Brief Guide to Effective Literature Searching

Best strategies for choosing relevant resources

Using databases and keeping up to date

How to check for access to articles

Judy McSorley Liaison Librarian

Plan well ahead

It may take you some time to decide on your research topic/focus

It may take you longer to do your literature search than anticipated

You may need to visit other libraries or order items through inter-library loan

Not everything is freely available on the internet!

Plan your search

Find general background information before using more specific and recent resources

Think about the possible search terms or keywords for your topic

Arrange into broader narrower terms

Consider any alternative terms or spellings: eg. murder/homicide or behavior/behaviour

Evaluating Internet ResourcesHow do you know if a website is reputable and offers reliable information? Compare these three websites:-

http://www.wto.org/ http://www.gatt.org/

http://worldtradeorganisation.com/

Which is the genuine World Trade Organization?

How can you tell?

Remember – P . R . O . M . P . T

Provenance: who has produced it?Relevance: is it what you want?Objectivity: what are the creators interests?Method: is research explained fully?Presentation: is it clear and easily accessible?Timeliness: how recently updated?

Google or Google Advanced Search

Compare Google searching with Advanced Search, which offersnumerous refinements. http://www.google.co.uk/advanced_search

Or Google Scholar ???http://scholar.google.co.uk/ Use the Preferences

link to select notification for Middlesex accesses

and save

Google Advanced Scholar Search

Library and IT Support Web Page http://unihub.mdx.ac.uk/study/library/

Start from UniHub to link to Library and IT under the Your study tab.

Library and IT Support Web Page Scroll down the screen to Study and Research Resources

These are the most useful resources for Literature Searching

myUniHub for alternative access to the catalogue etc.Logging in here enables access to electronic resources without further authentication.

myUniHub

Databases

Social Science Citation Index

SSCI: Search History & Results

SSCI – Managing Results

Register and Sign In

Citation Alerts- set up from single record

Saved Searches – from Search History

Zetoc Alerts

Zetoc provides access to the British Library's Electronic Table of Contents of around 20,000 current journals published per year.

The database covers 1993 to date, and is updated on a daily basis.

It includes an email alerting service, to enable you to keep up-to-date with relevant new articles and papers.

Zetoc is accessible from Learning Resources Databases listing.

Zetoc Alerts

Use the drop down Universities menu to select Middlesex, click “Go” and login next screen with your university network login as before.

Zetoc Alerts

Create your account with your email address and name or a search or journal name . Click Create then click the ZETOC Search button.

Zetoc AlertsThere are options to search for articles in Journals and or conferences, plus Zetoc Alert set up. Article search

Zetoc Alerts

The Alert can be set up for contents lists of several journal titles, and also for article Title Keyword searches

Zetoc Alerts You can have a number of alerts for Contents Lists or article keywords and add to them or make changes as required. They are set up for one year and will require renewing after that period. Email Alerts will be sent whenever the British Library database is updated with new issues and articles relevant to your searches.

Finding the Journal: Full-Text: via Library Catalogue A-Z:Print & Online

Reference Software - RefWorks• RefWorks is the system subscribed to by Middlesex

University and is for the use of Middlesex staff and students• RefWorks comprises of two parts:

Bibliographic Manager– provides folders for storing your bibliographic citations– enables precise organisation of and

immediate access to records

Write-N-Cite– requires downloading to the desktop– use to place saved bibliographic citations

directly into your own text– and to instantly create your Bibliographies

in appropriate styles

Items stored in RefWorks folders cannot be accessed after leaving the University.

RefWorks can seem rather clunky and is dependent on Reference Software compatibility of databases and catalogues etc.

A full comparison of the two products can be viewed here (scroll down the page) :

http://libguides.mdx.ac.uk/content.php?pid=58195&sid=426206

Reference Software - RefWorks

Reference Software - Mendeleyhttps://www.mendeley.com

Freely available softwareGo to the web site and create an account.

Reference Software - Mendeley

Installing the web Importer button on the browser bar enables swift importing of citations and references from databases, Google, Amazon and other bibliographic websites into your Mendeley files and folders.

Reference SoftwareRefWorks files articles into folders which are visible from drop-down folders. Mendeley displays all articles and authors on the Desktop

Library Subject Guideshttp://libguides.mdx.ac.uk

Library Subject GuidesUnder the tab Searching for Journal Articles information about relevant databases and guides for using them. Also details for contacting your librarian and booking appointments.