1. Electronic Resources for Research in Science
WISER Electronic Resources for Research in Science
Electronic Resources for Research in Science
Juliet Ralph and Kate Williams,
Radcliffe Science Library
Juliet Ralph and Kate Williams

2. Aims of today’s session
Overview of scientific databases available
via Oxlip, our information gateway
Search tips
Focus on locating full-text articles
Featuring new, award-winning science database SCOPUS (developed by Elsevier)

3. Bibliographic databases
Subject specific, eg Medline, Inspec
WebSpirs/Electronic Reference Library
Web of Knowledge
Web of Science covers all subject areas
Key feature - Citation searching
SCOPUS
NEW, on trial at Oxford until September 2006
Science & Social Science

4. WISER Electronic Resources for Research in Science
SCOPUS
14,200 journals
27 million records
Conferences included
Also searches the web via SCIRUS science search engine
Patents searched separately
Cited references since 1996
Many links to full text via TOUR button
Juliet Ralph and Kate Williams

5. Content: Scopus Publisher-submitted records 1996- PubMed records 1966-
Content from other Elsevier databases*:
Embase Fluidex 1974-
Compendex Geobase 1980-
World Textile Index 1970-
Biobase 1994-
*Source: Deis and Goodman, 2005

6. Scopus: “the broadest source of STM and Social Sciences information”
WISER Electronic Resources for Research in Science
Scopus: “the broadest source of STM and Social Sciences information”
4,000 publishers
5,900
4,500
2,500
2,700
14,200
Life & Health
(100% Medline)
Chemistry
Physics
Engineering
Biological
Agricultural
Environmental
Social Sciences
Psychology
Economics
STM &
Social Sciences
Juliet Ralph and Kate Williams

7. Today’s search topic The threat of bird flu spreading across Europe.
What are the 3 keywords to use in your search?

8. WISER Electronic Resources for Research in Science
Search terms
The main concepts to search for:
bird
flu
Europe
Choose Specific Search Terms
Select specific search terms to narrow your search:
Choose search terms which are specific or closely related to the topic you want to retrieve.
Include alternative words and abbreviations.
Avoid words that are too general, such as cell or behaviour.
Juliet Ralph and Kate Williams

9. WISER Electronic Resources for Research in Science
Searching techniques
To combine search terms:
AND, OR (Boolean connectors)
AND to narrow the search
OR to broaden the search (British/American spellings, synonyms)
Juliet Ralph and Kate Williams

10. WISER Electronic Resources for Research in Science
OR, AND
Imagine each circle contains the articles you would find by doing a search.
Lilac circle shows what you would find if you searched for the term Genetics.
Green circle shows what you would find if you searched for Population
Blue circle shows what you would find if you searched for Molecular.
Search for Genetics OR Population OR Molecular would find all the results.
Genetics AND Population would find the green/lilac overlap
Genetics AND molecular would find the lilac/blue overlap
Genetics AND Population AND Molecular would find only the triangular bit in the middle
NOT will start excluding areas e.g. Genetics NOT Molecular would find all of the lilac area, except for the blue overlap.
Juliet Ralph and Kate Williams

11. Search tips
Wildcards
Use a question mark (?) to replace a single character
E.g. Wom?n finds woman or women
Use an asterisk (*) to truncate terms
E.g. enzym* for enzyme, enzymes, enzymology etc
Search for an exact phrase using double quotes
E.g. "oyster toadfish“ will retrieve different results from oyster toadfish

12. Search string Search terms: Bird OR avian AND flu OR influenza Europe*
You will probably find more search terms from retrieved records while searching.