Finding Information for Economics

November 2008

Aims of the session

To help you to:

• Find information relevant to your needs from the Library’s web pages

• Create a search strategy to locate relevant information in library resources

• Make academic use of the Internet

• Know where to go for help

Library Web pages

http://www.dur.ac.uk/library

Search strategies – to widen

• Definitions and synonyms e.g. evidence, information, data, facts, statistics

• Truncation e.g. econom* will find: economy, economic, economical, economist, econometric etc.

• Wildcards e.g. organi?ation

• Combine synonyms with OR to widen search, e.g. (global OR international)

Search strategies – to focus

• Use phrases with “ ” e.g. “International Monetary Fund”

• Combine search terms with AND

e.g. credit crunch AND loans AND UK

• Proximity e.g. EU WITHIN 3 growth

• Advanced search option/ help

Keyword search strategy

AND

OR

loans

UK

Britain

AND

Hous*“Credit crunch”

United Kingdom

Analyse the effects of the UK credit crunch on the housing market

Financ*

mortgages

OR

Estate agen*

Which sources of information will you need for your research?

Library Resources

• Books & E-books

• Journals & e-journals

• Internet pages

• News sources

• Statistics

• Official publications

• Specialist reports

• Organisations/Contacts

• Academics & librarians

Catalogue home page

http://library.dur.ac.uk/

Book References

Bodie, Z. (2008) Investments. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Foster, G. (1994) ‘Briloff and the capital markets’ in Lofthouse, S. (ed.) Readings in investments. Chichester: Wiley, pp. 67-78.

Catalogue search

Journals

• Print and/or electronic versions– Check date coverage for online journals

• Use databases to locate bibliographic information and some full text articles – See online resources or subject pages for

listings– Use ConneXions to check access

Journal reference

Mora, T. and López-Tamayo, J. (2005) ‘Are wages and productivity converging simultaneously in Euro-area countries?’ Applied Economics, 37(17) pp. 2001-2008.

Catalogue search

Database search

Websites

• Why evaluate?– Anyone can be a web author– No controls over what is posted on the web– Very little material is peer-reviewed or edited– Much of the information may be out of date

• Gateways via Subject Information Pages

• Intute for Economics

References and Bibliographies

• ALWAYS keep a full and accurate record of your information sources

• E-mail references for saving from Library catalogue or databases

• Make sure you refer correctly to other authors within your work

• Avoid plagiarism

Where to get help

• Enquiries Desk, Level 2

• On-line enquiry service:

http://www.dur.ac.uk/library/use/enquiries.htm

• Academic Support Team:

Richard Pears

What Happens Next

• From the University home page click on:

Current Student Gateway | Library | Subject information | Economics | Information skills | Level 1 training

• Or go directly to www.dur.ac.uk/library/economics/info_skills/ug1/

• Please fill in the evaluation survey at the bottom of the page