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literature searching. Geography 3442: Geographies of Development Courtney Waugh, Geography Librarian September 2013. Overview. Library course guide Hands-on-searching Review of search strategies & Discussion of Resources Finding grey literature Citing sources. Program Guide.
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literature searching Geography 3442: Geographies of Development Courtney Waugh, Geography Librarian September 2013
Overview • Library course guide • Hands-on-searching • Review of search strategies & Discussion of Resources • Finding grey literature • Citing sources
Smack Down: 5 minutes • Group 1: Summon • Group 2: Library Catalogue • Conduct a search that retrieves relevant results on your assigned topic • Record your search strategy • Number and usefulness of results?
Nutshell Comparison • Library Catalogue • Books, e-books, journal titles, media • Must use separate library databases to search for journal articles, and other scholarly resources • Summon • What’s in the catalogue plus journal articles, newspaper, conference proceedings, dissertations, etc... • Quick discovery of information Some information relevant to your topic is not findable in either of these...
Academic articles Pros Cons Authoritative In-depth Analysis, interpretation, makes sense of stats Peer-reviewed More timely than books Less timely than news Tricky to find* Tricky to read*
Finding academic articles • …using journal article databases: • Geobase • PAIS International (Public Affairs Info Services) • Academic Search Complete • Others as necessary... • Questions: • What’s in it? • Helpful search features? Any disadvantages? • Did you find something useful?
Using search tools • Similar strategies, similar features; many different applications: • Library catalogue • Geobase • PAIS International • JSTOR • Eldis • Academic Search complete
Search tips Identify key concepts Think of synonyms, alternate words/phrases (i.e. keywords) “Latin America” Poverty “Millennium Development Goals” Chile Argentina El Salvador “poverty reduction” “poverty eradication” “millennium development goal*” MDG MDGs
For your own topic Construct a logical search strategy (“Latin America” OR Chile OR Peru OR “El Salvador”) AND (poverty OR “poverty reduction” OR “poverty eradication”) AND ( “Millennium Development Goal*” OR MDG*)
Group Exercise – 10 minutes • From Program Page – select assigned database • Conduct a search for your assigned topic • Record your search strategy • Find between 2-5 relevant resources • What kind of documents did you find? • Are they relevant to your topic? • Would you use these for your assignment?
Search Strategy Debrief • What was your search strategy? • What words or phrases did you search? • How did you put them together? • Can you think of any other relevant terms that you could include in your search?
Discussion • Group 1: Geobase • Group 2: PAIS • Group 3: Academic Search Complete • Group 4: JSTOR • Group 5: Eldis
Geobase • What’s in it? • Geography & related subjects • Journal articles, monograph chapters, conference articles • Search bells & whistles? • Geographic terms • Controlled vocabulary
PAIS International • What’s in it? • Public Affairs Information • Articles, features, books, websites, government & official documents, news, book chapters • Search bells & whistles? • Apply subject limits on search
Academic Search Complete • What’s in it? • Inter-disciplinary information • Academic journals, magazines, • Search bells & whistles? • Search Limits: Geography, Doc Type
Evaluating your sources • Is the article you found any good? • How do you know?
Evaluating sources: CRAAP test* • Currency: Is it up-to-date? • Relevance [after next slide] • Authority: Who wrote it? [next slide] • Accuracy: Can you verify it? • Purpose: Why was it written? Bias? *see link to video tutorial on library course page
Relevance • Where (i.e. in what journal) was it published? • (How) Does it relate to your topic? • Read book table of contents • Read article abstract/description • Skim the article
Grey literature • What is it? • Government, IGO and NGO information sources • Data, reports & more • Why would you use it? • Up-to-date • Provides details not covered elsewhere • Where can you find it? • Eldis Gateway to Development Information • Many other places (see library course page and assignment description)
Eldis • What’s in it? • Development, policy, practice and research • Full text docs, resource guides, country profiles, • Helpful Search features? • Refine by categories
E-books & Other Full-Text • IMF e-Library • OECD iLibrary • AccessUN • World Bank Data & Resources
Things to Remember • Library course guide • Same basic toolset, usable anywhere • Choose search engines according to your topic • How to read an article • Cite your sources