Bodleian Social Science Library

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

2. PC Log-in Enter your: University Card Barcode Enter your: Library password Default is D.O.B 20AUG1986 NB: logs out after 20 minutes of inactivity If you have not yet set up your Library password: Enter: ssltxxx(where xxx is the number of the PC) and the password S4turn

3. Part 1: The literature review process

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

5. Part 3: Search tools

6. Part 4: Alerts

7. Part 5: Citations and bibliometrics Impact

8. 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.

9. Part 1: The literature review process

10. 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?

11. Primary and Secondary Sources

12. 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.

13. 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

14. 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

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

16. Start with a clear research question

17. Start with a clear research question e.g. What is being done to help prevent AIDS in Zimbabwe?

18. Search method 1: Natural language searching

19. Search method 2: Keyword searching

20. Example - Keywords What is being done to help prevent AIDS in Zimbabwe? Aids Prevent Zimbabwe aids prevent(ion) Zimbabwe hiv intervention human immunodeficiency virus awareness acquired immune education deficiency syndrome

21. Wild card characters • Truncation may be used in a number of ways: • * for right side truncation (e.g. plurals and alternative word endings) • interven* retrieves intervention(s), intervene, intervening • ? for a single character (e.g. alternative spellings) • organi?ation for organisation or organization • $ for one character or zero characters • behavio$r retrieves behavior or behaviour • Check the database online help (the symbols given above are common but not universal)

22. Boolean logic NARROWSSEARCH AND AIDS andZimbabwe BROADENSSEARCH HIV orAIDS OR NARROWSSEARCH NOT prevention not treatment

23. Further search techniques • Use parentheses to group the order in which terms are searched (or use structured search boxes) • Use the proximity operator NEAR to specify how close two words appear to each other • E.g. University NEAR/4 students • 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

24. Example – Keyword search string • Aids prevention in Zimbabwe • Search 1 = hiv OR “human immunodeficiency virus” OR aids OR “acquired immune deficiency syndrome” • Search 2 = prevent* OR interven* OR aware* OR educat* • Search 3 = Zimbabwe • Search 4 = #1 AND #2 AND #3 • Demo - SCOPUS http://www.scopus.com/home.url

25. Search method 3: Database thesauri • Use database thesauri and subject headings to identify new and useful search terms • Terms are assigned by the database editors from a set of controlled vocabulary (thesaurus) • May also be keywords assigned by the author • Broader - brings together synonyms / related terms under one heading (sensitivity) • More focused - looks for articles about your topic, not just with your words in the article (specificity)

26. Higher Education • College • Higher education • University • Tertiary • education HE HEI thesaurus term = “Higher education”

27. 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 • Broader terms: Achievement • Related terms: Academic Failure : Instructional Effectiveness • http://search.proquest.com/professional/eric/index

28. Search examples - ERIC

29. Search method 4: 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

30. A note about searching for authors • Use truncation to find all forms of an author’s name • To find articles by J.R.W. Yates search for yates j* • For common names, truncation may not be appropriate – try entering the initials instead • yatesjrw or yates j r w depending on the database • Compound names may be fused together or separated – punctuation may be replaced with a space • To find articles by M. D’Angelo search for d’angelo m* OR dangelo m* OR d angelo m* • Database tools can help you identify authors • Author index • Author search (SCOPUS) / Author finder (Web of Science) for including information about their subject and institution

31. Part 3: Search tools

32. 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 Sign into Nexus Email or SOLO My Account and use browser session to access e-journals and OxLIP+ databases from outside the Oxford network

33. Google Scholar Library Links

34. 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.

35. 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

36. Major Platforms

37. • Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts • Dissertations and theses (full-text)• British Education Index (N.B. Proquest Professional)• ERIC (Education)• International Bibliography of the Social Sciences• Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts • National Criminal Justice Reference Service • Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS)• Sociological Abstracts• Worldwide Political Science Abstracts (WPSA)

38. 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

39. – 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)

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

41. • EconLit• Global Health • Medline• PsycINFO

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

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

44. Primary Sources

45. 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, Daily Mirror and Economist • Times of India archive

46. News - comparison of content - example

47. 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

48. 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

49. 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

50. 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