Information Skillsfor first year Geographers

Sue BirdOULS Reader Services Librarian Geography

October 2009

Today’s session Using tools:

SOLO / OLIS Oxford e-journals OxLIP+

Finding items on reading lists Citation and plagiarism Subject searching

Reference booksSCOPUSWoK

SOLO

Searches the library catalogue OLIS and some other catalogues

Use it as a starting point for all searchesLinks from many web pages including

libraries home page www.ouls.ox.ac.uk Or go direct to http://solo.ouls.ox.ac.uk

Search for a book

Carolyn Merchant (2004) Reinventing Eden: Routledge

Search for a periodical

Amin A and N Thrift (2005) 'What's Left: Just the Future', Antipode: a radical journal of Geography, 37, 2, 220-238

Reading List Tips

What you need to look up in the catalogue should be indicated somehow

Italics or underlining

(Antipode, Global geomorphology )Remember that explanatory text could be

inserted between the elements of the reference (c.f. Dr. Currah’s list last week)

Book?, Chapter?, Article? - TIPS

Books – Year only

Chapters – Use the word “IN”

Articles- Many more numbers for volume, part (or issue), pages.

Exercises

Try exercise 1http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk

/science/training/biosciences

Citation and Plagiarism

Note the statement on the OUCE web site: http://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/undergraduate/info/fhs/plagiarism.php

Avoid trouble by getting into good habits now – always record your source, and the date you found it

Learn to cite references in a standard way – e.g. the Harvard system

Useful guide available in Blackwells £1 Software is available to manage references – e.g.

EndNote, RefWorks

Reference works

If you wanted to find a general introduction to the topic of Gaia, where might you look?

Or give a definition of S.I. units

Subject Searching

To find information about a topic, rather than a specific reference, use a database that indexes articles – e.g.:

SCOPUSWeb of Knowledge (WoK) / Web of Science (WoS)

Online reference books and newspapers are good for finding facts and biographies

Suggested Essay Topic

Find some articles on biodiversity politics.

Which have been the most influential?

SCOPUS

Includes data from GEOBASE - The bibliographic database for the Earth, Geographical and Ecological Sciences

Export

Web of Knowledge

Similar but not the same

Also known as Web of Science

Are there any other sources ?

Well there is Google Scholar

Rough & readyCan’t order your searchCan’t amend or refine your searchRemember it is a Search Engine not a

database – no human is involved

Exercise 2

Now try these:

1. Find some articles on the drying up or desertification of the Aral Sea

2. Find a reference to a book review of David Harvey’s book “Spaces of Hope”

Biographical Resources

You have been asked to give the vote of thanks to Ron Johnston who is coming to speak to the Herbertson Society. Where might you start to look for information about him? What hobby does he have outside his geographical interests?

http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/science/training/biosciences

Reading a Reading List

This presentation will be available at http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/science/training/biosciences

More useful links from the subject page http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/science/subjects/geography

(There is also a link from within S.o.G.E. Intranet)

You can always ask a librarian

Sue.bird@ouls.ox.ac.uk

Good luck with your Studies