Using Electronic Sources to Find Information

1. Using Electronic Sources to Find Information Kay Grieves Information Services, 2002

2. Outcomes • Identify and evaluate sources of academic information • Identify and select relevant electronic sources • Search the sources to find journals and articles • Find articles from abstracts and references • Customize Science Direct

3. Before You Start ... • Identify what the library has to offer • ExploreInformation Services Homepage • Get a copy of the‘ Guide for researchers…’ • Use thehelp sheets • Understandreferencingsystem ie Harvard • Get thePasswordsyou need

5. Authorship Educational/ employment background? Publishing history? Frequently cited? Recommendation? Publisher date Intended Audience Tone -fact/ opinion/bias Supported by research evidence? Relevance of publication Evaluating Academic Information

6. Finding Academic Information? • Where to find quality academic information? • Internet? • Journals? • Electronic Journals?

7. Internet as an Academic Resource • Excellent for background information but remember: • -no quality control • -authorship and academic authority? • -not always reviewed • -relevance • -information overload !!

9. What are Journals? • Frequently published • Volumes and Issues • Articles, Reviews, Conferences • Different types of journals eg. Academic, trade, general interest etc

10. How to Identify an Academic Journal • Published by accepted academic sources • Written by experts in the field • Original research or experimentation • Peer reviewed before publication • Sources of reference cited

11. Academic Journals at St. Peter’s Library • Library subscribes to academic journals • Stock current and back issues

12. Finding Journals in Stock • Use: • Library Catalogue • Keyword searching • Subject searching • Provide you with dates and class numbers

17. Electronic Journals • Access to many now available through electronic sources eg • DATABASES and ELECTRONIC JOURNALS

18. What are Databases and Electronic Journals? • Searchableelectronic sources of material • Provide references and abstracts to articles and entire full text articles in academic journals • Provide electronic full text versions of academic journals

19. Therefore …. • Using the internet but controlled academic sources

20. DATABASES OF REFERENCES AND ABSTRACTS Bids Inspec Web of Science FULL TEXT SERVICES (E-Journals) Ebsco; Emerald; Ingenta; Nesli; Science Direct Abstracts or Full Text?

21. Reference and Abstract? • Reference - provides bibliographical details • - Author • - Title • - Source • - Volume Issue and Page Numbers • Abstract - provides a summary of the article

23. Electronic version of journal article Full Text?

25. ACCESS ? • ON AND OFF CAMPUS • Electronic Information Network on Information Services homepage • Athens Password and Science Direct log-in

31. To Search for Electronic Versions of Journals • Use Databases and Electronic Journalsto: • Browse full textelectronic versions of journals • Flexible access to journals also in library and access to a wider range of titles

38. To Search for Articles in Journals • Use Databases and Electronic Journalsto: • Search on a given topic • References to articles in journals that may be in stock in the library • … and that although not in the library you will be able to obtain from elsewhere

39. Searching for Articles • Search using keywords

40. Think of key themes Think of keywords and synonyms Grammar and spelling Different Combinations of words and phrases And/or/not Date range Title fields etc. Built in thesauri KEEP A RECORD OF SEARCHES -use save history options Thinking of your Search Strategy

41. Full Text Articles • Some sources will provide you with full text articles • NESLI ( includes Science Direct titles)

46. Abstracts and Full Text • Some sources will find both abstracts and full text articles • Ebsco, Bids Ingenta , Emerald, Science Direct

50. Abstracts and References • Some sources provide abstracts and references • Bids Inspec, Web of Science