Online Searching

1. Online Searching For professional or academic purposes L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

2. Structure of the module • First day: Academic databases • Characteristics of academic databases • Demonstration of search process and information retrieval • Case study • Second day: Academic search engines • Presentation of results of case study • Academic databases: • Google Scholar • Scirus • Live L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

3. Academic Databases - I • Content specializations • Humanities and Social Sciences • Science and technology • Multidisciplinary • Context • At the heart of the cyclical process of academic research and publishing • Document typology. References or full text of: • Journal articles of peer review journals • Reports, books, patents and theses, etc. • Users: • Researchers (Universities) and engineers and developers (Corporations) • University students and professors • In general: authors of academic journal articles, reports or books • Access: • Not free. In fact they are extremely expensive • Access only by subscription or by pay per view (pay per document) • Only subscribed to by universities or corporations (not by private persons ) L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

4. Academic Databases - II Main protagonists: • Scientific publishers of journals or books: • Elsevier • Springer … • Independent producers: • Universities • Private companies … • Distributors of tens or hundreds of different databases: • Ebsco • Dialog … • Authors: • Researchers and developers • University students and professors • Authors of journal articles or books • So… authors are both users and contributors L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

5. The Process of knowledge production L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

6. The Peer Review Journals • The most respected kind of scientific journals and the typical content of the academic databases • Process: • Author submits their papers to a peer review journal. • The journal asks the opinion of at least,two experts in the field. • If approved, and only if approved, by the experts, the article will be published, probably with corrections and additions suggested by the experts. • The whole process is anonymous: the author is unaware of the identity of the referees (evaluators) and vice versa. L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

7. The Search Process • Identification of the information need of the user and the keywords that express the main concepts of the information need. • Occasionally, identification of the proper names (persons, corporations, countries, etc.). • Identification and selection of the most suitable database. • Selection and execution of the query (basic or advanced search). • Review of the references in the database results page. • Occasionally, refinement of the query and obtaining new keywords to repeat the process. L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

8. Main interdisciplinary international databases • ISI Web of Knowledge: the most influential database in the world. Provides access to tens of thousands of the most important international journals (Thomson). • Science Direct: the database of the most important scientific publisher of the world. Access to one thousand two hundred journals (Elsevier). • Wiley Interscience: the database of one the most important scientific books and journals publisher (Wiley). L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

9. International databases by specialization • Computers (but related with Art, Society and Humanities) • ACM • Technology and computer engineering • IEEE Xplore • Humanities • Humanities Index • Arts and Humanities Citation Index • Social Sciences • JStor L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

10. And in Spain… • Multidisciplinary: • CSIC: The most influential in Spain and one of the most important in Spanish speaking countries. Provides access to all peer review Spanish journals. • Other databases by specialization: • News: EfeData and MyNews Online • Law: Aranzadi L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

11. To access databases in UPF • To access academic databases via UPF: • www.upf.edu > Library > Databases > Alphabetic list: • Example: • www.upf.edy > Library > Databases > Alphabetic list > A > ACM Digital Library L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

12. Off Campus L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

13. Off Campus (II) L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

14. Database List L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

15. ACM Digital Library L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

16. Exercise: Case Study - I • Select a set of keywords • Select a database • Make tests with the set of keywords in selected database • Write a report about the database with this the elements indicated in next slides L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

17. Exercise: Report content • Database name • Content description: topics covered by the database and typology of documents (journal articles, books, proceedings, patents, etc.) Tip: See the help page, or the about us page, etc. • Main search facilities (only a list of the two or three main options). • Possible relevance of the database content in relation to the student topic of interest: is the content relevant, is the information up to date, is there enough information about the topic?, etc. • Subjective user satisfaction: does the database have friendly user interface? are the search and navigation options understandable? is the overall system usable?, etc. • Annexes: • The list of the keywords used by the students to test the database. • One screenshot of the search page of the database. • One screenshot of the database results page after a search with one of the keywords of the student list. L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master