature review process

9. Literature review discussion groups • Why is the literature review important? • Why be methodical? • How do you choose your search terms? • Where do you plan to search for the literature? • What sources are you trying to find?

10. Sources

11. Sources • In general a primary source is a work not based on or derived from another source (e.g. contemporary records, data, conference papers, photographs, working papers, etc.) • Secondary sources include the use / analysis / interpretation of primary (and other) sources • Consider the relationship between the researcher and the source in the context of the research topic • Definitions of primary and secondary sources vary by discipline LOMBARD, E. 2010. Primary and Secondary Sources. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 36, 3, pp. 250-253.

12. Primary sources include grey literature • Grey literature refers to material not easily found through conventional publishing channels • Produced by government agencies, NGO’s, IGOs, academic departments and research groups • Includes working papers, policy documents, occasional papers, briefings, conference papers, newsletters, etc. • Produced in print and electronic formats • Ephemeral nature has implications for dissemination, identification and access – it is out there but may be hard to find

13. How to structure the literature review process • Preliminary searching and browsing • Scan abstracts and skim-read papers • Identify current directions of research • How will you contribute new knowledge? • Structured searching with appropriate syntax • Identify the key articles and heavily-cited papers • Establish key authors, organizations and sources • Commit to in-depth consideration and re-reading of papers • Develop search • Track citations to follow research connections • “Cast net more widely” in terms of resources searched • Set up alerts for new content • Stay focused on the research question and keep a search log

14. Part 2: Searching • Keywords • Boolean • Pearl-growing • Citation chaining

15. Start with a clear research question

16. Example research question • Identify the search concepts in your research question: Do improved skills in information literacy increase the academic achievement of university students? • For each search concept, brainstorm keywords: e.g. for information literacy also search for information skills, search skills, bibliographic instruction, user education, etc.

17. Search syntax: wildcard characters • Truncation may be used in a number of ways: • * for right side truncation (e.g. plurals and alternative word endings) • feminis* retrieves feminist, feminists, feminism • ? for a single character (e.g. alternative spellings) • organi?ation for organisation or organization • $ for one character or zero characters • behavio$r* retrieves behavior, behaviour, behavioral, etc • Check the database online help (the symbols given above are common but not universal)

18. Search syntax: Boolean logic NARROWSSEARCH AND university and oxford BROADENSSEARCH university or oxford OR NARROWSSEARCH NOT university not oxford

19. Parentheses • Use parentheses to group the order in which terms are searched academic achievement academic OR education* AND achievement OR success OR assessment OR result* OR standard* (academic OR education*) AND (achievement OR success OR assessment OR result* OR standard*)

20. Further search syntax • Use the proximity operator NEAR to specify how close two words appear to each other • E.g. NEAR/4 • Search for a phrase by using quote marks • “united kingdom” • Limit your search to particular fields (title, author, abstract, keywords, etc.) • Apply search filters such as date to limit a search

21. Do improved skills in information literacy increase the academic achievement of university students?

22. Example search string • Search 1: information literacy information literacy OR information skills OR search* skills OR bibliographic instruction OR (“user education” AND librar*) • Search 2: academic achievement (academic OR education*) AND (achievement OR success OR assessment OR result* OR standard*) • Search 3: university students (university NEAR/4 student*) OR undergraduate* OR postgraduate* OR graduate* • Final search string: #1 AND #2 AND #3

23. Example search results • 457 Published Works results found in Multiple Databases • 200 ERIC (Education) • 257 LISA (Library and information science)

24. Database thesauri • Keywords (descriptors) are assigned by the database editors from a set of controlled vocabulary (thesaurus) • May also be keywords assigned by the author • A keyword search will look in the keywords field • May also look in the title, abstract and other descriptor fields • Use database thesauri and subject headings to identify new and useful keywords

25. Thesaurus example – ERIC • Academic Achievement • Use for: Academic Performance : Academic Progress : Academic Success : Educational Achievement : Educational Level : Scholastic Achievement : Student Achievement • Narrower terms: Educational Attainment : Student Promotion • Broader terms: Achievement • Related terms: Academic Failure : Instructional Effectiveness • http://search.proquest.com/professional/eric/index

26. Search examples - ERIC

27. Practical exercise 1: search string

28. Part 3: Search tools

29. Access to online resources provided by the Bodleian Libraries • SOLO http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk• OxLIP+ http://oxlip-plus.bodleian.ox.ac.uk• OU E-Journals http://ejournals.bodleian.ox.ac.uk• Libguideshttp://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/• Single Sign On http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/webauth/oxfordusername.xml

30. Cross - searching • OxLIP+ Keyword searching of up to 5 Oxford databases • Limited to certain databases • Retrieval is unwieldy • SOLO Journal Articles Search • Rough and ready • Produces poor results in many cases • Could be used as a “mop-up” search

31. Selecting databases for a literature review Tolan, P., Henry, D., Schoeny, M., Bass, A. & Tolan, P. 2008, "Mentoring interventions to affect juvenile delinquency and associated problems", Campbell Systematic Reviews, vol. 16.

32. Identifying search tools • Ask yourself two questions: • What subject disciplines might be pertinent to my research topic? • Economics, health, public policy, education, anthropology, sociology, geography, etc. • Which information formats might contain relevant research? • Journal articles, discussion and working papers, books, official papers, datasets, websites, newspaper articles, etc. • Next, take a look at the appropriate LibGuides • http://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

33. Major Platforms

34. • Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA)• Dissertations and theses (full-text) • International Bibliography of the Social Sciences• National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) • Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS)• Sociological Abstracts• Worldwide Political Science Abstracts (WPSA)

35. International Bibliography of the Social Scienceshttp://search.proquest.com• Disciplines: anthropology, cultural studies, demography, economics, education, political science, religious studies, sociology, etc.• Broad coverage of international material• Records indexed geographically as well as thematically

36. – Dissertations and Theses • The world’s most comprehensive collection of social science theses• From 1997 onwards over a million full-text theses are available to download • Dissertations from July 1980 onwards include a 350 word abstract• Earlier dissertations offer citation information (dating back to 1637)

37. – IBSS – Search Syntax ageing NEAR/4 population OR declin* NEAR/4 (fertility OR birth) AND (family OR social) AND polic*AND Japan

38. • EconLit• Global Health • Medline• PsycINFO

39. • Abstracts in Social Gerontology • Business Source Complete• Family & Society Studies Worldwide• Historical Abstracts • Philosopher’s Index

40. •AnthropologyPlus• ChicanoDatabase• Francis• Russian Academy of Sciences Bibliographies • WorldCat

41. Primary Sources

42. News • Multi-regional • Nexis UK (BBC Monitoring International Reports under Countries Tab) • Factiva • World News Connection • Foreign Broadcast Information Service • Emerging Markets Information Service • Regional • Nikkei Telecom21(Japanese news and finance) • Russian Central newspapers • Pravda (1912-2009) • China Core Newspapers Database • WiseSearch (China) • Ethnic Newswatch (mainly US, ethnic publications) • Archives • Proquest (New York Times, Guardian, Observer, Washington Post) • Separate Digital Archives available for the Times, FT and Economist • Times of India archive currently available on trial

43. News - comparison of content - example

44. Data and Statistics • Multi-regional • ESDS International • World Bank / UN / IMF • OECD iLibrary • Emerging Markets Information Service • Regional • Indiastat • China Data Online • Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) • Latinobarómetro (via ESDS) • Historical Statistics of the United States • Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research archive (US) • Russian State/CIS Statistical Publications

45. Sources for grey literature • Subject-specific websites, portals and current awareness services e.g. ELDIS and Social Policy Digest • Academic institutions • Governmental and Inter-Governmental Organisations • NGO and campaigning sites • Other access points e.g. SCOPUS, ZETOC, Open SIGLE

46. Lists of IGO’s, NGO’s and Institutes • International Inter-governmental Organization webpage finder inc. UN and its subsidiaries: http://www.libsci.sc.edu/bob/IGOs.htm#UNSUBS • PolicyFILE: research organizations, think tanks, university programmes and NGOs listed: http://www.policyfile.com/organizations/organizations.do • Forced Migration Online (FMO): Lists NGOs and IGOs, (search by country or subject): http://www.forcedmigration.org/research-resources/organizations • CIAO: lists many university research institutes http://www.ciaonet.org/main/wps.html

47. Theses, conferences, reports, etc. • Theses and dissertations • ProQuest Dissertations & Theses / Index to Theses / Ethos / ORA / SOLO • Conference proceedings & working papers • ZETOC (conference proceedings, British Library) • Working papers generally available on institutional websites or subject based repositories such as REPEC (economics papers) • Reports • Oxford Analytica (Regional analysis) • Country Reports (via Business Source Complete) • World Development Reports, World Bank • Etc. Declassified US Govt Docs / Forced Migration Online / Aluka

48. Secondary and Tertiary Sources

49. Full-text e-journals • Major aggregators, e.g. JSTOR • Full-text of over 1000 journals • Moving wall • All major publishers, e.g. SAGE, Wiley, OUP, CUP, Taylor and Francis, Brill • Area journal collections • China Academic Journals (CNKI) / China Online Journals (Wanfang) / Taiwan Electronic Periodical Services / JAIRO: Japanese Institutional Repositories Online / Central and Eastern European Online Library