1. Bodleian Social Science Library
Online Resources/Searching Workshop for MSc in Comparative Social Policy John Southall
Bodleian Data Librarian
Subject Consultant for Economics, Sociology and SP&I
Michaelmas 2017

2. Your username is the
7-digit number over the University card barcode
Your default password is your date of birth in the format 16OCT1988
If you wish to to reset your password
Use your Bodleian Password to connect to the Bodleian Libraries wifi or Ethernet, and to log into library PCs
Bodleian Password – to connect to the Bodleian-Libraries WIFI, also to log into all library PCs
USERNAME = 7-digit number on your University Card
PASSWORD = date of birth in format, strongly advised to reset your password.

3. Introduction to Bodleian Libraries
Session Overview
Introduction to Bodleian Libraries
Preparing for your literature search
Online resources
3. Tips for online searching
Where to find further courses and advice

4. Bodleian ‘Doing’ Research Aids
Research Data Oxford
Practical advice on managing and organising data
Open Access Oxford
Advice about Open Access Publications and their impact on your research
iSkills Programme
Training and research skills development at Oxford
Be aware of these background aids/advice pages

5. 1. Preparing for your literature search

6. Developing your literature search
Preliminary searching and browsing
Scan abstracts and skim-read papers
Identify current directions of research
How will you contribute new knowledge?
Structured searching with appropriate syntax
Identify key articles and heavily-cited papers
Establish key authors, organizations and sources
Commit to in-depth consideration and re-reading of papers
Develop search
Track citations to follow research connections
“Cast net more widely” in terms of resources searched
Set up alerts for new content
Stay focussed, keep a search log

7. Concepts become a question
Concept – i.e. Interested in : Impact/policy regarding Youth Unemployment in France recently Question - will start laying boundaries: How has unemployment amongst the young been dealt with in France in the last ten years

8. Search preparation: Keywords
Unemployment
Management
France
Joblessness
Policy
French
Jobless
Managed
Franco
Exclusion
Strategy
Labour Market
Practice(s)
Unemployed
Programmes
Workless
Managing
Policies
Actions
Use thesaurus for synonyms AND reading/emerging knowledge of topic language

9. Exercise 1: Search preparation
Write a short sentence about your research interest
Underline key concepts
Write down alternative words/phrases for each concept
Discuss with your neighbour
You now have a research topic and question – where could it be used?

10. 2. Primary and secondary sources

11. Primary and secondary sources
Primary source
A work not based on or derived from another source e.g. contemporary records, data, conference papers, working papers – ‘raw’
Horror films and their audiences; viewings interviews and statistics
Secondary source
Include the use/analysis/interpretation of primary and other sources
e.g. books, journal articles - ‘cooked’
Books about cinema and audiences, theories of social interaction or film

12. http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk Search for Books and E-books
Journals and E-journals
Databases
Grey literature
Digital collections
Request
Place holds
Make stack requests
Manage your account
Renewals
Store or export references Add tags RSS feeds
SOLO:
Best starting point for searching for everything – print and online
Log in here (with your SSO) to request books and journals
Log in here to manage your account (e.g. see how many books you have, and renew).
SOLO LIVE HELP: instant response, staffed 9-5 Mon-Fri.

13. Finding Secondary Sources: Books
SOLO (Oxford catalogue)
British Library Catalogue
COPAC (UK Libraries)
WorldCat (Global)

14. Other Finding Aids / Resources
OXLIP+
Bodleian LibGuides
Bodleian Data Library

15. Finding primary sources
News: Nexis, Factiva
Data: UK Data Service, OECD iLibrary
Subject specific websites (ELDIS, Social Policy Digest)
Working papers: institutional websites
Conference proceedings: ZETOC
Theses and dissertations: Proquest Dissertations & Theses, Index to Theses, Ethos, ORA

16. Where would you look for a specific journal article?
As starting point and out of habit; A. Google / Google Scholar but should use; B. SOLO C. Oxford University e-Journals D. Bibliographic databases (e.g. SCOPUS, IBSS) via Oxlip+ Balance; Success hit rate vs. time available

17. Selecting databases for your search
Look for statements or citations in your reading
Tolan, P., Henry, D., Schoeny, M., Bass, A. & Tolan, P. 2008, "Mentoring interventions to affect juvenile delinquency and associated problems", 
Campbell Systematic Reviews, vol. 16.

18. Exercise 2: Select databases
1. Ask yourself two questions:
Which subjects are pertinent to my topic?
(Sociology, health, public policy, education..)
Which formats might contain relevant research?
(Journal articles, working papers, books, datasets..)
2. Explore the LibGuides
3. Check the subject-listed databases on OxLIP+
or the Bodleian Data Library

19. Relevant scholarly research
3. Search tips
Relevant scholarly research
Cross-searching
Thesaurus
Natural language
Boolean
Keywords
Pearl-growing
Citation chaining

20. Natural language searching
You enter a sentence or a question or keywords The database uses a programmed logic to determine which results to send back Other Option – extend use of keywords into Boolean searches

21. Search syntax: Boolean logic
BROADENS SEARCH OR
University or Oxford
AND
NARROWS SEARCH
University and Oxford
NARROWS SEARCH
NOT
University not Oxford
NARROWS SEARCH
NOT
Oxford not University

22. Further search syntax Parentheses Truncation and wildcards
e.g. (academic OR educational) AND achievement
Truncation and wildcards
e.g. feminis*, wom?n
Search for a phrase by using quote marks
e.g. “graduate students”
Limit to particular fields
e.g. title, abstract, keywords
Apply search filters
e.g. date, format

23. Example search string Search 1: information literacy
information literacy OR information skills OR search* skills OR bibliographic instruction OR (“user education” AND librar*)
Search 2: academic achievement
(academic OR education*) AND (achievement OR success OR assessment OR result* OR standard*)
Search 3: university students
(university NEAR/4 student*) OR undergraduate* OR postgraduate* OR graduate*
Final search string: #1 AND #2 AND #3

24. Exercise 3: Use handout on search strings
Create a search string from your keywords
Apply the search string in a database of your choice
You may wish to use the general Proquest platform first or a particular one like ASSIA or IBSS. At the results screen note the “hit rates” for each.
Explore the database search functionality… refine your search.

25. Bodleian Social Science Library
Further courses and advice:
Research Skills Training
LibGuides
libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
Bodleian Data Library
Subject Specialist: John Southall