1. Presentation to Materials Science and Engineering Grad Students October 3, 2007 by Linda Michtics, Liaison Librarian for Engineering michtic@mcmaster.camichtic@mcmaster.ca, ext. 23882

2.  To provide you with information on sources and services available through the McMaster Library which will assist you with your research 2

3.  I am looking for articles on ‘solute drag’ and I want to know the most efficient way of searching for them 3

4.  by subject (Materials Science) under the Databases tab on the Library’s homepage  by list of Primary Science and Engineering Databases on Thode’s homepage left nav bar (Note: this is a small subset of many electronic databases to which the Library subscribes)  by contacting the Library or your Liaison Librarian 4

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7.  favourite choices of Materials Science profs in your department:  Engineering Village – Compendex and Inspec  SciFinder Scholar  Web of Science: Science Citation Index Expanded 7

8.  identify main concepts  identify synonyms for these concepts (tip: use online thesaurus)  when phrase searching, enclose phrase in quotation marks eg. “solute drag”  use boolean operators: and, or, not  use proximity operators eg. near  use asterisk symbol * (truncation) for plurals or alternative endings : * eg. canad* gets canada, canadian, canadians  use wildcard symbol ? eg. wom?n for woman and women 8

9.  most comprehensive bibliographic database of research for all engineering disciplines  includes references from over 5,000 engineering journals, conferences and technical reports  online coverage from 1969 to the present  updated weekly  use online tutorial and online help in Compendex 9

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16.  find one good article  use hyperlinked words from descriptors (main heading; controlled terms, uncontrolled terms, etc.) or authors to find other relevant articles 16

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21.  use RACER if article is not available at or through McMaster libraries  RACER = online Interlibrary loan system  searches other Ontario university libraries as well as many others  average of 5 to 10 days to receive material  FREE 21

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23.  receive emails to keep up-to-date on latest research in your area(s) of interest  offered by various database producers, societies and journal publishers  registration required but it’s FREE  for list, click on Database Alerts from the left nav bar on Thode’s homepage 23

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26.  web-based citation management software  FREE to Mac students  create one or several accounts  store unlimited number of references  registration required  can move your RefWorks database into another database programme (eg. Endnote, ProCite, Reference Manager, etc.) 26

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29.  contains all material in all four campus libraries  includes materials the Library owns or has access to such as: print books, e-books, print journals (by title only), e-journals, government publications, conference proceedings  check location information and status from a catalogue record 29

30.  Contains online full-text journals, magazines and newspapers  Note: always check the Library Catalogue if you can’t find something as we may have it in print or even online 30

31.  searches across many disciplines and sources from one place  includes peer-reviewed articles, theses, books, etc. published by professional societies, preprint repositories, universities  if on-campus, can link directly to full-text papers that McMaster subscribes to as result of Library’s link resolver  use get it @ Mac link if it’s availableget it @ Mac 31

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33.  Visit: Research Help Desk in Thode Library, 1 st Floor  email: thoderef@mcmaster.cathoderef@mcmaster.ca  Call: ext. 24256, Mon-Fri, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.  MSN: library@mcmaster.ca M – F 11 -3library@mcmaster.ca  AOL/Yahoo!: maclibraries M – F 11 -3  Contact Linda Michtics, Liaison Librarian for Engineering: michtic@mcmaster.ca or ext. 23882michtic@mcmaster.ca 33