Information Skills for first year Geographers Sue Bird Bodleian Subject Specialist Librarian Geography October 2010

Today’s session  Using tools:  SOLO / OLIS  Oxford e-journals  OxLIP+  Finding items on reading lists  Citation and plagiarism  Subject searching  Reference books  SCOPUS  WoK

SOLO  Searches the library catalogue OLIS and e-journals, etc.  Use it as a starting point for all searches  Links from many web pages including libraries home page  Or go direct to

Search for a book  Carolyn Merchant (2004) Reinventing Eden: Routledge

Search for a periodical  Amin A and N Thrift (2005) 'What's Left: Just the Future', Antipode: a radical journal of Geography, 37, 2,

Amin A and N Thrift (2005) 'What's Left: Just the Future', Antipode: a radical journal of Geography, 37, 2,

Reading List Tips  What you need to look up in the catalogue should be indicated somehow  Italics or underlining (Antipode, Global geomorphology )  Remember that explanatory text could be inserted between the elements of the reference (c.f. Dr. Currah’s list last week)

Book?, Chapter?, Article? - TIPS  Books – Year only  Chapters – Use the word “IN”  Articles- Many more numbers for volume, part (or issue), pages.

Tutors are not infallible Errors will creep in: BEWARE: Misspellings & typos e.g. Pomerantz(2009) Theory, Culture & Society 26 July-August, 9-10, Correct: Pomeranz Theory, Culture & Society 26, 7-8,

Exercises  Try exercise 1 ing/biosciences

Citation and Plagiarism  Note the statement on the OUCE web site:  Avoid trouble by getting into good habits now – always record your source, and the date you found it  Learn to cite references in a standard way – e.g. the Harvard system  Useful guide available in Blackwells £1  Software is available to manage references – e.g. RefWorks, EndNote

Reference works  If you wanted to find a general introduction to the topic of Gaia, where might you look?  Or give a definition of S.I. units

Subject Searching  To find information about a topic, rather than a specific reference, use a database that indexes articles – e.g.:  SCOPUS  Web of Knowledge (WoK) / Web of Science (WoS)  Online reference books and newspapers are good for finding facts and biographies

Suggested Essay Topic  Find some articles to illustrate important episodes in the history of geomorphology.  Which have been the most influential?

SCOPUS  Includes data from GEOBASE - The bibliographic database for the Earth, Geographical and Ecological Sciences

Export

Web of Knowledge  Similar but not the same  Also known as Web of Science

Are there any other sources ?  Well there is Google Scholar  Rough & ready  Can’t order your search  Can’t amend or refine your search  Remember it is a Search Engine not a database – no human is involved

Exercise 2 Now try these:  1. Find some articles on the drying up or desertification of the Aral Sea  2. Find a reference to a book review of David Harvey’s book “Spaces of Hope”

Biographical Resources  You have been asked to give the vote of thanks to Ron Johnston who is coming to speak to the Herbertson Society. Where might you start to look for information about him? What hobby does he have outside his geographical interests?

Reading a Reading List  This presentation will be available at  More useful links from the subject page (There is also a link from within S.o.G.E. Intranet)

You can always ask a librarian Good luck with your Studies