Transcript Document

WISER:
Electronic Resources for Research
An introduction to the networked databases available through
the Oxford Libraries Information Platform (OxLIP)
interface. Available databases include indexing services,
electronic journals and other full text services, online reference
tools, statistics and library catalogues. We will also discuss how
to access online resources from outside the Oxford network.
Judy Reading & Kate Williams
Electronic Resources
We will show you
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How to find subject specific and general databases
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Some strategies for searching databases
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How to find out about particular kinds of material such as
dissertations and conferences
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How to access resources remotely
We hope to inspire you to explore for yourself.
Don’t forget you can get help from your subject librarian
see http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/collections/librarians
OxLIP (Oxford Libraries Information Platform) is a gateway to
hundreds of electronic resources
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/oxlip/
catalogues
abstracting & indexing services
reference works
full-text resources
statistical resources
official publications
electronic journals
quality web resources
current awareness services citation indexes
indexes to theses and conference papers
OXLIP databases are arranged A-Z by title and also
organised by subject
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/oxlip
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/oxlip
Indexing and abstracting services
Huge database collections purchased from:
• CSA – Cambridge Scientific Abstracts
• OCLC Firstsearch
• Ovid
• WebSPIRS
• Proquest
• Web of Knowledge
Find them by searching in the title index in Oxlip
Specialist subject databases see under Subject in Oxlip
Search Strategies
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Ask a clear search question
Break the question into search concepts
Identify a range of search terms
Consider the relationships between your search terms
Try those terms in appropriate databases/resources
Find more search terms from retrieved records while searching
Keyword searching
– Searches for terms anywhere in the field or record
– Useful as a starting place but results can be less relevant
Subject indexes
– Where possible tap into the subject headings or thesauri
provided by the databases
Boolean Logic: OR, AND, NOT, NEAR
Television
Children
‘Or’ would include everything in
both sets
‘and’ just in the overlap area,
‘not’ excludes a term and
‘near’ defines how close the terms
should be in the database.
Obesity
Cambridge Scientific Abstracts
• Find all CSA databases through OXLIP www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/oxlip under C in title
index or search on individual databases directly by their names as below. They will
be listed in relevant subject sections of OXLIP.
• Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts
• Aquatic Sciences
• ARTbibliographies Modern
• Biological and Medical Sciences
• Biotechnology and Bioengineering Abstracts
• Community of Scholars - Social Science
• Computer Technology
• Design and Applied Arts Index
• Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management
• Index Islamicus
• Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts
• LISA - Library and Information Science Abstracts
• Materials Research Database with METADEX
• Materials Science
• National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstracts
• PAIS
• PILOTS - Published International Literature On Traumatic Stress
• TOXLINE
• Social Sciences
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
Useful Features in CSA
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Metasearch function across the databases in a broad subject area
Advanced Search: Ideal to construct and execute more detailed, powerful
searches
Use Truncation or wildcards to improve keyword accuracy eg wom?n,
educ* (look in the help screens)
Save, print, email references or export them to bibliographic
management products such as RefWorks
Search history: Use this feature either via the results page or via the
Search Tools Tab – allows you to combine searches or to rerun them or
turn them into alerts.
Thesaurus: Use this feature to search for controlled vocabulary terms
since it provides a standard language or set of terms to describe a topic
Don’t forget to select a subject area or a specific database prior to
conducting a search!
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/oxlip
What else?
Abstract and Indexing Services databases and also:
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Catalogues (OLIS, COPAC, British Library, Worldcat)
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Oxford University e-Journals
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E-book packages (e.g. Taylor and Francis, Oxford Scholarship Online)
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Current awareness services (ZETOC)
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Official papers and grey literature (e.g. UKOP)
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Statistical information (under specific subjects eg Sociology)
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Reference sources (eg Blackwell Reference Online)
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Theses (Dissertations Abstracts, Index to Theses)
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Conference papers (Papers First / Proceedings First)
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Web resources and mailing lists (Intute)
Full-text journals and books
E-books and e-journals – listed in ‘all subjects’ section on OxLIP
Some examples:
Oxford University E-journals:
One-stop shop for all of Oxford's subscription full text journals
Blackwell Reference Online:
Humanities and Social Sciences. Almost 300 reference volumes. Blackwell
Reference Online is the largest academic reference collection available online
Taylor & Francis Online eBook Library
The collection includes 200 of the world's leading books mainly in the
Humanities and Education..
Current awareness services
ZETOC listed on OxLIP in Title List
http://zetoc.mimas.ac.uk/
The British Library's Electronic Table of Contents of around 20,000 current
journals and around 16,000 conference proceedings published per year.
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.
Note many databases allow you to:
Save and re-run searches
Set up alerts on searches (email or RSS feeds)
Set up citation alerts where citation information is available
(SCOPUS, Web of Knowledge/Citation Indexes)
http://zetoc.mimas.ac.uk/
Conference proceedings
Key resources – both produced by the British Library:
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Papers First:
Covers every published congress, symposium, conference, exposition, workshop and
meeting received by The British Library Document Supply Centre.
Coverage 1993 to present, updated twice monthly. Over 6,500,000 records
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Proceedings First:
Covers every published congress, symposium, conference, exposition, workshop and
meeting received by The British Library Document Supply Centre. Contains in each
record a list of the papers presented at each conference.
Coverage 1993 to present, updated twice a week. 192,000+ records
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Note many general databases include conference papers as well as
journal articles and it may be possible to specify you want to find them.
Theses and dissertations
Guide available in OxLIP- All subjects
Key resources:
Proquest Dissertations and Theses (mostly North American):
With more than 2 million entries, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses is the single,
central, authoritative resource for information about doctoral dissertations and
master's theses. Dissertations published from 1980 forward include 350- word
abstracts written by the author. Master's theses published from 1988 forward include
150-word abstracts. Titles available as native or image PDF formats include free
twenty-four page previews.
Index to Theses (UK and Northern Ireland)
A comprehensive listing of theses with abstracts accepted for higher degrees
by universities in Great Britain and Ireland since 1716. 511,900 theses in
collection; last updated 20 November 2007
Access to OxLIP
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Access from any Oxford University computer
To use OxLIP from outside Oxford use Athens / Single-Sign On username and
password and the VPN (Virtual Private Network)
Oxford is in the process of migrating from Athens to the Oxford SSO username – look
for the alternative login from the Athens option.
Most databases are available through Athens/SSO and VPN.
VPN will allow you access to everything which you can see on a library machine – for
example many e-journals are IP-validated and not accessible through Athens
You will still need to use Athens/SSO for a very few databases (some Law and
Business ones and e-book packages) even if you have the VPN or are using a
university machine.
For more information see http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/guides
Access to Online Resources from Outside the Oxford Network :
Reader's Guide and Supplement about the replacement
of Athens by the Oxford Single Sign-On or information on the
OUCS website http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/
Feedback and further help
We hope you have found this session useful.
Please reply to the feedback email which you will receive after the session.
If we can be of any further assistance please contact us:
[email protected]
[email protected]
Contact your subject librarian for assistance
see http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/collections/librarians
Further training sessions may be of interest to you – for details go to:
http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/training
Next week: WISER sessions on
Managing your references, Web tools, Medline and Pubmed,
Resources for research in Classics and Ancient History