This document provides an overview of different types of information resources for conducting literature reviews, including catalogs, indexes, databases, web directories, and search engines. It discusses how each resource is structured and best used. The document also provides examples of specific resources for different subject areas, as well as tips for managing references and citations.

1. The Literature Review Finding & Evaluating Information Resources for Industrial and Systems Engineering P.L. Alford, D.V.M., M.S., M.S. Jane Stephens, M.L.I.S.

2. Electronic Resources – One-stop shopping? – Not Yet  Catalogs vs. Indexes/Databases vs. Web Directories vs. Web Search Engines **DIFFERENT RESOURCES NEEDED FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF CONTENT**

3. Catalogs Physical location and status of the holdings of a specific library or libraries, e.g., LibCat Formal subject headings (usually 2-5) applied to content of entire work (Library of Congress or National Library of Medicine) Smaller entities within the work, like book chapters or conference papers, not indexed Search by title, author, subject, format, publisher; more recently, keyword search may include abstracts or Tables of Contents

4. Indexes/Databases Not tied to holdings of a specific institution Indexing and abstracting of information in a particular discipline , e.g ., education, medicine, or engineering; or in a particular content or format , e.g ., newspapers, data, films; or from a particular publisher , e.g ., Elsevier or U.S. government Hundreds of databases, some free, most are subscription, restricted to TAMU users

5. Indexes/Databases, ctnd. Indexing may cover full-text of articles; at a minimum most DBs search and/or index title, abstract, assigned keywords, source title, publisher, and date of publication Subject-specific DBs usually assign subject descriptors using formal vocabulary; browsable indices or searchable thesaurus available to map common search terms to the formal language of the discipline

6. Indexes/Databases, ctnd. Some DBs contain full-text articles (may or may not contain graphics) within the database or have links to the full-text articles Some DBs have SFX ( Find Text@TAMU ) link to retrieval options Some DBs no links to full-text or local holdings; must check LibCat , E-Journal Search, or use Get It for Me .

7. Choosing a Database/Index Consult subject or class guide http://guides.library.tamu.edu Browse electronic resources by subject Ask a librarian (subject librarian contact info on guides or Evans 845-3826; WCL 845-2111; live chat link library home page)

8. Additional finding aids Bibliographies Specially-prepared subject bibliographies (search catalog for these) Bibliographies in reference books, textbooks, and journal articles Consult major professor, other mentors Having identified an important article, follow cites to it in Citation Index (ISI)

9. Choosing Indexing Resources: Four “C’s” to Consider Content – What types of publications indexed? Numbers/Source list of titles? Credibility – How authoritative is the content? Currency – How current is the content, how frequently updated? Coverage – Years of content indexed? Changes in indexing through the years?

10. Content: the Three “R’s” Research reports (current studies) Review articles and monographs (books) Reference material Data Statistics Methodology Tools Different indexing/finding aids for different content

11. Hierarchy of Credibility Peer-reviewed Additional rankings of journals within profession, and by citation analysis (ISI impact factor, citation half-life, etc.) Academic publishers Government agencies Reputable trade & consumer publications

12. Information Currency Preprints, Periodicals most current Be aware of lag time in scholarly publishing cycle; takes time for research in “hot topics” to appear in scholarly literature Lag time of year or more for information in books Often difficult to evaluate currency of Web sites

13. Choosing Indexing Resources: Other Considerations Advanced search capabilities? Specialized, controlled vocabulary for indexing – also accessible by end-user? Integration with citation manager programs? Good online help, intuitive interface? Ability to set up custom search alerts?

14. Accessing Current Research Pre-print Sources, e.g. arXiv.org e-prints in physics, mathematics, computer science, etc. http://arxiv.org/ Indexes to current periodicals, conference proceedings, theses, and dissertations (next slide) and indexes to industry and trade publications for industry news reports

15. Accessing Current Research Databases for searching the latest research ArticleFirst (journal TOCs) PapersFirst (conferences) Essential Science Indicators (citation metrics & rankings, hot papers) Lexis-Nexis (conference news coverage) Proquest Dissertations and Theses

16. Theses and Dissertations ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Doctoral-level theses, many full-text online Order through Get It for Me (subsidized acquisition) Use LibCat to search for TAMU theses (masters and doctoral); e.g., keyword search “engineering education” AND thesis TxSpace digital repository for recent TAMU theses ( http://txspace.tamu.edu/ )

17. Scholarly I&S Engineering Resources (alphabetic order) ACM Digital (computer science) Applied Science & Technology Business Source Complete (Ebsco) Compendex (Engineering, all types) IEEE (Electrical eng and computer sci) INSPEC (applied & theoretical) ProQuest (EconLit, Engineering, High Tech., Materials Science) Web of Science (All academic disciplines)

18. Indexes/Databases for Business Content ProQuest ABI/Inform (trade/industry publications) Ebsco Business Source Complete (trade & scholarly publications) See General Business LibGuide http://guides.library.tamu.edu/Business

19. Indexes/Databases for Mathematics / Applied Math MathSciNet SIAM (Soc. Industrial & Applied Math) MathNetBase (~ 400 mathematics handbooks, not articles) Springer (books and articles from major publisher in science, technical, engineering, math)

20. Indexes/Databases for Social Sciences Periodicals Content Ebsco multiple sub-databases ProQuest multiple sub-databases Web of Science

21. Indexes/Databases for Technical Reports See Technical Reports Guide http://guides.library.tamu.edu/reports NTRL (National Technical Reports Lib) GPOAccess Science.gov DTIC (Defense Technical Information Center, formerly known as STINET)

22. Indexes/Databases for Patents and Intellectual Property Info Patents subject guide http://guides.library.tamu.edu/patent USPTO www.uspto.gov (Patent searching) www.pat2pdf.org (Obtain a pdf copy of patent when you know patent #)

23. E-Resources for Reference Encyclopedias & other E-Books Type “encyclopedia” in Search for … Database search term box to see listing of electronic encyclopedias E-book packages (databases) include eBrary, netLibrary, EngNetBase, Knovel, MathNetBase, Safari, Science Direct, Springer, Wiley Interscience http://guides.library.tamu.edu/e-books

24. Statistical Data Resources Lexis-Nexis Statistical Universe FedStats www.fedstats.gov United Nations http://unstats.un.org Search library guides with kw “data” U. No. Tx. Gov. Info. Connection www.library.unt.edu/govinfo/browse-topics/statistics

25. Government Publications GPOAccess www.gpoaccess.gov Lexis-Nexis Federal Gateway www.firstgov.gov Google Unclesam www.google.com/unclesam KW search in LibCat with “Set Limits” Location to Government Documents Government, law, legal library guides

26. Legal Resources http://guides.library.tamu.edu/FederalLaw Ebsco Legal Collection Campus Research (WestLaw) Lexis-Nexis Cornell Legal Information Institute http://www.law.cornell.edu/

27. Finding the important journals in my field Set limits in LibCat to type= “serial” and search by keyword Evaluate journals for their rankings in Journal Citation Reports (ISI) Do searches of interest in major databases and see which journals have the most articles of interest to you Search Ulrich’s Periodical Database

28. Overview of mechanics of finding and retrieving journal articles Identify articles of interest by searching an indexing database Options for retrieval: Full text or Find Text@TAMU link when available OR Search Now for electronic subscription (e-journal search) Search LibCat or Chiron for print subscription (journal title search, not article title) Order from Get It for Me service

29. Tips for Managing Your Literature Cites & Reprints Make your literature review strategy and search histories a part of your research notebook Use a bibliographic/citation manager such as EndNote, RefWorks, Zotero Keep backups of the electronic files of your reprints

30. EndNote Information & Links http://guides.library.tamu.edu/EndNote Endnote Basics Video Tutorial http://endnote.com/training/tutorials/EndNoteX5/Menu_970x562/EndNoteX5.html How to Use Endnote in Seven Minutes http://youtu.be/L5Kn8l2rgqk

31. Citation Styles & Formatting Citation Guides http://library.tamu.edu/help Consult journals’ publisher web sites for instructions (manuscript, author’s, contributor’s instructions, etc.) U. of Toronto Eng. Comm. Manual -- Documentation section www.engineering.utoronto.ca/about/programs/communication/Online_Handbook.htm

32. RefWorks Info & Tutorials http://guides.library.tamu.edu/RefWorks ProQuest RefWorks channel YouTube http://www.youtube.com/proquestrefworks

33. Helpful Links Thesis office http://thesis.tamu.edu/ Writing Center http://writingcenter.tamu.edu/ Library Research Support Pages http://guides.library.tamu.edu http://library.tamu.edu/help

34. For Additional Help Contact: Jane Stephens, M.L.I.S. [email_address] Patricia L. Alford, D.V.M., M.S. [email_address] Evans Reference Desk, first floor Evans, 845-3826; West Campus Lib 845-2111 Chat virtual reference (live chat and email), link on library home page