1. Rachel Myers Skills@Library
Finding information
Inside Track to Successful Academic Writing - Andy Gillett, Angela Hammond And Mary Martala.
Online book- useful! (activities and feedback at end of book)
Rachel Myers

2. And webinars!

3. In this workshop we will:
Practise searching for information, and discuss the findings
Explore useful resources for finding information
Look at tips and techniques for effective searching

4. Your task… Prokaryote/eukaryote translation Bone Homeostasis
From the following list of key words/phases, please select 1.
Prokaryote/eukaryote translation
Bone Homeostasis
Origin of life
Reaction time
Gene expression
Evolution
Threats to biodiversity
Ecosystems
Synaptic transmission
Protein structure
Gene Editing
Ebola Virus

5. Find 3 papers relevant to your selected key word/phase.
For each paper, bullet point the main aspects of your papers. It will be sensible to include, the paper’s objectives, main method and important findings.
Upload a URL link to each of your papers.

6. Our top tips:
how to search

7. Plan your search What are your keywords going to be?
Are there any synonyms/alternative terms you could use?
Ebola virus, Ebola virus disease, EVD…
Think about any limits you want to apply
Geographic limits
Time limits
Effect on a particular group- health workers, elderly, children

8. Phrase searching Truncation Wildcards
Use search techniques
Phrase searching
Truncation
Wildcards
“ebola virus”
patient*
organi?ation
Find words in the exact order you have written them
find alternative spellings
Find words with alternative endings
Use these in and many databases
Work to increase the number of relevant results from your search
…there may be a link with… ebola virus…
organisation and organization
patient, patients

9. Combine your terms using Boolean
OR –combines related terms. It broadens your search and makes it more comprehensive
Ebola virus
EVD
Articles will contain Ebola virus OR EVD

10. AND narrows your search and makes your search more precise
Ebola virus
Health workers
Articles will contain Ebola virus AND health workers

11. Our top tips:
where to search

12. x What are the drawbacks?
What are the benefits?
x What are the drawbacks?
Demo: human genome map/stem cell research
Use specialist journal databases too
Preparing for your final year project: Getting the literature, storing references & reading efficiently.

13.
Demo “Ebola virus” search

14. Databases- see your subject page for ideas
Demo how to get to your subject page

15. Summary Plan a search by: Think about where you will search
Thinking about your keywords
Thinking of synonyms/alternatives words
Using search techniques such as truncation and phrase searching
Using AND and OR to combine search terms
Think about where you will search
Google Scholar?
Databases?