1 / 67

Individual Projects Effective literature searching

Individual Projects Effective literature searching. Aeronautics & Astronautics, Mechanical Engineering and Ship Science Michael Whitton June 2013. What to get out of this session. After this session you should know: The best resources to use for your project

ziya
Download Presentation

Individual Projects Effective literature searching

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Individual Projects Effective literature searching Aeronautics & Astronautics, Mechanical Engineering and Ship Science Michael WhittonJune 2013

  2. What to get out of this session After this session you should know: • The best resources to use for your project • Some techniques for searching them effectively • How to trace references • What is required for the assignment

  3. Changes in the e-Library during the summer …. • Changes in the Library Website • A lot of the same content but many links may break • New Discovery Service (name TBA) • An effective ‘quick and easy’ search of our resources • I will post key links and updates to Blackboard IP Modules

  4. Resources (1)

  5. The best sources aren’t free • The key research is published in academic journals, conferences, etc. • The university pays for a number of subscription-only databases which allow you to search for this material • For the key ones relevant to you see your subject page

  6. Resources: Library Catalogues • UoS library - Webcat • Books, conferences, UoS PhD theses • Journal/conference titles – but NOT details of individual articles • Some research books, not just student texts • Will find books on software packages (Matlab, Python, etc.)

  7. Resources: Library Catalogues (cont.) • Other Catalogues • COPAC (major UK research libraries) • Catalogues of other universities, etc. • Helpful if you need a book and we don’t have anything • Can find what books exist on a topic • Can request via Inter-Library-Loans

  8. Resources: Databases & Indexes • Compendex, Inspec, Web of Science • Search very broadly for journal articles, conference papers, etc. • Quality information, up-to-date, specific • Reference citation not full text (often linking features) • Includes journals we don’t buy

  9. Resources: Full Text Sources • Similar quality to Databases & Indexes • Always get the full article – but are limited to one publisher • IEEE Xplore (all IEEE and IET) • ACM Digital Library • Scirus (Elsevier/Science Direct and various free sources) • New Library Discovery service (by start of next term)

  10. Resources: the Web • Google, etc. • Useful for finding free content • No quality controls, need to evaluate • Scientific versions (Google Scholar) more focused on research material • Search Compendex, etc., as well to avoid missing out on important articles

  11. Resources: the Web (cont.) • Web Gateways • Specialist search engines • Real people choose websites and write summaries • E.g. • AERADE, iCrank, Naval Technology • See subject pages

  12. Resources: Technical Information • Patents • Standards • British Standards Online (BS / some ISO, IEC, etc.) • IEEEXplore • Engineering Sciences Data Unit (ESDU) • Engineering methods / data

  13. Institution of Mechanical Engineers • Have a library and e-resources for members (free for students) • Good Historical Collection • Access to Compendex pre 1970 (email them your search, etc.) • Good collection of non-UK Standards (ASTM, etc.) in print • Useful after graduation (if you have limited journals etc. available via employer etc.)

  14. Database searching (2)

  15. Mark, Export, Record • Many databases have a ‘marked record’ facility or similar • Useful articles get added to a marked/selected records area • Then you can print out or e-mail to yourself a list of these articles • Or you can export to Reference Managing software like Endnote

  16. Routes to full text • Database full text links • Sometimes links to journals we don’t buy • TDNet links (from database or library web pages) • doesn’t have all print journals • If the above do not exist or don’t work always …

  17. Routes to full text (cont.) • Search WebCat • Journal articles by the journal title (use full title not abbreviations) • Conference papers by the conference title • Reports: try author and title (may need to search by organisation name) • There may be an automatic link

  18. Exceptions • Items not on Webcat & TDNet • Patents & standards • Free online: NASA Technical Reports; Organisations eprint servers • Items not in UoS Libraries • Inter Library Loan (ILL)

  19. TDNet link

  20. Following full text link through TDNet

  21. If there is no (online) full text follow the Catalog link if present (only appears for print titles on TDNet)

  22. 1st Break Search a Engineering Village and other resources for your project topic

  23. Search Strategy (3)

  24. Searching – the basics • Start simple – with a few keywords • Look at the results – do you need: • More relevance (more specific search) • More results (broaden search) • More manageable numbers – restrict in some other way (e.g. by date) • Aim for about 50-150 results

  25. Search Strategy • Identify the concepts of your query • Fuel cell, electric, cars • List alternative phrases and keywords • Fuel cells > batteries • Electric > hybrid • Cars > automobile

  26. Boolean Logic a And b • Finds articles with both terms anywhere in the title, abstract, etc. • E.g. Traffic And congestion a b

  27. Boolean Logic a Or b • Finds articles with either term anywhere. • Use to allow for alternatives • E.g. airplane Or aeroplane a b

  28. Boolean Logic a Not b • Finds articles with the first term that do not contain the second term. • Use with caution to eliminate non-relevant material • E.g. radiation Notsolar a b

  29. Example searches – using and/or • Types of fuel cells used in electric cars • 17 results • “Fuel cells” and electric and cars • 81 results • (“Fuel cells”or batteries)and(hybrid or electric)and(cars or automobile) • 675 results [done in Web of Science 1970-2013]

  30. Truncation • Replaces any number of characters. • Sometimes works in the middle of a word. • Normally *symbol, $in webcat • Aero*will find: • Aeroplane • Aeroplanes • Aerospace

  31. Wildcards • Replace a single character. • Often can also represent zero characters. • Normally ?Symbol, $ in Web of Knowledge • Engine?will find both Engine and Engines but not engineering • Colo?rwill find both Colour and Color

  32. Example searches – Truncation/wildcards • (“Fuel cells”or batteries)and(hybrid orelectric)and(cars or automobile) • 675 results • (“Fuel cell*”or batter*)and( hybrid orelectric)and(car$orautomobile*) • 849 results [done in Web of Science 1970-2012]

  33. Example searches – WebCat • ocean wave model • 38 results • ocean$ wave? model$ • 217 results • (Remember - truncation is $not *)

  34. Phrase Searching • If you need an exact phrase use quotation marks (“ ”) • e.g. “Solar Cells” • This makes the search more specific (finds less articles) • Truncation and stemming don’t always work in quotes • In WebCat – use single quotes (‘ ’)

  35. Access to Resources (4)

  36. Access - on campus • Generally no passwords are needed • A few need your Institutional (email) username & password • A handful have special usernames/passwords • If you have problems • For journals check our access on TDNet • For other resources use links on the library website

  37. Access – off campus • For many resources Institutional Login is an option • VPN will give you the same access as on campus • Some TDNet functions do not work off campus without VPN

  38. Look for ‘Institutional Login’, ‘UK Federation’ or ‘Shibboleth’ links

  39. You often need to select the UK (or UK Federation) Then find ‘University of Southampton’ (If you can’t find us look for Southampton University)

  40. VPN • Virtual Private Network • Link to University network • When connected your computer appears to be ‘on campus’ • Managed by iSolutions. Instructions on iSolutions web pages at: www.southampton.ac.uk/isolutions/computing/net/vpn/

  41. Setup instructions

  42. 2nd Break Use search techniques to improve your database results

  43. The Assignment (5)

  44. The Assignment • Quiz in Blackboard • Available 3rd June – 23rd June • Answers & feedback on 24th June • 13-14 Individual Project • SESA3011 / SESM3013 / SESS3015 • The Quiz is compulsory!

  45. The Assignment • Your literature search will be marked • As part of the preliminary report. • Discuss with your supervisor.

  46. Referencing • For your project you will probably use Harvard (Author/Date) or IEEE (numbered) styles. • Lots of guidance at: www.soton.ac.uk/library/infoskills/references • Check with your supervisor which style, and any specific guidance. • Be consistent!

  47. Advanced features (6)

  48. WOK: Citation search • Citation links are useful • to track further related research • also for articles found in Compendexetc. • Citation searching is also possible • Find out what an Author has written and who has cited each paper

  49. Web of Science has a useful citation linking feature Click here to see all citing articles

  50. These articles both cite the ‘parent’ article

More Related