Informatics UG4 2006-7

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info.shtml

How the Library can help with your project

Sarah KellyLiaison Librarian for Informatics

Robertson Library, KBTel.: 50 6474/51 3851

Email: [email protected]


Literature Search• Isn’t it all available online anyway?

– The Internet has made information superficially much easier to access

– Need to verify data – Difference between freely available information

and information made available to you for free (but which the University pays for)

– Quality v quantity


Literature Search• I already know how to find information

online…– More to it than searching the internet– Library can help you find the information you

want more efficiently– A systematic approach can help ensure your

results are more comprehensive


Guide to Resources in Informatics (http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info.shtml)

+ PDF GUIDES

Planning a Search Strategy booklet Undertaking a Literature Review Booklet

(currently written for PGs, may be useful until UG Guide is written)

Science & Engineering Library Guide 2006Keeping up-to-date with new research

Citation Searching



Online Literature Databases• Designed specifically to search for previously

published literature• Keyword searching, and various additional

searching and limiting features• Cited reference searching• Keeping up-to-date with new research

– Personalisation features, search histories, RSS feeds, Blogs, Emails

• Reference Management


Recommended resources to start with….


Inspec (can be cross-searched with Compendex) • Produced by the IET (formerly the IEE), Inspec is a major

database for literature on computer science, artificial intelligence, and related areas. Containing over 8 million records, it indexes over 5,000 journal titles and conferences, as well as books, reports and dissertations, from 1969 to present, and grows by around 400,000 records annually.

Ei Compendex (can be cross-searched with Inspec)• Compendex is a major database for engineering containing

over 9 million record, it indexes over 5,000 journals, conference proceedings and technical reports from 1969 to present. Updated weekly, the database grows by over 500,000 new records annually.


• Web of Science - Science Citation Index - Covers 5,900 of the major journals across all fields of science and engineering, providing a useful source for inter-disciplinary subjects. The "citation search" function in this database allows users to search for an article and then track subsequent literature in which it has been cited.

• Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings - indexes the published literature of the most significant conferences, symposia, seminars, colloquia workshops and conventions in a wide range of disciplines in science and technology.

• Journal Citation Reports - The Science Edition of the JCR draws on citation data from roughly 5,900 international journals in the areas of science and technology, providing a unique resource for journal evaluation, or "journal impact factor".


• Select database: Compendex OR Inspec OR Compendex & Inspec• Boolean: AND (default), OR, NOT and NEAR, or phrase (“”) • Autostemming: On or Off or * (truncation)• Specify search limits at start: author, subject, abstract, document

type, language and date range….OR• Start of broad and refine search using options given OR• Browse indexes: controlled terms, author, title, publisher • Search results: citation, abstract or detailed record • Sort by: relevance or by publication date• Full text: links to EUL catalogue or direct to full-text (where available)• Export results: email, print, download, save to folder, Blog• Automatic notification of new results: email alerts, RSS• Search history: save searches, combine searches


• WoS - Science, Social Science and Arts & Humanities Citation Indexes - Quick, General, Advanced and Cited reference searching

• Search by Topic (subject – title, abstract, keywords), Person (author, cited author or person as subject), or Place (address)

• SAME, NOT, AND, and OR operators, wildcards and brackets/nesting. Default phrase

• Limit by: document type, language and date range• Sort by: Latest date, Times cited, Relevance, First Author and Source

title• Maximum 100,000 results• Summary displays and full record displays • Cited references and number of Times cited• Links to full-text online (findit@edinburgh), EUL catalogue (Holdings)

and Find Related Records• Search history, saved searches, combine searches• Print, save, export to bibliographic software or email marked records


The database isn’t giving me the full-text…• The level of detail given will depend on the database:

– Citation: basic publication details– Abstract: summary of the article– ‘Your library’: functionality to link to and search library

catalogue– Full-text: links directly to full-text

• FT will depend on whether:– We subscribe to the journal online to that year/volume– The DB has the FT functionality– The FT provider allows direct linking from DBs


• Look out for these links, these will take you directly to the full-text from a literature database

• REMEMBER, they are not always available, but this does not necessarily mean the Library cannot provide the full-text

• ALWAYS CHECK THE LIBRARY CATALOGUE….


How to find the information you want using the Library Catalogue

• All Library Holdings (print and online) can be found by searching the Library Catalogue

• The Catalogue allows you to search at the source title level (e.g. journal title), but does not allow you to search at the article level (that is what Literature DBs are for)

• From the details found in the Literature DBs, search the catalogue for the Title of the Journal, Book or Conference (NOT the article title, book chapter, or conference paper ) and check if we have the volume you need


…straight to the full-text• If you are short of time, it may be preferable

to search in one of the full-text journal databases– Upside - guaranteed full-text online – Downside - only searches one publisher, you

have not conducted a comprehensive search and may have missed out on useful articles from other publishers


Full-text databases

Elsevier

Association of Computing Machinery

Springer, including Lecture Notes in Computer Science

Cognitive Science publications from MIT PressIEEE and IET (formerly IEE)


Dissertations/Theses• School of Informatics

– MSc Theses, 2000 - present (ITO)– MSc Theses, pre 2000 (digitisation)– PhD Theses, 2000 - present (ERA)– PhD Theses, pre 2000 (digitisation)

• ERA• Index to theses (GB & Ireland)• Digital Dissertations


Research Reports, Preprints and Postprints

• Keep up to date with new developments before they have been published

• May be pre or post peer-review• Informatics• ERA• External


Remember • Not ALL information can be found on the

internet– Some publications only available in print,

these and other non-Internet sources still useful

– Talking to other people: classmates, tutors….library staff


Books - Print and Online• Print: Finding/Borrowing/Recalling/Renewing

(http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info/print.shtml)

• E-books(http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info/ebooks.shtml)

• Book recommendationsprint (http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/services/librec2sci.cgi)ebook (http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info/ebooks.shtml#newebook)

• Book alerts(http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info/updates.shtml#bookalerts)

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info/print.shtml

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info/ebooks.shtml

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/services/librec2sci.cgi

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info/ebooks.shtml#newebook

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info/updates.shtml#bookalerts


• Other types of resources:• Online books• Online reference material• Exam papers • Internet search tools • News, Newspapers, News Blogs and RSS feeds • Official publications • Standards• Patents • Visual images/Media resources• the key is to use a resource that has been designed

to help you with that particular task

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info/ebooks.shtml

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info/reference.shtml

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info/exampapers.shtml

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/info/internet.shtml


• New resource which cross-searches many, but not all, library resources (including literature and full-text databases)

• May be useful starting point, but remember the native interfaces have more search options and personalisation features

• It is important think about what type of resource you are searching and which fields it searches e.g. you will get different results from your keyword search depending on whether the resource searches at the source title level or whether it searches article title, keywords, abstracts etc.


Off-campus access to resources• Follow links from Library web-

pages• Will be prompted for EASE

username and password• Works both on and off-campus


• Drop in sessions– Every Wednesday– 1pm – 3pm– Seminar Room, Robertson Library– Drop-in service for anyone with a query

on using Library resources• Helpdesk/Service Desks• Floor Guidance Points


Questions?

Thank you and good luck!

Technology

Informatics UG4 2006-7