Online Searching

FOR PROFESSIONAL OR ACADEMIC PURPOSES Online Searching September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

Structure of the module

First day: Academic databases

Characteristics of academic databases

Demonstration of search process and information retrieval

Case study

Second day: Academic search engines

Presentation of results of case study

Academic databases:

Google Scholar

Scirus

Live

September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

Academic Databases - I

Content specializations

Humanities and Social Sciences

Science and technology

Multidisciplinary

Context

At the heart of the cyclical process of academic research and publishing

Document typology. References or full text of:

Journal articles of peer review journals

Reports, books, patents and theses, etc.

Users:

Researchers (Universities) and engineers and developers (Corporations)

University students and professors

In general: authors of academic journal articles, reports or books

Access:

Not free. In fact they are extremely expensive

Access only by subscription or by pay per view (pay per document)

Only subscribed to by universities or corporations (not by private persons )

Academic Databases - II

Main protagonists:

Scientific publishers of journals or books:

Elsevier

Springer …

Independent producers:

Universities

Private companies …

Distributors of tens or hundreds of different databases:

Ebsco

Dialog …

Authors:

Researchers and developers

University students and professors

Authors of journal articles or books

So… authors are both users and contributors

The Process of knowledge production September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

The Peer Review Journals

The most respected kind of scientific journals and the typical content of the academic databases

Process:

Author submits their papers to a peer review journal.

The journal asks the opinion of at least,two experts in the field.

If approved, and only if approved, by the experts, the article will be published, probably with corrections and additions suggested by the experts.

The whole process is anonymous: the author is unaware of the identity of the referees (evaluators) and vice versa.

The Search Process

Identification of the information need of the user and the keywords that express the main concepts of the information need.

Occasionally, identification of the proper names (persons, corporations, countries, etc.).

Identification and selection of the most suitable database .

Selection and execution of the query (basic or advanced search).

Review of the references in the database results page.

Occasionally, refinement of the query and obtaining new keywords to repeat the process.

Main interdisciplinary international databases

ISI Web of Knowledge : the most influential database in the world. Provides access to tens of thousands of the most important international journals (Thomson).

Science Direct : the database of the most important scientific publisher of the world. Access to one thousand two hundred journals (Elsevier).

Wiley Interscience : the database of one the most important scientific books and journals publisher (Wiley).

International databases by specialization

Computers (but related with Art, Society and Humanities)

ACM

Technology and computer engineering

IEEE Xplore

Humanities

Humanities Index

Arts and Humanities Citation Index

Social Sciences

JStor

And in Spain…

Multidisciplinary:

CSIC: The most influential in Spain and one of the most important in Spanish speaking countries. Provides access to all peer review Spanish journals.

Other databases by specialization :

News: EfeData and MyNews Online

Law: Aranzadi

To access databases in UPF

To access academic databases via UPF:

www.upf.edu > Library > Databases > Alphabetic list:

Example:

www.upf.edy > Library > Databases > Alphabetic list > A > ACM Digital Library

Off Campus September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

Off Campus (II) September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

Database List September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

ACM Digital Library September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

Exercise: Case Study - I

Select a set of keywords

Select a database

Make tests with the set of keywords in selected database

Write a report about the database with this the elements indicated in next slides

Exercise: Report content

Database name

Content description: topics covered by the database and typology of documents (journal articles, books, proceedings, patents, etc.) Tip: See the help page, or the about us page, etc.

Main search facilities (only a list of the two or three main options).

Possible relevance of the database content in relation to the student topic of interest: is the content relevant, is the information up to date, is there enough information about the topic?, etc.

Subjective user satisfaction: does the database have friendly user interface? are the search and navigation options understandable? is the overall system usable?, etc.