Finding Research Literature: What, Where and

Finding Research Literature:
What, Where and How?
Marilyn Coen
CURTIN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology
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Outline
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Library databases – what, where, how?
Journal articles
Creating a search strategy
Try a search
Managing your information
Libguides and other resources
Help
Reference Sources
Theses
Journal
articles
• What is a scholarly journal?
o Published regularly
o Contains a number of articles by different
authors
o Some are “peer-reviewed”
Why use scholarly journal articles?
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Currency
Recent research in specific areas
Authority
Specialised and relevant information
Peer Reviewed/ Scholarly: How do you know?
•Abstract and bibliography
•Credentials of author
•Language - specialized
•Publisher
•Lack of advertisements
Identifiers of a Scholarly journal article
Journal example
Where to find journal articles?
• Library catalogue
»allows article level searching
• Library databases
»Databases A-Z list & LibGuides
What is a database?
• An online resource containing –
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Reference works
Academic journals
Trade magazines
Books
Newspaper articles
Standards, theses, videos, images, industry reports
conference proceedings, law reports…
• May be multi-disciplinary or subject specific
• May be full text, citation only or combination
Which database for me?
• Refer to subject Libguides
• Read the information on the databases A – Z page
• Choose from the list of popular databases on the
databases A – Z page
Searching
Searching Databases
databases
Considerations:
• Think about your topic
• Establish terminology and keywords -use a
Thesaurus!
• Construct a search strategy using keywords
and Boolean Operators (OR, AND, NOT)
• Watch spelling variations (eg colo?r, organi?e)
• Use truncation
Creating a search strategy
Sample topic:
Discuss the role of climate change in natural
disasters
Creating a search strategy
Step 1: Identify keywords/concepts
Step 2: Find alternative terms
Step 3: Combine terms using Boolean Operators
(OR, AND)
Step 4: Other search tips
Creating
Creatingaasearch
searchstrategy
strategy
Step 1: Identify keywords
• climate change
• natural disasters
Creating
Creatingaasearch
searchstrategy
strategy
Step 2: Find alternative terms
climate change = global warming
natural disasters = fires, floods, tsunamis,
earthquakes
Creating
Creatingaasearch
searchstrategy
strategy
Step 3: Combine terms using Boolean
Operators (AND, OR)
climate change OR global warming
AND
natural disasters OR fires OR floods OR
tsunamis OR earthquakes
Creating
Creatingaasearch
searchstrategy
strategy
Step 4: Other search tips
o Truncations (*)- caters for singular and plural
forms of a word, for words that begin with the
same stem/root. Eg work* finds works, worked,
working, worker etc
o Wildcards (?) – caters for spelling variations. Eg
organi?ation finds organisation, organization
o Phrase searching (“ ” ) – searches a word as a
phrase. Eg “heart attack”
Creating a search strategy
Step 4 and final strategy:
“climate change” OR “global warming”
AND
“natural disasters” OR fires OR flood* OR
tsunami* OR earthquake*
Searching
a Database
Database
search
Search ProQuest - demonstration
Refine search results using filters –
o peer-reviewed or scholarly journals
o ‘subject’ – select from drop down list
o limit by location
o limit by date
Evaluating
resources
Refine
and evaluate
resources
Evaluating information/resources:
Using Ulrichsweb
Web of Science/Scopus
Searching
Manage
yourDatabases
information
Keep up-to-date:
• Alerts
• Save searches
• eShelf
• EndNote
Manage your information
EndNote & EndNote Online
• A bibliographical software
• Allows you to store and manage all your
references in one place
• Stores bibliographic records of books,
chapters, journal articles, websites, reports etc
• Automatically generates citations in specific
styles (eg APA 6, Chicago 16, Vancouver)
• To find out more  EndNote LibGuide, attend
an EndNote workshop
Libguides
resources
Libguidesand
and other
other resources
• Humanities specific Libguide –
» Leads to subject guides
» Specific information in your field
• Research support Libguide –
» Help with your literature review
• How to find… Libguide –
» Useful for finding alternative information
resources
Can’t find your resources?
• Inter-library Loans
• Document Delivery
• Reciprocal borrowing
Additional guides to your literature review
• Useful websites for information on writing literature reviews:
Curtin University’s Learning Support Centre –
http://life.curtin.edu.au/learning_support/learning_centre.htm
Other University websites:
http://unimelb.libguides.com/content.php?pid=87165&sid=648279
Use tabs across the top to find relevant information eg searching the literature, critical
reading etc
https://www.uq.edu.au/student-services/literature-review
This includes examples of literature reviews – see links to the right of the page
http://www.rmit.edu.au/library/literaturereview
Again gives some useful hints on writing a successful literature review.
Further help….
• Library skills workshops – bookable from the Library
home page – free workshops on how to use the library
catalogue, search databases, use EndNote etc
http://library.curtin.edu.au/
• Faculty Librarian – Marilyn Coen 9266 4279
M.Coen@curtin.edu.au
• Humanities team – 9266 7209
LibraryHumanities@curtin.edu.au
Thankyou and good luck!