Electronic Resources for Research in Science WISER Electronic Resources for Research in Science Electronic Resources for Research in Science Juliet Ralph and Kate Williams, Radcliffe Science Library Juliet Ralph and Kate Williams

Aims of today’s session Overview of scientific databases available via Oxlip, our information gateway Search tips Focus on locating full-text articles Featuring new, award-winning science database SCOPUS (developed by Elsevier)

Bibliographic databases Subject specific, eg Medline, Inspec WebSpirs/Electronic Reference Library Web of Knowledge Web of Science covers all subject areas Key feature - Citation searching SCOPUS NEW, on trial at Oxford until September 2006 Science & Social Science

WISER Electronic Resources for Research in Science SCOPUS 14,200 journals 27 million records Conferences included Also searches the web via SCIRUS science search engine Patents searched separately Cited references since 1996 Many links to full text via TOUR button Juliet Ralph and Kate Williams

Content: Scopus Publisher-submitted records 1996- PubMed records 1966- Content from other Elsevier databases*: Embase 1970- - Fluidex 1974- Compendex 1970- - Geobase 1980- World Textile Index 1970- Biobase 1994- *Source: Deis and Goodman, 2005

Scopus: “the broadest source of STM and Social Sciences information” WISER Electronic Resources for Research in Science Scopus: “the broadest source of STM and Social Sciences information” 4,000 publishers 5,900 4,500 2,500 2,700 14,200 Life & Health (100% Medline) Chemistry Physics Engineering Biological Agricultural Environmental Social Sciences Psychology Economics STM & Social Sciences Juliet Ralph and Kate Williams

Today’s search topic The threat of bird flu spreading across Europe. What are the 3 keywords to use in your search?

WISER Electronic Resources for Research in Science Search terms The main concepts to search for: bird flu Europe Choose Specific Search Terms Select specific search terms to narrow your search: Choose search terms which are specific or closely related to the topic you want to retrieve. Include alternative words and abbreviations. Avoid words that are too general, such as cell or behaviour. Juliet Ralph and Kate Williams

WISER Electronic Resources for Research in Science Searching techniques To combine search terms: AND, OR (Boolean connectors) AND to narrow the search OR to broaden the search (British/American spellings, synonyms) Juliet Ralph and Kate Williams

WISER Electronic Resources for Research in Science OR, AND Imagine each circle contains the articles you would find by doing a search. Lilac circle shows what you would find if you searched for the term Genetics. Green circle shows what you would find if you searched for Population Blue circle shows what you would find if you searched for Molecular. Search for Genetics OR Population OR Molecular would find all the results. Genetics AND Population would find the green/lilac overlap Genetics AND molecular would find the lilac/blue overlap Genetics AND Population AND Molecular would find only the triangular bit in the middle NOT will start excluding areas e.g. Genetics NOT Molecular would find all of the lilac area, except for the blue overlap. Juliet Ralph and Kate Williams

Search tips Wildcards Use a question mark (?) to replace a single character E.g. Wom?n finds woman or women Use an asterisk (*) to truncate terms E.g. enzym* for enzyme, enzymes, enzymology etc Search for an exact phrase using double quotes E.g. "oyster toadfish“ will retrieve different results from oyster toadfish

Search string Search terms: Bird OR avian AND flu OR influenza Europe* You will probably find more search terms from retrieved records while searching.