Research project 29.9.2016 Information searching Kirsi Heino Information specialist

Contents of the lecture Aalto University library services and resources Theory and tricks on information searching Search on SCOPUS database

Library services for you Ask an Information specialist Meet an information specialist

New guides Citation Guide E-book Guide

Aaltodoc publication archive full text materials of Aalto University theses journal articles, conference publications research materials publications have a permanent URN identifier

Scientific communication - a simplification Adapted from Sondergaard, Andersen and Hjorland(2003, s. 289) and Barnes (1985, s. 41) Conference proceedings Integration into the domains knowledge base Indexed in databases Use in text books, etc. Submitting the work into a journal for peer-review Journal articles Use in new articles Start 6m 1y 2y 3y 4y 5y 6y 7y c. 10y

Factors of a successful search Determining of goals, the topic of the search Identifying key concepts related to the topic Choosing of sources (IMPORTANT!) Formulation of the search (selection of search terms and their combinations, limiting options) Analysing results

Truncation, wildcards and phrasing Commands for truncation or masking (wildcards) are often search engine specific. Most common are *,#,? Truncating from the right (e.g.): search: bibliograph* -> results: bibliography, bibliographies Using wildcards (e.g.): search: m#n -> results: man, men. In order to phrase your search one usually needs to add ”-marks around the phrase, e.g. search: traffic management, results: traffic OR management search: ”traffic management”, results: ”traffic management” Ebsco Business source complete - thesaurus

Techniques of search phrases One can use the boolean logic in nearly all of the databases provided by the library A AND B A OR B A NOT B v A B A B A B

Too many search results Use more specific terms Add another concept to make search more specific Search titles or index terms only Limit the search with Language Document type Year Always avoid too generic terms!

Too few search results (or none) too many concepts combined too long a search phrase insufficient truncation wrong terminology typing errors wrong database

Search diary Date Used resources or the source Search words and how they were combined (=search logic) Results (the saved files etc) Evaluation of the results Measures to be taken Other information and comments

Large multidisciplinary reference database (full-text via sfx-link) SCOPUS Large multidisciplinary reference database (full-text via sfx-link) Includes also the amount of citations (=citation trails)