1. Bibliographic Search Strategies: November 2009 Sue Bird OULS Reader Services Librarian Geography

6. Web of Science

8. Bibliographic Searching Search Tip : 1 –Important to remember that although each database covers thousands of journal titles no single database is ever comprehensive. –If you are having difficulty finding material on a topic use the keywords you find in any relevant reference and search again.

9. Bibliographic Databases Search :- Ecotouris* 2009 only Scopus = 123 articles W.o.K. = 89 articles Ovid = 86 after de-duplication of 108 articles, etc. C.S.A = 75 articles (70 after de-duplication) EbscoHost = 2 articles RefWorks de-duplication = 271

10. Bibliographic Searching Search Tip : 2 Take time to explore the various databases & platforms available. Some will be more useful to you than others. Scopus OvidSP Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA Illumina) Web of Knowledge but there are others – e.g. International Bibliography of the Social Sciences via EbscoHost http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/services/information_skills/wiser

11. Databases vs. Search engines Contents are indexed by subject specialists Subject headings Limiting functions e.g. publication types, language Allow you to View Search history Combine searches Mark and sort results Print/save/email/export Save searches Set up alerts Searches done by automated “web crawlers” No thesaurus / subject headings – just free text searching No limiting functions Usually none of these!

12. Newspapers Electronic newspapers –Best source for the “Text Only” of huge range of newspapers and magazines is Nexis UK. –Totally international – Goes back approximately 10 yrs in most cases and is very current i.e. today’s daily news items Legal information, cases etc. - Lexis Nexis Butterworths - WestLaw – both UK & US editions

13. E-Journals “I didn't check for the hard copy - so used to getting online access!”

16. Search Strategies Boolean logic Truncation Wild cards Synonyms Which language are you using?

17. Boolean connectors AND – combines terms to restrict results OR – useful for covering synonyms NOT – excludes unwanted areas of research

18. OR, AND, NOT Water resources Climate change Middle East

19. Bibliographic Searching Search Tip : 3 Boolean Logical Operators AND, OR, NOT Proximity operators Adj (literally adjacent); Near(same sentence); With(same field) Field descriptors: AU(author); TI(title); AB (abstract); SO(source or reference); DE (general descriptor) etc are likely to be specific to each database and won’t operate in ‘cross searches’ Combining searches: #1 and #2

20. Truncation Amazon rainforest or Amazonia or Amazonian region? Amazon* will cover all eventualities * is the most common symbol occasionally “ $ “ or “ : “ are preferred by a particular database

23. More Wild Cards Globalisation or Globalization Globali?ation should cover this one occasionally # will be used (OVID again)

25. Synonyms & Language Topic = Personal energy use reduction Search: A) personal energy use B) “personal energy use” C) “energy use” OR “energy consumption” AND personal OR private OR household Context : “carbon footprint” OR “carbon neutral” (including food mile* (i.e. miles or mileage)? )

29. Bibliographic Searching Search Tip : 4 Consider subject synonyms & British and US spellings. Apply truncation, usually * to find plurals/alternative word endings and ? to replace a single character. Expand search by following hypertext links esp subject headings Use tagging facilities within database to mark articles for printing, emailing, downloading or exporting. Authors names: Check the online help for formats. Use the database index to find different forms of author’s name, otherwise truncate first initial.

30. Reference Management Systems ProCite, Reference Manager and EndNote (works without web access – but software needs to be installed on own machine – charge of c£80 from OUCS) RefWorks (web based – access your records anywhere - free to members of university) EndNote on the Web (free to members of university, but has limited feature set – designed to be used alongside desktop version) Zotero is a free plug-in for Firefox browser (only) – limited but growing capability

31. So what can reference management software do? Store references to items in many different formats and material types Search, select and output references in a variety of pre-determined styles, or one of your own making Import references direct from databases like Scopus or Web of Knowledge, or library catalogues like OLIS Search external databases from within the reference management software, and save references retrieved Insert references into a word-processed document and format them in a particular style at the touch of a button Store links to documents – pdf’s, images – or copies of them within database

33. Bibliographic Searching Three ways to keep up to date: E-mail alert – you can specify a search to be repeated and the results emailed to you at chosen intervals or Zetoc will tell you when the next issue of a journal is available. Saving and rerunning searches – you save a search and run it again in the future. Citation Alert – you will receive an email every time a particular article is cited in another WoK or Scopus indexed article.

34. Further assistance: This presentation available on-line http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/science/training/biosciences More courses available: http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/itlp/ Other presentations http://sers018.sers.ox.ac.uk/services/training/wiser Sue.bird@ouls.ox.ac.uk

38. Bibliographic Databases OVIDSP Biosis Previews – biogeography CAB Abstracts – biogeography Forest Science - biogeography GeoRef – physical geography & geology EconLit – economic geography Zoological Abstracts - biogeography

44. Web of Knowledge Three ways to keep up to date: E-mail alert – you can specify a search to be repeated and the results emailed to you at chosen intervals Saving and rerunning searches – you save a search and run it again in the future Citation Alert – you will receive an email every time a particular article is cited in another WoK-indexed article