Middlesex University Learning Resources Information Skills

Before I start with the Lecture Name: Dr Elke Duncker Office: TG17 Extension: 4261 Office Hours: Wed 12 to 14 hrs Taking over temporarily

Information Seeking and Information Literacy

Information Skills When looking for information, you need to think about the following:  What do I need to find out?  Why do I need this information?  When do I need the information by?  How am I going to find the information?  Where am I going to find the information?  Who created this information i.e. how do I know if it is relevant and trustworthy?

What do I need to find? Which type of information do I need to find? Facts Figures (statistics) Images Theories Case studies Projects Reviews, Reports, etc

Why do I need this information? To provide me with background knowledge To answer a question To get new ideas To understand a topic To substantiate a theory To support a hypothesis To prepare me for a seminar or discussion To write an essay

When do I need the information? Before a deadline date, before I can begin to write an essay and/or begin a discussion (verbal or written) Therefore – you need to think about how long it will take you to get hold of this information – e.g. time to go to the library, order material from other libraries, purchase material, learn how to use databases etc.

How am I going to find the information? It is useful to start by understanding your subject – Wikipedia, Google, Google scholar, dictionaries, etc Gather possible search terms Begin with the general and work your way to the specific

Using the Internet The Internet is a useful starting point when you want to obtain information on any subject. Some search engines are recommended for specific needs. Free online resources such as Wikipedia, online journals, subject specific web pages can also be useful.

A Word about Wikipedia Google Scholar Google Use to understand, but do not use as reference or citation in your coursework

Wikipedia

How good is the information? Wikpedia – Everybody can contribute to Wikipedia – The audience, i.e. the users correct mistakes – Contributors are known – Does not have to be correct, but can be better than some textbooks, because of its collaborative nature (advantage) Disadvantage: Tug of war between different schools of thought – Controlled by Wikipedia Project

Google

How good is the information? Google – Everybody can put up any information – One does not always know who the author is – Does not have to be correct (there is a lot of misinformation out there) – No control over content

Google Scholar

How good is the information? Google Scholar – Searches indexed sources including many of the databases available via MDX – Comes up with publications some of which do not comply with academic standards – Controlled by Google (and not by academia) – Publications listed show Citation index (useful as impact measure) PDF full text access in many cases (easy access)

Search Terms Begin with the General and work your way to the Specific e.g. Green Computing Manufacture Environmental Design Considerations Carbon Footprint

Working Practice Green Computing Manufacture Flexible Working Home Working Operations Disposal Reuse Recycle Ethical Considerations Subcontractors Environmental Design Considerations New Technologies Materials Carbon Footprint Energy Efficiency Subcontractors Standards Mobile Networking Technology Wi-Fi Data Centres Environmental Impact Energy Consumption Installation Workplace Standards

Use Several Search Terms Increase the number of search terms to narrow the search Decrease the number of search terms to broaden the search

Where am I going to find the information? To find information resources available for your research, go to the Library and It support page Here you can access the following key resources which provide information & support for your studies: – The Library Catalogue The Library Catalogue – Subject Resources Subject Resources – Journals and Electronic Resources Journals and Electronic Resources – Summon (federated search) Summon (federated search)

Start at

Library and IT Support Page

Four types of Search Tools Summon – search across electronic databases Library catalogue – search books and other publications available through MDX library Journals and e-resources Subject resources

How good is the information? All publication found via – Library catalogue – Summon – Electronic bibliographic databases provided by MDX library – Subject guides – E-books and e-journals provided by MDX library Are academically sound Have been written by academics Have been peer-reviewed by other academics Information usually very good, but can still be mistaken

Summon Searches across all databases Recommends the most relevant databases Finds the most relevant publications as well Does not search all types of academic texts Always also search IEEE explore and ACM digital library no matter what Summon says

Summon Home Page

Summon Search Page

Summon – Results

The Library Catalogue Good for finding – paper copies and electronic copies of books, CDs, DVDs and academic journals General keyword – Searches all fields Journal keyword – Only searches Journal titles – Cannot search inside journals, but… – It provides a link to the Website of the journal, where you can search for topics inside the journal

Library Catalogue Link

Library Catalogue General Keyword Searches almost all fields – Author name – Subject Keywords – Title of publications – Does not seem to search journal title field

General Keyword

Search Results Listed

Hyperlinks Details of the Book

Journal Keyword Searches for Journal titles with the search terms

Changing to Journal Keyword

Search Results Listed

Hyperlink to Journal Access The Journal in the Library Catalogue

The Journal Web Page

Library and IT Support Page

Journals and E-Resources Collection of a variety of resources – Alternative access route to journals – E-books – E-journals – Databases – Newspapers – Research Repository (publications of MDX researchers)

E-books

E-books Resources

E-Books at Morgan and Claypool All e-books are also in the library catalogue

Databases Short for Bibliographic Online Databases

A for ACM digital library

ACM Digital Library Only ACM publications are accessible as full-text. Other publications are accessible as full-texts via other databases.

I for IEEE explore

IEEE explore search engine

IEEE explore Results Page

Publication Page

Download Citation

Downloaded Citation Sohaib, O.; Khan, K.;, "Integrating usability engineering and agile software development: A literature review," Computer Design and Applications (ICCDA), 2010 International Conference on, vol.2, no., pp.V2-32-V2-38, June 2010 doi: /ICCDA URL: c.uk/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber= &isnumber= http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.ezproxy.mdx.a c.uk/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber= &isnumber=

Access Full-Text

Full-Text

Save Full-Text

Other online databases Computer Scource, which is part of the EBSCO database Lecture Notes in Computer Science (springer)

Computer Source Computer Source aims to provide the latest information and current trends in high technology. This database offers full text for around 300 publications (in some cases back as far as 1985), plus indexing and abstracts for around 450 publications. Topics covered include computer science, programming, artificial intelligence, cybernetics, information systems, robotics, and software.Computer Source

Lecture Notes in Computer Science Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) is a series of computer science books that has been published by Springer since LNCS reports research results in computer science, especially in the form of proceedings, post-proceedings and research monographs. Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNAI) and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics (LNBI) are two sub-series of LNCS.

LNCS

Other useful Databases Other useful databases include: The Web of Knowledge (this includes the Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP) and the Science Citation Index )and Business Source Complete.Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP)Science Citation IndexBusiness Source Complete Also consider databases in other subject areas For example, the Design and Applied Arts Index can be useful for finding information on games design and digital interactive design.Design and Applied Arts Index

Library and IT Support Page

Subject Guides Provide information on the resources available in different subject areas Provide all kinds of other information related to publications and library use Useful if you don’t know which resources to access Useful if you don’t know how to…

Library Subjects

Subject Guide EIS

Subject Guide EIS: Resources

Subject Guide EIS: Information Skills

Subject Guide EIS: Referencing and Citation Rules

Referencing You must reference all materials that you use with a short reference in the text You must provide a list of long references at the end of the text Instructions on how to reference and cite material used can be found on the Subject Guidereference and cite Referencing guides – – –

Evaluation of Publications

Evaluation Each publication has to be evaluated with regards to its – Relevance – Impact

Relevance How close is the text to the question I am trying to address? Degrees of relevance – Very relevant = 3 – Relevant = 2 – Marginally relevant = 1 – Not relevant = 0 Read all publications that are very relevant Check all publications that are relevant, but discard, if they are not useful right now. Do not read marginally or irrelevant publications

Impact How many people have read this article? How many people have cited this article? Degrees of impact – Numbers of Citations in Google Scholar – Relative to the publication year Young articles cannot have many citations

Impact-Relevance Evaluation High ImpactLow Impact High Relevance Extremely Important for your topic. Read understand and Use Very Important for your Topic. Read, understand and use where appropriate Low Relevance Read the relevant bits and use, if this one of the seminal works in the area Do not read or use

Help with Searching for Literature

Ask a Librarian or via Subject Guide – Information Skills

End of Lecture