Biochemical Engineers Literature search
http://delicious.com/LynneMeehan/biochem3
Lynne Meehan (l.meehan@ucl.ac.uk)
Room 314, UCL Science Library
 020 7679 2634
Evaluation form at http://tinyurl.com/m84dlr
GETTING STARTED
You have your assignment topic and you need to research your topic.
There are many databases available which allow you to search for books, journal articles
and other relevant information. Each database has records of thousands of resources for
you to search.
You know you need to search databases, but how and which ones?
Follow the steps below for a methodology that you can apply to most databases (and
many search engines) you will encounter.
1. Find a database
• Some databases have a very narrow focus, while others contain information on
many topics.
• Select a database that is appropriate for your topic - see the subject guides
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/guides/subjengin.shtml or browse the list of
databases http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/database/index.shtml
• A brief list of databases and unique search tips for your subject follows.
Biotechnology abstracts
Biotechnology abstracts is an index of around 1,200 major scientific publications, including
journals, conference proceedings and patents. It extends to all aspects of biotechnology,
from genetic manipulation to biochemical engineering and fermentation to downstream
processing.
Search tips
• Advanced Ovid Search is the recommended search method to choose. It allows you to
develop a strong search strategy and to produce very relevant and comprehensive results.
Compendex
Compendex is an engineering database that indexes engineering journals and conference
materials dating from 1969. It is available via Engineering Village interface.
Search tips
• Use Quick Search to start your search. Enter your search terms into the separate boxes.
Knovel
Knovel is an interactive e-book and database package which gives searchable access to
the full text of a range of engineering text and reference books.
Search tips
• You can use G.E.T. search to search for the physical properties and numerical data. For
example you will be able to search for materials with specific optical or physical properties.
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Web of Science – Science Citation Index
Web of Science is a ‘Citation database’. This means that it contains bibliographic
information from journals and also the article's cited reference list (often called its
bibliography). It is a multi-disciplinary database, which is in three separate indexes: The
Science Citation Index indexes more than 6650 major journals across 164 scientific
disciplines from 1945 onwards. Social Sciences Citation Index and the Arts & Humanities
Citation Index are also available.
Using Web of Science to find Cited References
Citation searching can be used to discover who is citing an author's research and how the
author's research is influencing new research. It also allows you to uncover the directions
in which research is progressing based on an earlier study and allows you to track the
work of a research colleague.
Search tips
• Where there are dots in front of an author’s name ... they indicate that they are a secondary
author.
• To display articles where author’s work has been cited, click on ‘Times cited’.
Scopus
Comprehensive scientific, medical, technical, social science, and arts and humanities
database containing references to journal articles, conference proceedings, trade
publications, book series and web resources. Index from 1823 onwards.
Pubmed
Pubmed contains references to articles in biomedical journals. It covers all areas of
biomedicine, including, biochemistry and pharmacology. Over 4500 journals are indexed
from 1950 onwards. Pubmed is free to use and updated daily. SFX links only present if
you go to site from UCL library database pages.
Search tips
• Click on the details tab after performing a search to see the MESH headings (subject
headings used to describe the article) to help find synonyms and keywords
2. Define your topic
• Think about the question you want to answer and identify its major subjects. What
aspects are you interested in? Causes, effects of….
• Brainstorm for words and phrases associated with the major subjects.
• Remember to include synonyms and alternative spellings and colloquial and
scientific/chemical terms
• List possible broader and narrower terms
• For example, if your assignment is on adult stem cell therapies, you could use the
following search terms: adult stem cells, pluripotent stem cells, progenitor cell,
somatic stem cells, therapy, treatment, pharmaceuticals.
The process may help you decide what you don’t want to investigate as well as what you
do – saving you time when deciding what to read and what not to read.
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3. Start Searching
• If you want an online database to understand you, you need to speak its language.
That's why syntax - the way you put your search terms together - matters.
• Since syntax can vary between databases, you should refer to the database's help
or search tips page for the full story.
• For an online tutorial of any of the databases listed here, see section 3 of WISE
(Finding information) for online tutorials: go to http://www.moodle.ucl.ac.uk/, log
in, click on WISE, and select Engineering and the Built Environment
Syntax tips
Boolean terms determine how multiple search terms are combined in a search. Three
common connectors are and, or and not. Sometimes symbols are used instead of words,
i.e. + or -.
Boolean logic for combining search terms
All foods with raspberries All flavours of ice cream
Raspberry ice cream
Ice cream AND raspberries
Ice cream NOT raspberries
raspberries OR ice cream
Phrase searching: Some databases will treat two or more words entered into the search
box as a phrase, while others require you to place a phrase in double quotation marks.
• Example: "adult stem cells" will only find documents where the whole phrase is
present.
Nesting: The order in which search engines execute your commands is not always
obvious. You can use round brackets to control the search sequence.
• Example: the search term “adult stem cell” and (therapy or treatment) will find
documents that contain one of the words in brackets - i.e. therapy or treatment - but
only if they also contain the phrase “adult stem cell”.
Proximity operators: locate terms that are close to one another. One such proximity
operator is w/#, which you can use to find two words that are # number of pages apart.
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• Example: “adult stem cell” w/3 therapy will find documents where adult stem cell
and therapy occur within three words of one another, in either order.
Truncation: Most databases allow end of word truncation, using one character, such as
an asterisk *, to replace the remaining letters.
• Example: therap* will find documents containing therapy, therapies, therapeutic,
therapeutics.
'Wild cards': Wild cards are characters, such as a question mark,?, used to replace a
single letter in the middle of a word. They are used to accommodate spelling variations.
• Example: wom?n will find woman and women; organi?ation will retrieve
organization and organisation.
Searching specific fields: Field searching allows you to designate where to search for a
specific term. Sometimes there is a drop-down menu to select the field, at other times a
field 'qualifier' is added to the search term, such as Smith:au or Smith in au.
OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Patents
A patent gives an inventor the right to stop others from making, using or selling an
invention (whether a product or a process) for a limited period. Patents usually involve
incremental improvements in known technology. You can check patents servers for the
very latest technological developments.
esp@cenet - http://ep.espacenet.com - is a network of patent servers supported by the
European Patents Office. From here you can carry out a worldwide search, which covers
70 countries and 30 million patents. In many cases, descriptions and drawings are
available online. To find US patents, use the US Patent and Trademark Office server at
http://www.uspto.gov/.
• See Section 3 of WISE (Finding information): go to
http://www.moodle.ucl.ac.uk/, log in, click on WISE, and select Engineering and
the Built Environment.
Standards
A standard contains detailed instructions about how something is to be manufactured,
managed, designed or otherwise handled.
• The Library subscribes to British Standards Online, which contains 39,000
standards. Access British Standards Online via the Library’s databases list:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/database/index.shtml. For more information see
Section 3 of WISE (Finding information): go to http://www.moodle.ucl.ac.uk/, log
in, click on WISE, and select Engineering and the Built Environment.
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FURTHER INFORMATION
The remainder of this handout contains information on accessing resources remotely and
those not held at UCL, help with citation and plagiarism, information on using the web and
evaluating information.
Remote Access to electronic resources (institutional login)
Accessing electronic resources via the UCL Library Services website
Many electronic resources do not require a login from computers on the UCL network.
However, if you are using a computer which is not on the UCL network, then when you
follow links to electronic resources from the UCL Library Services website, you will often
see the UCL e-resource login screen
This allows the resource to identify you as an authorised UCL user. Simply enter your UCL
userid and password in the boxes to access the resource.
Logging in on a resource's homepage
If you come across an electronic resource to which UCL subscribes, but you have not
followed a link from MetaLib as described above, you can also login from the website of
the resource.
You should look for a link labelled something like
Different resources use different labels, but in each case you will then be asked which
institution you belong to, and you can select UCL from a list. This will then take you to the
UCL login screen.
For more information on access to e-resources, visit http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/e-
res.shtml. To report a problem with access, please fill in a problem report form at
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/e-res_prob.shtml.
Finding References in other Libraries
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/otherlib.shtml
If you cannot get an article online you can try searching the UCL library catalogue
(http://library.ucl.ac.uk) to see if there is a paper copy available. If there is not, why not
try searching another Library?
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The Library web page (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/otherlib.shtml) gives a thorough list
of alternative libraries and websites where you can check for holdings of other libraries in
and around London.
Interlibrary loans
If you cannot find a location for a book or journal that you require, it is possible to order an
inter-library loan. This will cost £3. More information can be found on our website
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/ids.shtml.
Web gateways
There are plenty of web sites to choose from, but quality can be an issue. A useful site to
look at is Intute: http://www.intute.ac.uk/sciences/. For more information on useful
websites for Biochemical Engineering go to the Library’s subject resource page at
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/guides/subjengin.shtml
Evaluating information and critical thinking
It is important not to accept information and ideas at face value but to take time to reflect,
compare ideas, evaluate the work done and build your own reasoned arguments. Treat the
information you find with caution. Remember to scrutinise and ask questions and don’t
form conclusions until you see what others have written.
Key things to look for when evaluating information: -
• Relevance to your topic • Accuracy of the information
• Intended audience • Authority of the author or source
• Currency of information • Level of objectivity of author
• Coverage of the topic
Citing sources
It is important to include references in your work in order to indicate that you have used
relevant information resources, to avoid plagiarism and to allow readers of your work to be
able to find the information sources for themselves. You should remember to list all the
details of the books/journals that you consult so that you can reference them correctly.
Failure to cite your sources constitutes plagiarism and you may be penalised!
Citing acknowledging within your piece of work the source from which you
obtained information.
Reference full details of the source from which you obtained your information.
Bibliography a list of the references you have used, usually placed at the end of
your text.
For help with citing sources
• See section 5 of WISE (Working with information): go to
http://www.moodle.ucl.ac.uk/, log in, click on WISE, and select Engineering and
the Built Environment.
• Read Neville, C. (2008). Complete guide to referencing and avoiding plagiarism.
Milton Keynes: Open UP. Held at MEDICAL SCIENCES A 9 NEV (2nd floor) and
GEOGRAPHY A 9 NEV (1st floor)
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Keeping up to date with the library
For the latest news about the library and resources available for Engineering subscribe to
Library News for Engineers http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/blog/engin/ or follow the
Twitter feed of UCL Science Library at http://twitter.com/_sciencelib_. We are also
planning on holding sessions on Tuesday lunchtimes in the Engineering Cafe where you
can come and ask one of the Science Subject team your library questions.
Further help
• WISE: go to http://www.moodle.ucl.ac.uk, log in, click on WISE, and select
Engineering and the Built Environment.
• Subject Guides: go to http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/guides/subjengin.shtml
• Science Enquiry Desk: located on the ground floor of the Science Library. It is
staffed from 09:30-18:00, Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 09:30-17:30
Tuesday and Thursday. Telephone on ext. 37789 or 020 7679 7789.
• Lynne Meehan (science subject librarian) contact me on l.meehan@ucl.ac.uk or
020 7679 2634 or come and see me in Room 314, Science Library.
• Links to slides and resources used in this course:
http://delicious.com/LynneMeehan/biochem3
Please fill in the evaluation form about your session at
http://tinyurl.com/m84dlr
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