1. Linda Robertson lmr@soton.ac.uk Hartley Library Biological Sciences Techniques in searching bibliographic databases

2. Todays Objectives By the end of the session you will be able to: Develop a thorough search strategy to interrogate a bibliographic database Identify journal articles available from the Library Obtain a permanent record of your search results Complete the BlackBoard test

3. Why is this important? Literature searching/information handling skills are essential tools for your academic career These skills will be useful for any essay or project work through the rest of your degree course

4. Which database? Web of Science – excellent all-round database BIOSIS Previews – worlds leading life sciences database CAB Abstracts – includes human nutrition Pubmed Entrez – genome, structure and sequence data MEDLINE – worlds leader for medicine

5. More information For more information about these and other databases: – www.soton.ac.uk/library/subjects/sbs/ www.soton.ac.uk/library/subjects/sbs/ databases.html – 'Which Database?' leaflet, available from the Library

6. Go to the 'Subjects' section

7. You can go to any of these links for subjects in the School of Biological Sciences

8. Now go to the link for 'Databases and indexes'

9. Here youll find information about some relevant databases – the main ones are at the top of the screen Click on the link for 'Web of Science'

10. Click on the button to access 'Web of Knowledge'

11. This is the home page. Web of Knowledge covers several databases. Click the tab to see these….

12. … or go directly to Web of Science

13. This is the main search page for the Web of Science

14. Enter the search 'habitat disturbance'

15. A simple search will usually yield a large number of 'hits' To view the details of one of these articles, click on the title

16. Click on the TDNet button to check access to full text

17. There is online access… Click on the publisher link to go to the article …but no catalogue link, so print version unlikely

18. This link goes directly to the full text of the article Click on the 'PDF' link to retrieve the full article in print layout

20. To find an article Use the database to search for information on your topic (Web of Science, BIOSIS, CAB Abstracts, etc.) Identify relevant articles Search TDNet or WebCat for the journal it was published in If we have access to the journal, check that this includes the year/volume required

21. Search Strategy Write a detailed, specific search question Identify the concepts of your question List alternative keywords and phrases – singular and plural forms – alternative tenses – British and American English spellings – American terminology Include both narrow and broad terms

22. Search query: – What are the implications of trawling and dredging on habitat disturbance? Search terms: – trawling, fishing, dredging.. – habitat, habitats – disturbance, threat, threats, destruction… Question, Concepts & Keywords

23. Boolean Logic Allows you to search for multiple keywords: OR combines different expressions for the same concept – fishing or trawling AND links two different concepts together – dredging and habitat destruction In most databases, and/or are perfectly acceptable

24. Truncation Finds any keyword with a common 'stem' Truncation symbol is commonly * or $ – check each database for details of which symbols are used, and for what purpose otter* will find: – otter – otters fisher* will find: – fishery – fisheries, etc.

25. Truncation in Web of Science Note: for Web of Science only: ? = one character: – wom?n = woman, women – organi?ation = organisation, organization $ = one or zero characters: – behavio$r = behaviour, behavior – animal$ = animal, animals * = one or more characters: – enzym* = enzyme, enzymes, enzymic, enzymatic

26. An example search Search 1: trawling fishing dredging Search 2: habitat Search 3: disturbance threat destruction

27. An example search Search 1: trawling or fishing or dredging Search 2: habitat Search 3: disturbance or threat or destruction

28. An example search Search 1: trawl* or fishing or dredg* Search 2: habitat$ Search 3: disturbance or threat* or destruction Search 4: Search 1 and Search 2 and Search 3

29. Search 1 is for 'trawl* or fishing or dredg*'

30. This yields 20,356 references Return to the search screen to carry out the second part of the search

31. Now search for 'habitat$'

32. This is a completely separate search, which has found 90,027 references Return to the search screen and carry out part three of the search

33. Now search for 'disturbance or threat* or destruction'

34. This time there are over 100,000 references To combine these three searches together, go to 'Search History'

35. This shows all the searches carried out in this session The searches can be combined as required

36. Mark these three searches Then choose to combine them with 'AND' Click on the 'Combine' button to continue

37. 468 articles mention all the keywords – click on the search result to view them

39. The default is to list references, most recent first Narrow the search further by applying some limits

40. Find the options on the left side of the page It is often useful to look at more recent results – so open the 'Publication Years' section

41. Web of Science covers material back to 1970 Select the last five years Click 'Refine'

42. This makes the number of references more manageable Work through the list, identifying any interesting articles Look at the abstract to get further information

43. When you find one that is useful, use the TDNet button to check whether it is available through the Library

44. This one is available online, but not in print Go to the article….

45. Some links do not go directly to the article, but to the journal homepage

46. The article required was published in 2007…

47. In vol 87, starting on page 208…

48. On the contents page, scroll down to find the article.. … and click on the PDF link

49. Read the article online, print or save it to read later

50. To use an article in any written work, it must be referenced To obtain the details electronically, start by marking the checkbox of each article required Then click on 'Add to Marked List'

51. Marked records will be identified, and the number of records currently in the Marked List shown

52. Work through the entire list of results, identifying relevant articles, and marking them as you go If you navigate to a new page, WoS will remember the marks – alternatively, click on 'Add to Marked List' each time to force it to remember

53. View marked records at any time by clicking on 'Marked List'

54. Use this screen to save a permanent record of the marked records – either as a text file …. … or export directly to reference software

55. Scroll down the page to see marked record details Deselect any records no longer required by clicking the check box, then clicking 'Submit Selections'

56. Add extra information – such as the abstract – if required Click 'Format for Print' or 'Save to File'

57. click on the 'Log Out' button to close the window and finish the search

58. Literature Review/Review Article Some articles are 'review articles' or 'literature reviews' – Give an overview of a topic – Are aimed at people not so familiar with the field – Give more background to the topic, and explain concepts and ideas – Good for getting started, or keeping up-to- date – To find, set 'reviews only' limit when searching Some journals focus on reviews: – Annual Reviews of…, Progress in…, Trends in…

59. WebCat & TDNet WebCat is the Librarys main catalogue: – Gives details of which journals we subscribe to (print & electronic) – Gives details of which years and volumes we subscribe to in print – Does not include details of authors and titles of articles within those journals TDNet is a catalogue of our journal holdings: – Gives details of which journals we subscribe to (print & electronic) – Gives details of which years and volumes we subscribe to electronically – Does not include details of authors and titles of articles within those journals

60. Todays Objectives You should now be able to: develop a thorough search strategy to interrogate a bibliographic database identify journal articles available through the Library Obtain a permanent record of search results

61. Try a search Find information about the effect of oil contamination of oyster beds Look for review articles published during or after 2006

62. Search terms oil contamination, oil pollution, oil spill oyster, oysters oil AND (contamination OR pollution OR spill) oyster*

63. To Find Articles... Login to a bibliographic database Enter word(s) to describe your topic Articles that mention your words in the title, abstract or added keywords will be returned Identify the most useful articles from the list Check which journals the articles are in Search TDNet/WebCat to find if we have those journals

64. Getting Hold of the Articles 'Periodical title' search on WebCat – Use journal (not article) title – Title keywords are ok, but not abbreviations Or check TDNet – TDNet has a quick link icon on WoS search results Check both print and electronic holdings – The Library subscribes to about 10,000 journals – About 7,000 are available electronically – About 7,000 are available in print

65. Citing References When searching: – Record full details of reference – Record how and when you found it When writing up: – Write up references fully and correctly – Be consistent – Reference from the correct place in your text – Dont reference sources youve not used More information: – Library Website > Information Skills > Referencing

66. Example Citation In the text… – It has been shown (Terry et al. 2002)… In the reference… – Terry, M. J., Linley, P. J., Kohchi, T. 2002. Making light of it: The role of plant haem oxygenases in phytochrome chromophore synthesis. Biochemical Society Transactions. 30 (4): 604-609.

67. Further Help Linda Robertson Biomedical Sciences Librarian Hartley Library lmr@soton.ac.uk