1. Kate Williams, Bodleian Education Librarian
Bodleian Social Science Library
Turning a research question into an effective search strategy Louise Clarke, Bodleian Social Science Librarian
Kate Williams, Bodleian Education Librarian

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3. Part 1: The literature review process

4. Relevant scholarly research
Part 2: Searching
Relevant scholarly research
Cross-searching
Thesaurus
Natural language
Boolean
Keywords
Pearl-growing
Citation chaining

5. Part 3: Search tools Abstracting and indexing services
Full-text databases
Internet search engines
Part 3: Search tools

6. RSS / email Part 4: Alerts New articles matching search terms
Tables of contents from selected journals
New citations referencing ‘parent article’

7. Part 5: Citations and bibliometrics
Researcher 3 cites
Researcher 2 cites
Researcher 1
Impact

8. Learning outcomes By the end of the session, you should:
Understand the literature review process;
Be able to plan an effective and structured search for your thesis;
Know where to look for different types of information;
Have evaluated different methods of searching;
Have developed search skills that can be applied across different resources;
Have had a chance to practise;
Know where to come for future help.

9. Part 1: The literature review process

10. Literature review discussion groups
Why is the literature review important?
Why be methodical?
How do you choose your search terms?
Where do you plan to search for the literature?
What sources are you trying to find?

11. Primary and Secondary Sources
Primary Source
Suffragette posters and pamphlets
Secondary Source
Book about female emancipation in Britain
Tertiary Source
Dictionary of feminism

12. Sources
• In general a primary source is a work not based on or derived from another source (e.g. contemporary records, data, conference papers, photographs, working papers, etc.) • Secondary sources include the use / analysis / interpretation of primary (and other) sources • Consider the relationship between the researcher and the source in the context of the research topic • Definitions of primary and secondary sources vary by discipline
LOMBARD, E Primary and Secondary Sources. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 36, 3, pp

13. Primary sources include grey literature
• Grey literature refers to material not easily found through conventional publishing channels • Produced by government agencies, NGO’s, IGOs, academic departments and research groups • Includes working papers, policy documents, occasional papers, briefings, conference papers, newsletters, etc. • Produced in print and electronic formats • Ephemeral nature has implications for dissemination, identification and access – it is out there but may be hard to find

14. How to structure the literature review process
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 the 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 focused on the research question and keep a search log

15. Relevant scholarly research
Part 2: Searching
Relevant scholarly research
Cross-searching
Thesaurus
Natural language
Boolean
Keywords
Pearl-growing
Citation chaining

16. Start with a clear research question

17. Start with a clear research question
e.g.
What is being done to help prevent AIDS in Zimbabwe?

18. Search method 1: Natural language searching
Search skills for your assignments
Search method 1: Natural language searching
Kate Williams

19. Search method 2: Keyword searching

20. Example - Keywords
What is being done to help prevent AIDS in Zimbabwe?
Aids Prevent Zimbabwe
aids prevent(ion) Zimbabwe
hiv intervention
human immunodeficiency virus awareness
acquired immune education
deficiency syndrome

21. Wild card characters Truncation may be used in a number of ways:
* for right side truncation (e.g. plurals and alternative word endings)
interven* retrieves intervention(s), intervene, intervening
? for a single character (e.g. alternative spellings)
organi?ation for organisation or organization
$ for one character or zero characters
behavio$r retrieves behavior or behaviour
Check the database online help (the symbols given above are common but not universal)

22. Boolean logic AND OR NOT NARROWS SEARCH AIDS and Zimbabwe
BROADENS SEARCH OR
HIV or AIDS
NARROWS SEARCH
NOT
prevention not treatment

23. Further search techniques
Use parentheses to group the order in which terms are searched (or use structured search boxes)
Use the proximity operator NEAR to specify how close two words appear to each other
E.g. University NEAR/4 students
Search for a phrase by using quote marks
“united kingdom”
Limit your search to particular fields (title, author, abstract, keywords, etc.)
Apply search filters such as date to limit a search

24. Example – Keyword search string
Aids prevention in Zimbabwe
Search 1 = hiv OR “human immunodeficiency virus” OR aids OR “acquired immune deficiency syndrome”
Search 2 = prevent* OR interven* OR aware* OR educat*
Search 3 = Zimbabwe
Search 4 = #1 AND #2 AND #3
Demo - SCOPUS

25. Search method 3: Database thesauri
Use database thesauri and subject headings to identify new and useful search terms
Terms are assigned by the database editors from a set of controlled vocabulary (thesaurus)
May also be keywords assigned by the author
Broader - brings together synonyms / related terms under one heading (sensitivity)
More focused - looks for articles about your topic, not just with your words in the article (specificity)

26. thesaurus term = “Higher education”
HEI
College
University
Tertiary
education

27. Thesaurus example – ERIC
Academic Achievement
Use for: Academic Performance : Academic Progress : Academic Success : Educational Achievement : Educational Level : Scholastic Achievement : Student Achievement
Narrower terms: Educational Attainment
Broader terms: Achievement
Related terms: Academic Failure : Instructional Effectiveness

28. Search examples - ERIC Search term Free text search “Academic Success”
3,276
Academic Success
16,506
Academic NEAR/6 Success
5,449
Search term
Free text search
Subject heading
“Academic Achievement”
62,935
59,970

29. Search method 4: Cross - searching
OxLIP+ Keyword searching of up to 5 Oxford databases
Limited to certain databases
Retrieval is unwieldy
SOLO Journal Articles Search
Rough and ready
Produces poor results in many cases

30. A note about searching for authors
Use truncation to find all forms of an author’s name
To find articles by J.R.W. Yates search for yates j*
For common names, truncation may not be appropriate – try entering the initials instead
yates jrw or yates j r w depending on the database
Compound names may be fused together or separated – punctuation may be replaced with a space
To find articles by M. D’Angelo search for
d’angelo m* OR dangelo m* OR d angelo m*
Database tools can help you identify authors
Author index
Author search (SCOPUS) / Author finder (Web of Science) for including information about their subject and institution

31. Part 3: Search tools Abstracting and indexing services
Full-text databases
Internet search engines
Part 3: Search tools

32. Access to online resources provided by the Bodleian Libraries
• SOLO • OxLIP+ • OU E-Journals • Libguides • Single Sign On Sign into Nexus or SOLO My Account and use browser session to access e-journals and OxLIP+ databases from outside the Oxford network

33. Google Scholar Library Links

34. Selecting databases for a literature review
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.

35. Identifying search tools
Ask yourself two questions:
What subject disciplines might be pertinent to my research topic?
Economics, health, public policy, education, anthropology, sociology, geography, etc.
Which information formats might contain relevant research?
Journal articles, discussion and working papers, books, official papers, datasets, websites, newspaper articles, etc.
Next, take a look at the appropriate LibGuides

36. Major Platforms

37. • Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts • Dissertations and theses (full-text) • British Education Index (N.B. Proquest Professional) • ERIC (Education) • International Bibliography of the Social Sciences • Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts • National Criminal Justice Reference Service • Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS) • Sociological Abstracts • Worldwide Political Science Abstracts (WPSA)

38. International Bibliography of the Social Sciences http://search
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences • Disciplines: anthropology, cultural studies, demography, economics, education, political science, religious studies, sociology, etc. • Broad coverage of international material • Records indexed geographically as well as thematically

39. – Dissertations and Theses
• The world’s most comprehensive collection of social science theses • From 1997 onwards over a million full-text theses are available to download • Dissertations from July 1980 onwards include a 350 word abstract • Earlier dissertations offer citation information (dating back to 1637)

40. – IBSS – Search Syntax
(ageing OR aging) NEAR/4 population OR declin* NEAR/4 (fertility OR birth) AND (family OR social) AND polic* AND Japan

41. • EconLit • Global Health • Medline • PsycINFO

42. • Abstracts in Social Gerontology • Business Source Complete • Family & Society Studies Worldwide • Historical Abstracts • Philosopher’s Index

43. • AnthropologyPlus • ChicanoDatabase • Francis • Russian Academy of Sciences Bibliographies • WorldCat

44. Primary Sources

45. News Multi-regional Archives Regional
Nexis UK (BBC Monitoring International Reports under Countries Tab)
Factiva
World News Connection
Foreign Broadcast Information Service
Emerging Markets Information Service
Regional
Nikkei Telecom21(Japanese news and finance)
Russian Central newspapers • Pravda ( )
China Core Newspapers Database • WiseSearch (China)
Ethnic Newswatch (mainly US, ethnic publications)
Archives
Proquest (New York Times, Guardian, Observer, Washington Post)
Separate Digital Archives available for the Times, FT, Daily Mirror and Economist
Times of India archive

46. News - comparison of content - example
Nexis
Factiva
Mexico
El Norte (Spanish; 2004-)
Reforma (Spanish; 2004-)
Mural (Spanish; 2004-)
Palabra (Spanish; 2004-)
El Universal (Spanish; 2002-)
Moldova
Moldavskie Vedomosti (Russian; 2006-)
Nezavisimaya Moldova (Russian; 2006-)
Namibia
The Namibian (English;1997-)
Nepal
Kathmandu Post (English; 2008-)
Nepali Times (English; 2006-)
Netherlands
De Telegraaf (Dutch; 1999-)
De Volksrant (Dutch; 1995-)
NRC Handelsblad (Dutch; 1990-)
Trouw (Dutch; 1992-)
De Telegraaf (Dutch; 2008-)

47. Data and Statistics Multi-regional Regional ESDS International
World Bank / UN / IMF
OECD iLibrary
Emerging Markets Information Service
Regional
Indiastat
China Data Online
Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP)
Latinobarómetro (via ESDS)
Historical Statistics of the United States
Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research archive (US)
Russian State/CIS Statistical Publications

48. Sources for grey literature
Subject-specific websites, portals and current awareness services e.g. ELDIS and Social Policy Digest
Academic institutions
Governmental and Inter-Governmental Organisations
NGO and campaigning sites
Other access points e.g. SCOPUS, ZETOC, Open SIGLE

49. Lists of IGO’s, NGO’s and Institutes
International Inter-governmental Organization webpage finder inc. UN and its subsidiaries:
PolicyFILE: research organizations, think tanks, university programmes and NGOs listed:
Forced Migration Online (FMO): Lists NGOs and IGOs, (search by country or subject):
CIAO: lists many university research institutes

50. Theses, conferences, reports, etc.
Theses and dissertations
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses / Index to Theses / Ethos / ORA / SOLO
Conference proceedings & working papers
ZETOC (conference proceedings, British Library)
Working papers generally available on institutional websites or subject based repositories such as REPEC (economics papers)
Reports
Oxford Analytica (Regional analysis)
Country Reports (via Business Source Complete)
World Development Reports, World Bank
Etc. Declassified US Govt Docs / Forced Migration Online / Aluka

51. Secondary and Tertiary Sources

52. Full-text e-journals Major aggregators, e.g. JSTOR
Full-text of over 1000 journals
Moving wall
All major publishers, e.g. SAGE, Wiley, OUP, CUP, Taylor and Francis, Brill
Area journal collections
China Academic Journals (CNKI) / China Online Journals (Wanfang) / Taiwan Electronic Periodical Services / JAIRO: Japanese Institutional Repositories Online / Central and Eastern European Online Library

54. Online reference works
E-books
Packages, e.g. Oxford Scholarship Online
Series, e.g. Handbooks in Economics (Elsevier)
Individual titles listed in SOLO
Google Books
International Encyclopaedia of the Social & Behavioural Sciences
International Encyclopedia of Human Geography
Online reference works

55. Sage Research Methods Online

56. Sage Reference Online

57. Catalogues
SOLO
British Library Catalogue
COPAC (UK)
WorldCat (Global)

58. Official Papers Maps Legal Resources Special Collections
Research methods
Official Papers
Systematic Reviews
Subject-specific
Maps
Legal Resources
Special Collections
Area Studies
Archives

59. Practical exercise 2: Online searching
Run your search string from exercise 1 in a relevant database (s) of your choice
You may wish to use the Proquest platform, initially searching all databases. At the results screen click on the option to refine your search by ‘databases’ to note the “hit rates” in the different resources.
Explore the database search functionality / refine your search
yourself relevant results for your research topic

60. Part 4: Alerts RSS / email New articles matching search terms
Tables of contents from selected journals
New citations referencing ‘parent article’

61. Table of contents alerts
Keeping up to date with the literature
Table of contents alerts
Alerts of new issues of journals
Provide tables of contents – browse online
ZETOC – British Library’s service:
Over 20,000 journal titles + conferences
Alerting service – access via Single Sign On
N.B. Oxford may not have all journals
Via OxLIP+:
Kate Williams

62. Keeping up to date with the literature
Database Alerts
Subject databases
Create and save sophisticated searches
Receive alerts when new publications come in that match your topic
e.g. Proquest databases – search alerts
Web of Science – citation alerts
OxLIP+:
Kate Williams

63. Set up RSS feeds for new content
Register for an RSS feed reader
Set up RSS feeds for new content

64. Part 5: Citations and bibliometrics
Researcher 3 cites
Researcher 2 cites
Researcher 1
Impact

65. Using citations to identify key papers and related research
Web of Science

66. Coverage
GAVEL, Y. and L. ISELID, 2008. Web of Science and Scopus: a journal title overlap study. Online Information Review ,32, no. 1, pp  

67. Web of Knowledge Citation Searching http://www.webofknowledge.com/WOS
• Identify current research based on earlier research • Analyze the impact of a publication on other research in the field or across subject boundaries

68. Citation mapping (ISI WoS)
Explore up to two generations of backward and forward citations

69. Using bibliometrics to assess impact
citation counts
h-index
journal impact factor

70. Article Citation Count Example: ISI’s Web of Science, Dec 2011

71. Researcher H-index Example: ISI’s Web of Science, Dec 2011

72. Journal Impact Factor Example: ISI’s Web of Knowledge, Political Science, 2010

73. Thank-you for your attention. What did you think of this course?
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