Oceanography Global Biogeochemical Systems. The Literature Search. Kevin M. Roddy 21 September 2007

Transcription

1 Oceanography Global Biogeochemical Systems The Literature Search Kevin M. Roddy 21 September 2007

2 Develop your idea first What does your instructor want? Understand your assignment Agree on the level of work required Have a fairly clear research idea or thesis before conducting a literature search. Budget your search and retrieval time to take into account: Reformulating your topic approach Reformulating your thesis statement Choosing a new topic

3 Consult Information Specialists Librarians are UH faculty Many of us have a second MA or PhD in a subject discipline We can help you Refine your thesis statement Select appropriate keywords and phrases to search Find any documents you need at UH or via InterLibrary Loan Hamilton Library Science and Technology Department Contact Sara Rutter -

4 Developing the Research Question / Thesis Statement To narrow your topic focus: Time frame e.g., last five years, decade, millennium, etc. Geographic location e.g., Western Pacific, California coast Process, system, phenomena modeling/sampling, El Nino, coral environments, watersheds, vulcanism Effects of El Nino on coral environments in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands,

5 Thesis example as published paper From Elsevier s ScienceDirect Database

6 Keyword(s) and Subject Search Books are excellent sources of background information on a subject before beginning a periodical literature search Avoid searching single common key words in any database (e.g., ocean, hydrogen, etc.) If you must use common keywords, combine them with unique ones or enclose phrases in quotation marks, e.g., algal bloom and (oxygen or hydrogen) marine ecosystems and Pacific

7 Keyword Subject tandem search Use keyword and subject searching in tandem Keywords can lead you to important items Use Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT and truncation (estuarine or sandy or coastal) and (hawaii or fiji) and sediment* Learn the keywords and phrases of your subject area and any associated synonyms (try a thesaurus (I ll show you one later) Display the full record of the citation, and write down subject headings/descriptors used to describe the item s subject content or follow hyperlinks Redo the search with the new terms

8 Keywords vs. keyword phrase words marine ecosystems - retrieves words anywhere in the record marine ecosystems words must be adjacent Each database search engine may be slightly different The next slide: Hawaii Voyager and keyword search ecosystems

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10 Synonyms and Related terms Find the most precise words you can. For example: Sediments is broad (includes lakes, rivers, and oceans) Marine Sediments is very specific Marine Sediments replaces older terms bottom deposits marine deposits deep-sea deposits Narrower terms for Marine Sediments include Coccoliths estuarine sediments manganese nodules

11 A quick aside The subject term Computers was once Automatic data processors Electronic calculating-machines Electronic brains Expect the technical language of your discipline to change a great deal

12 Library e-books 32,000 + books in full-text available through Hawaii Voyager search: reef madness

13 Journal Articles Publishing turnaround time is shorter Articles focus on very specific research problems Articles often document cutting edge research UH Libraries subscribe to a large variety of periodical literature databases, print and online journals

14 Hamilton Library Web Start at the Hamilton Library Web Books: UH Catalog (Hawaii Voyager) Articles: E-Resources and Databases

15 E-Resources & Databases Journal citation indexes such as: Cambridge Scientific Abstracts Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts Meteorological & Geoastrophysical Abstracts Oceanic Abstracts Full-text journal article indexes ScienceDirect Full-text journals (individual subscriptions) Marine Environmental Research Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin

16 ASFA/MGA/OA Sample Search Use the Thesaurus feature in Advanced Search to find broad, narrow, and related terms Example: Sediments

17 Citation vs. Full-Text databases Citation databases contain bibliographic information Author Article title Article length and pagination Publication date Subject descriptors Abstract summary Full-text databases contain bibliographic information, the complete article in HTML or PDF formats, and References. Not all journals are available online.

18 ScienceDirect A new feature article references often contain hyperlinks Example: ScienceDirect and author search mackenzie f t

19 The 411 on full-text (FT) Yes, we know you all want everything in FT FT expensive to compile and disseminate - For Science Citation Index alone $156,000 annually to access 1980 present Not all scientists agree to publish online The database industry is an industry, so profit is the bottom line

20 If what you want is not online Check Hawaii Voyager to see if UH subscribes to the print journal on library shelves Journals are assigned call numbers and are shelved like books in the stacks Use InterLibrary Loan to request a photocopy of an article from a journal that UH does not have

21 Citation Databases Knowing who cited a paper or report in his/her research can lead you to more relevant information

22 How does Citation Searching work? To find out who has cited the published work of a particular person, use Hamilton Library s ISI s Web of Science - Science Citation Expanded Index Enter surname, and initials: mackenzie f t Covers 1980-present

23 Remote login

24 Citing your Sources Paper readers want to know all source material. It is unethical to use someone else s data, findings, or conclusions without providing citations (plagiarism). Your discipline likely has its own particular citation style for parenthetical referencing and bibliographic citations.

25 Need Professional Help? Remember the information specialists librarians are available to help you at any stage of the research process. Visit Hamilton Library s Science and Technology department Web site: Sara Rutter is the subject specialist for Oceanography

26 My Contact Information Kevin M. Roddy

27 Questions???????????