1. Research project 29.9.2016 Information searching
Kirsi Heino
Information specialist

2. Contents of the lecture
Aalto University library services and resources
Theory and tricks on information searching
Search on SCOPUS database

3. Library services for you
Ask an Information specialist
Meet an information specialist

4. New guides
Citation Guide
E-book Guide

5. Aaltodoc publication archive
full text materials of Aalto University
theses
journal articles,
conference publications
research materials
publications have a permanent URN identifier

6. Scientific communication - a simplification
Adapted from Sondergaard, Andersen and Hjorland(2003, s. 289) and Barnes (1985, s. 41)
Conference proceedings
Integration into the domains knowledge base
Indexed in databases
Use in text books, etc.
Submitting the work into a journal for peer-review
Journal articles
Use in new articles
Start 6m 1y 2y 3y 4y 5y 6y 7y
c. 10y

7. Factors of a successful search
Determining of goals, the topic of the search
Identifying key concepts related to the topic
Choosing of sources (IMPORTANT!)
Formulation of the search
(selection of search terms
and their combinations,
limiting options)
Analysing results

8. Truncation, wildcards and phrasing
Commands for truncation or masking (wildcards) are often search engine specific. Most common are *,#,?
Truncating from the right (e.g.):
search: bibliograph* -> results: bibliography, bibliographies
Using wildcards (e.g.):
search: m#n -> results: man, men.
In order to phrase your search one usually needs to add ”-marks around the phrase, e.g.
search: traffic management, results: traffic OR management search: ”traffic management”, results: ”traffic management”
Ebsco Business source complete - thesaurus

9. Techniques of search phrases
One can use the boolean logic in nearly all of the databases provided by the library
A AND B
A OR B
A NOT B v A B A B A B

10. Too many search results
Use more specific terms
Add another concept to make search more specific
Search titles or index terms only
Limit the search with
Language
Document type
Year
Always avoid too generic terms!

11. Too few search results (or none)
too many concepts combined
too long a search phrase
insufficient truncation
wrong terminology
typing errors
wrong database

12. Search diary Date Used resources or the source
Search words and how they were combined (=search logic)
Results (the saved files etc)
Evaluation of the results
Measures to be taken
Other information and comments

13. Large multidisciplinary reference database (full-text via sfx-link)
SCOPUS
Large multidisciplinary reference database (full-text via sfx-link)
Includes also the amount of citations (=citation trails)