LIBRARY TRAINING: WHERE & HOW TO FIND INFORMATION FOR YOUR PRACTICAL EXPERIMENTS Pavlinka Kovatcheva, UJ Sciences Librarian, APK BIOCHEMISTRY 2 ND YEAR STUDENTS February 2011

PRESENTATION OUTLINE 1.Introduction 2.Biochemistry Subject Portal 3.How Do I?.... Assignment Support -Start with my Research Assignment -Find the Information I need -Evaluate what I have found -Organise my Information -Cite, Reference Sources and avoid Plagiarism -Conclusion

UJ Library Portal (

UJ Sciences Librarian Portal

Biochemistry Subject Portal

Access to Library Resources (via Biochemistry Portal)

RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT SUPPORT; CITING & REFERENCING; SEARCHING & BORROWING MATERIALS

Starting your Research Assignment/Practical  You have been given an Assignment/Practical and you need to searching for information.  Before you do that you need to think about your assignment topic. Why? -Analysing the topic will help you focus your search -It will make you think about issues around the topic -Develop several questions that you plan to answer, because your questions will become topic sentences for your outline

Identify the Key Concepts and Keywords By determining the key concepts and keywords before searching on a topic, you save your time. For example “Buffer”, “Centrifugation”, “Enzyme kinetics”, etc. are experiments you need to do and find information. Read through your Experiments’ instructions for additional keywords/terms You will use these keywords, when searching for information (articles search for example)

Boolean Search Operators  When searching the UJ Library Catalogue, the Databases or the Internet websites, using Boolean Operators helps you broaden or narrow your search and its results. AND narrows your search For example : buffer AND ph meter will retrieve information in which both keywords are used OR broadens your search You will retrieve results in which either word or both appear in the article NOT excludes certain terms Your search results will exclude the term after NOT Phrase Search Use the quotation marks to search for results that contained those words together, rather than search for all instances of each separate word

Searching Techniques Instructions

Finding the Information you need  The information for your assignment can be found in - Books (Open or Reserve Collections) - Journals and journal article (print & electronic) - Dictionaries & Encyclopedias, Handbooks - Internet Resources, etc.  Those resources can be access through the Biochemistry Subject Portal or the Main Library website

Finding Information in Reference Works  For background, basic information consider: - UJ Library catalogue : to search for print general and subject specific encyclopedias, handbooks, and other reference books. - Databases: to search for Online Reference works, such as: Oxford Reference Online, Oxford English Dictionary, Access Science (McGraw), Combined Chemical Dictionary, etc.

Log-in to the Library Resources: PIN

Finding Information in Books  Find books for overview & retrospective information on the Assignment topic For Print Books search the UJ Library Catalogue (UJLink). Recommended books are also placed on the Reserve “Short Loan” Collection (Library Foyer). Used only in the Library for 2h. For Online Books search the Databases (Remote Access, Multiple users) -CRC ENVIROnetBASE Online Books on Biogeography, Ecology, Ecosystems, etc. -My iLibrary Access to ONLINE BOOKS is also available through UJLINK

UJ LINK: Course Reserves for Biochemistry Recommended & Prescribed books on Reserve “Short Loan” Collection (Library Foyer). Used only in the Library for 2h.

UJ LINK: Search for Books with the New DEWEY Classification system

New Classification System for Books: Dewey 540 Chemistry & Allied Sciences

New Classification System for Books: Dewey 570 Life Sciences

New Classification System for Books: Dewey 580 Botanical & 590 Zoological Sciences

New Classification System for Books: Dewey 630 Agriculture

HOW TO FIND SPECIFIC JOURNALS IN PRINT AND ONLINE: : UJLink Search for Print & Electronic Journals per TITLE

HOW TO FIND SPECIFIC JOURNALS IN PRINT AND ONLINE: A-to-Z JOURNAL LIST Search for Online & Print JOURNAL

Journals search: A-to-Z List

A-to-Z Journal Search: Result record

UJLink Journal Search: Result record

Finding Current Information in Online Databases Journal Articles Search  You are required to search for Journal Articles References ( more in-depth information than books; current or latest information on a subject, print or online ) Consider the use of the Online Databases available in the library. For example: -American Chemical Society: ACS (full-text from vol.1) -Royal Society of Chemistry: RSC (full-text from vol. 1) -SciFinder (Bibliographic, 1 user; Password required) -ScienceDirect (full-text articles from 1995+) -SpringerLink (full-text articles from vol.1) -Wiley Online Library (full-text articles from 1997+)

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY: ACS

ACS: Search Results

SciFinder: Chemical Abstracts 1 user; Registration is required

Finding & Evaluating Information on Internet How to evaluate Internet Resources? - Author (person or organisation) Look at the URL for: ac, edu, gov, org… websites - Content (reliable, accurate, objective, the user group) - Layout (functional and practical, etc.) - Date (how recent is the information)

Scholar Google: Academic Articles

Organising & Evaluating Your References/Information Information Overload? Not enough references for the Assignment ?  Plan your Search Strategy (Keywords, Booleans, Databases)  Make sure you keep track of your references (print, save full-text)  Evaluate the sources you have found, paying attention to their relevance, purpose, value, accuracy, and authors’ credibility.  Remember that Internet sources should also be evaluated for bias and inaccuracies, and you should pay attention to whether the sites present facts or opinions.  As you start to create an outline of your project or paper, note areas where you need more information.  Organise your information so you find what you need, when you need it

Don’t forget to Gather Citations for your References (Reference instructions at the end of the Presentation)  As you’re doing research, you should write down bibliographic information (author, title, publisher, date of publication, etc.). This will enable you to be prepared to create a “References” list.  In books, you’ll find this information collected on a “title page,” one of the first few pages.  Online journals print this information at the top/bottom of the page.  Print journals usually have this information on their covers.  Web pages are inconsistent about this information, so ask for help if you have trouble locating it.

SEARCHING TECHNIQUES  SEARCH STRATEGY Understand what is required Identify the concepts Translate the concepts into keywords BOOLEAN OPERATORS ( AND, OR, NOT) TRUNCATION ( * ) WILDCARD CHARACTER ( ? ) PHRASE SEARCH ( “ “ ) USE OF PARENTHESIS ( )

BOOLEAN OPERATORS: AND, OR, NOT  DEFINITIONS OF BOOLEAN OPERATORS  Boolean operators are the words used to group, combine, or intersect terms when searching databases. Boolean operators provide a way to tell a computer how to combine your keywords/ terms. In other words, they refer to the logical relationship among search terms.  The operators used more frequently are AND & OR and not so frequently NOT. They are used to combine search terms to broaden or narrow the results of a search. OR is more, AND is less.

BOOLEAN OPERATOR: AND Using AND tells the database to look for all the words on either side of the AND. Thus, a search for "success AND adult learners AND distance education" would retrieve only records in which every one of the terms appears. The more words you connect with AND, the fewer records the database will retrieve. AND means "I want only documents that contain both words."

BOOLEAN OPERATOR: OR  OR The more terms or concepts we combine in a search with OR logic, the more records we will retrieve.  Using OR tells the database to look for any one of the words on either side of the OR.  Thus, a search for "success OR achievement OR progress OR goals" would retrieve records in which any one of the terms appears.  OR means "I want documents that contain either word; I don't care which word."

BOOLEAN OPERATOR: NOT Although NOT is considered a connector, it probably should be called "The Eliminator." Use it very carefully, as it excludes any terms that follow it. You may end up losing valuable information when you use NOT. NOT logic is used to exclude a particular concept/term. We retrieve only records in which ONLY ONE of the terms is present.

PHRASE SEARCHING (“ ”) Phrase searching, use the quotation marks to search for results that contained those words together, rather than search for all instances of each separate word: “thin layer chromatography” “integrated metabolism” “South Africa”

REFERENCE TECHNIQUES To access full Reference Techniques document, go to the Library main page: Click on: Reference Techniques OR Consult the reference techniques from Your Practical Guide

REFERENCE TECHNIQUES: TERMINOLOGY  Citation : recognizing resources in-text (to support an “argument”/conclusion)  Reference list : List of resources used – bibliographic details  Bibliography : list of relevant documents – used and additional reading material

REFERENCE TECHNIQUES Avoid Plagiarism by :  Keeping a record of all the sources - books, s, lectures (when, who, what?)  Linking own ideas with that obtained from sources  Collecting/using a wide range of sources  Acknowledge, acknowledge, acknowledge!

Basic in-text referencing (citing) In-text reference where the author of the source is known Simply use whatever you used as author in the reference, as well as the year of publication. Always insert the page number where possible. Examples: …the result of this is a “technical super identity” (Erikson, 1967:20). Azar and Martin (1999) found that… (As part of the sentence) …thus Cox (1966:52) refers to the modern urbanite as… In-text reference to more than one source: In-text reference to more than one author should be ordered alphabetically. Examples: More recent studies (Bartlett, 1992; James, 1998) show that… The researchers (Bartlett, 1992:54; Brown, 1876:56; James, 1998:45) refer to…

GENERAL FORMS FOR REFERENCE LISTS Non-periodical Author, A.A. (1994). Title of work. Location: Publisher. Non-periodicals include items published separately: books, reports,brochures, certain monographs, manuals, and audiovisual media. Part of a Non-periodical Author, A.A. & Author, B.B. (1994). Title of chapter. In Title of book. Edited by Editor, A., Editor, B. & Editor, C. Location: Publisher. Periodica l Author, A.A., Author, B.B. & Author, C.C. (1994). Title of article. Title of periodical, xx:xxx-xxxx. (Volume/Issue number/Pages) Periodicals include items published on a regular basis: journals, magazines, scholarly newsletters, etc. Online periodical Author, A.A., Author, B.B. & Author, C.C. (2000). Title of article. Title of periodical, xx:xxx-xxxx. (Volume/Issue number/Pages) Available from: web address (Accessed day Month year). Online document Author, A.A. (2000). Title of work. Available from: web address (Accessed day Month year).

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