JUMPSTART YOUR DISSERTATION TIME SAVING METHODS FOR SEARCHING AND CITING
Presenters Danianne Mizzy, Engineering Librarian Song Yu, Chemistry Librarian
Outline Literature Review Searching –Digital Dissertations –Web of Science –PubMed Citing using EndNote Q&A
Literature Review Overview of significant literature published on your topic. –To establish novelty of your topic/approach –To identify information and ideas that may be relevant to your project –To identify methods that could be relevant to your project –To avoid reinventing the wheel
Literature Search Finding materials relevant to the subject being explored For a dissertation –Should be comprehensive and exhaustive –Requires knowledge of all relevant sources
Literature Output Using bibliographic management software to import, organize and output your library of citations –EndNote –RefWorks –Zotero [Firefox] –Papers [Macs]
Informal Communication Early Communication of Research To Colleagues, Department, Other Researchers –Oral, , blogs, wikis –Preprints/technical reports
Formal Communication Via Publication Theses/Dissertations Conference Proceedings Journal Articles Books Handbooks/Textbooks/Encyclopedias Patents
Where to find Theses and Dissertations –CLIO (for Columbia dissertations) –Digital Dissertations (includes Columbia) –NDLTD (Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations ) –Other open access sources
Where to find Conference Papers and Journal Articles Multidisciplinary databases –Web of Science (ISI Citation Indexes) –Scopus –JSTOR –GoogleScholar (
Where to find Conference Papers and Journal Articles Discipline Specific [Science] –Chemistry –SciFinder Scholar –Computing - ACM Digital Library –Engineering- Compendex –Medicine - PubMed –Physics – INSPEC … and many more
Where to find Books (Handbooks, Encyclopedias, etc) CLIO, Columbia’s Library Catalog Libraries beyond Columbia –WorldCat (use BorrowDirect or Interlibrary Loan for requests) Google Book Search, Amazon Ebook Collections
Digital Dissertations Citations for more than 2.5 million doctoral dissertations and master’s theses 1861 to the present (master’s theses from 1962) Over 1,000 North American graduate schools and European universities represented Dates of coverage – citations only – citations and abstracts –1997-present 24-page preview and full-text available; registration required to download full-text
Digital Dissertations Searchable by author, title, institution, etc Author keywords or broad subjects Alerts
Digital Dissertations Export Export directly to ProCite, EndNote or Reference Manager [In EndNote Dialog Box] Select a Reference Library
Web of Science Science Citation Index Expanded 1899-present; 8,060 major journals Social Sciences Citation Index 1956-present; 2,697 journals + selected Arts & Humanities Citation Index 1975-present; 1,470 journals + selected
Web of Science Searchable by topic, author, title, etc. Can set up Alerts –Must register –From Search History
Web of Science Save to EndNote –From Results list –From Marked List Can select fields to include like references
PubMed Bibliographic information for life sciences literature from journals, books, web pages NCBI and NLM Free to everyone
PubMed Limit your search by –Article type –Species –Ages, etc. MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) –Controlled vocabulary –Caution! Not all citations have MeSH terms Alerts
PubMed Export/Import to EndNote –From PubMed From Send to, select File. Select MEDLINE from the Format menu. Save it to your computer (.txt file) –From EndNote File Import Find your file Import Option: Find the filter: PubMed (NLM)
Citing References Before you start –GSAS Dissertation Office Dates and deadlines Formatting guidelines Style –EndNote Find and remove duplicate citations How many libraries should I have in EndNote? –ONE! –Use Groups
EndNote – Find Full Text Edit Preferences OpenURL Path: Highlight Citations Right Click Find Full Text
Cite While You Write (CWYW) Using EndNote in Microsoft Word Start –With/without template –EndNote tool bar
Why spend a day in the library when you can learn the same thing by working in the laboratory for a month? --FH Westheimer
Summary Literature review –Know the types of publications in your area –Search in general and subject specific databases –Use various resources Work with information sources –Coverage, unique features –Search methods –Keep up with the new literature
Summary (continued) Work with bibliographic software Searching –Import citations from different sources –Organize your citations Writing –Using template –Insert citations
Questions? Dissertations Guide science/dissertations.htmlhttp:// science/dissertations.html Linked from Engineering Library Homepage
Contact Us Danianne Mizzy –422 Mudd – Song Yu –422 Mudd –